How do central Illinois schools stack up to the rest of the state when it comes to academic performance and school environment?
The Illinois Report Card, an online source for statistics on schools, students and educators from around the state, was released on Monday.
According to PARCC test averages across the state, five percent of students exceed, 29 percent met, 28 percent approached, 23 percent partially met and 16 percent didn’t meet standards put in place.
When it comes to PARCC testing and math scores, Winchester Superintendent Dave Roberts would like to see higher numbers in his district.
PARCC scores for the Winchester School District showed two percent of students exceeded, 27 percent met, 33 percent approached, 24 percent partially met and 15 percent didn’t meet the standards in place.
Roberts says his district is bringing in some extra assistance to boost those numbers.
“We have a math consultant we have hired this year to work with our math teachers. We hope this improves teaching and learning from kindergarten to 12th grade. We made some changes a few years ago, because we found we had a higher rate of kids passing algebra in 8th grade, but they weren’t successful when they got to the upper levels of the high school. Our direct numbers are probably a little down because of that,” says Roberts.
Greenfield Superintendent Kevin Bowman was happy with multiple aspects of the Illinois Report Card for his district.
“Ready for college coursework we had 48 percent compared to the 46 percent state-wide. Our students do really well on the ACT test, our average was around 20.6. That was very strong for our school. In the end, if a student goes to Greenfield and they want to go onto college, they will score really well.”
PARCC testing in Greenfield showed one percent of students exceeded, 31 percent met, 34 percent approached, 27 percent partially met and seven percent didn’t meet.
Waverly Superintendent Dustin Day says data from the Illinois Report Card determines changes in curricular modifications for his district. Even though the PARCC exam represents “one snapshot of the day”, Day took away some positives from the testing.
“One of the focuses that we are always looking at is improving our reading and writing scores. As you know, reading and writing touches every subject, whether that is science, social science or math. If you kids can’t read or write well, typically they struggle in all subject areas. We are focusing on that to try and prepare for next year’s test,” says Day.
Results from PARCC testing showed two percent of Waverly students exceeded standards put in place, while 30 percent met, 32 percent approached, 24 percent partially met and 12 percent didn’t meet.
Day credits those positive numbers to the teacher mentoring program, which better prepares new teachers for their roles in Waverly School District.
To check out the scores for other local districts like Franklin, Bluffs, Virginia, Triopia, Meredosia-Chambersburg, Carrollton and North Greene, click on the link below.