High schools get report cards
Falling scores seen throughout the county
Area high schools have received their report cards, and the results were generally gloomy for all but one of the county’s high schools.
In April, area juniors took the Prairie State Achievement Exam, which tests students in math, reading, science and writing. On Friday, those scores were released on the 2009 Illinois School Report Card, which offers a variety of information on overall student performance, performance on state assessments, student demographics and financial information.
Bureau Valley High School
For the third year in a row, the 104 juniors who took the test at Bureau Valley in April once again led the county’s test results. But the news wasn’t as good as it sounds, as only 57.4 percent of the students met or exceeded state standards, a full three percentage point drop over last year’s 60.4 percent, and less than five percentage points above this year’s state average.
More than 61 percent of the students met or exceeded standards in science, the highest percentage in the county. More than 60 percent of the students met or exceeded standards in reading, and an even 50 percent achieved that goal in math, making Bureau Valley the only school in the county to reach that benchmark. Statewide, 51.6 percent of all test-takers met or exceeded standards in math.
The district failed to make adequate yearly progress (AYP) as mandated by No Child Left Behind because of its reading scores of its students with disabilities subgroups.
Princeton High School
Of the 135 juniors who were tested at Princeton High School this spring, 53.8 percent met or exceeded state standards. That figure was enough to make PHS rebound to the second highest scores in the county, but it was a drop of 0.1 percent from last year and marks the third year in a row of decreases.
PHS students continued to perform best in reading and science, with more than 62 percent of the students meeting or exceeding standards in reading and 51 percent in science. Math scores continued to lag behind, with only 48.1 percent of the students meeting or exceeding standards, but that was an improvement from 2008, when less than 46 percent met that goal.
The district failed to make AYP in either reading or math, and was been identified for School Improvement according to the AYP specifications of No Child Left Behind (NCLB).
Hall High School
Juniors at Hall High School dropped more than four points over the previous year’s scores, but declining scores across the county caused the district to move from fourth to third place.
Just over 46 percent of the 102 students taking the test met or exceeded state standards.
Reading scores inched up a percentage point to almost 54 percent, the highest level since 2001, but math and science scores both dropped about seven percentage points, with math falling to 43.1 percent, and science to 41.2 percent.
Hall has failed to make AYP for three consecutive years, and five of the last six years. It too has been identified for School Improvement according to the AYP specifications of NCLB.
LaMoille High School
Scores fell the furthest in LaMoille, causing the district to drop from second to fourth place in the county. Just over 45 percent of the school’s 22 juniors met or exceeded state standards, a 14 percent drop from last year’s scores.
The number of students meeting or exceeding standards dropped by about 10 points in both reading and math, to 54.5 in reading and 41 percent in math. The big drop was in the science scores, with slightly less than 41 percent of the students meeting or exceeding standards, down more than 23 percentage points from last year.
LaMoille’s scores were good enough for it to be the only high school in the county to make AYP.
DePue High School
The bright spot in the county, in terms of improving test scores, was in DePue, where the percentage of students meeting or exceeding standards more than doubled from the 17.4 percent in 2008 to 36.8 percent in April. Of the 19 juniors who took the test, more than 47 percent met or exceeded in reading, a phenomenal increase from the 10.7 percent who met that goal in 2008, but still not high enough for the district to make AYP in reading.
Scores in math and science both dropped a percentage point or two, with just over 26 percent meeting or exceeding in math, the lowest percentage in the county, and almost 37 percent in science.
The district failed to make AYP due to its math and reading scores.
Ohio High School
Scores also continued their downhill trend in Ohio. Only 31 percent of the 14 juniors who took the test met or exceed standards, 7.9 percentage points lower than in 2008, and 32 points lower than in 2005.
The only good news was in math, where the number of students meeting or exceeding climbed two points to 35.7 percent. Scores dropped to just under 43 percent in reading and plummeted almost 25 percentage points in science, leaving only 14.3 percent of the juniors to meet the goal in that subject.
The district failed to make AYP due to its math and reading scores.
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