LHS 2012 School Report Card data available

The Illinois State Board of Education has provided to public school districts across the state their 2012 Illinois School Report Cards. Lemont High School District 210 administrators presented the district’s information to the board of education at its meeting Monday, and the school’s 2012 Illinois School Report Card was posted on the district’s Website on Tuesday.

The Illinois School Report Card provides a snapshot of a school district’s demographic data, student achievement and financial information, among other items. The highlight in Lemont High School’s 2012 report card is that the Class of 2013 met or exceeded state standards at a rate significantly above the state average on the 2012 Prairie State Achievement Exam (PSAE).

ACT

The Class of 2012 posted an average composite ACT score of 22.7, which tied the Class of 2010 for the school’s second-best average composite score since mandatory administration of the ACT began in 2001. Lemont High School consistently has scored above the state average on the ACT, and that trend continued this year. The average composite score for Lemont’s Class of 2012 was more than two points above the state average (20.6).

Beginning with the Class of 2002, all State of Illinois students who were classified as juniors were required to take the ACT as part of the PSAE. Prior to that year, students who took the ACT generally were limited to those who were college-bound.

The ACT includes four subsets - Mathematics, Reading, English and Science. The Class of 2012’s average composite scores in all of those subsets ranked among the school’s best performances. Its scores in the Mathematics (22.7) and Science (22.6) subsets rank second in school history; its English score (22.5) tied for second-best in school history; and its score in the Reading subset (22.6) ranks third among all classes.

The average composite ACT score reflects graduating students’ most recent scores from an ACT national testing date or PSAE testing, and excludes scores of students who took the test with special accommodations. While all students are required to take the ACT as part of the PSAE, most students take the ACT again in an effort to improve their scores.

The Class of 2011 established the school’s standard for average composite ACT score with its 23.0 average.

PSAE

The percentage of Lemont High School’s Class of 2013 that met or exceeded standards on the 2012 PSAE - both overall, and within each of the subtests - continued to be significantly above the state average. The PSAE is administered to all juniors enrolled in an Illinois public high school over a two-day period each spring. It consists of two parts - the ACT, which is given on the first day of testing, and the WorkKeys exam, which is given on the second day.

When taking into account students’ performance on the Reading, Mathematics and Science subtests, 67.0 percent of members of the Class of 2013 met or exceeded standards on the 2012 PSAE. That percentage is much higher than the state average (51.3).

In the Reading subtest, 63.4 percent of students in Lemont High School’s Class of 2013 met or exceeded state standards. Across the state, 50.7 percent of Illinois high school students met or exceeded standards. In the Mathematics subtest, 68.7 percent of Lemont juniors met or exceeded state standards, compared to the state average of 51.6 percent. Finally, in the Science subtest, 69.0 percent of Lemont’s Class of 2013 met or exceeded standards, compared to the state average of 51.7.

Lemont High School tracks students’ performance on the EXPLORE and PLAN tests - which are given to students as freshmen and sophomores, respectively - then predicts where each student may score on the ACT as juniors. Of the more than 350 students who participated in the 2012 PSAE, 92 percent met or exceeded their predicted range on the ACT portion of the exam.

Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP)

There are a number of factors that contribute to whether an Illinois high school is shown to be “making” Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), including: a school’s graduation rate, attendance rate, the percentage of students that are administered the PSAE, performance by all juniors on the PSAE, and performance by each subgroup of students (with a minimum number of 45 students in a subgroup) on both the Reading and Mathematics subtests of the PSAE. The Science subtest is not considered when determining AYP.

The Federal No Child Left Behind Act mandates that all students - regardless of ability, special education needs or familiarity with the English language - meet or exceed state standards by 2014. As part of that progress, schools have to hit increasing benchmarks on an annual basis. Schools “make” AYP by having a certain percentage of students - both overall and within several subgroups - meet or exceed state standards. Each state establishes the assessment it wishes to use to monitor this progress; Illinois is one of a handful of states across the country that uses the ACT as part of that assessment.

Lemont High School made AYP for the first six years of NCLB, but fell short of meeting the benchmark in 2010. More than 90 percent of Illinois’s public high schools missed making AYP in 2010 when the benchmark was set at 77.5 percent of students meeting or exceeding standards. With the benchmark increasing to 85.0 percent in 2011, just 10 public high schools in the state (approximately 1.5 percent) made AYP. The benchmark remained 85.0 percent for 2012, but will increase to 92.5 percent in 2013 and 100 percent in 2014.

Lemont High School was shown to be making AYP in a variety of standards, including: graduation rate (94.3 percent; AYP minimum is 82.0), attendance rate (95.6 percent; AYP minimum is 91.0) and percentage of students administered the PSAE (98.2 percent; AYP minimum is 95.0). However, it fell short of making AYP in Reading and Mathematics, where the benchmark was 85.0 percent of students meeting or exceeding standards.

Because it did not made Adequate Yearly Progress for a third straight year, Lemont High School was required to offer parents “school choice” - the option to transfer their children to another public school, with transportation provided by District 210. However, all schools that District 210 contacted also failed to meet AYP standards, and therefore were not eligible to receive choice students. The school also is required to offer Supplemental Educational Services to students whose families meet established income standards.

No Child Left Behind compares progress between classes, rather than measuring students’ growth over time. Therefore, different classes of students are being compared each year.

Other School Report Card Data

The 2012 Illinois School Report Card includes a large amount of information concerning Lemont High School District 210. Some highlights of that data include:

• In Lemont High School District, 89.8 percent of its faculty own a master’s degree (compared to 61.7 percent of teachers across the state), and its faculty have an average of 15.0 years of teaching experience (compared to an average of 12.9 years of experience for teachers statewide).
• Lemont High School District 210’s 2009 total tax rate held steady at $1.47, the same rate that was calculated for 2008. In 2007, the tax rate was $1.64.
• The district’s attendance rate (95.6) and graduation rate (94.3) each improved from the 2011 report card.
• The district’s average class size of 21.2 students is higher than the state average (19.2). Additionally, its pupil-teacher ratio of 17.7 is greater than it has been since the 2004 report card showed a ratio of 18.1 students per teacher.

Editor’s note: The information above was provided in a press release from Lemont High School District 210. To view the complete state report card, click here.