Leepertown, Allen get improvement awards

E-mail this story

Print this story

Share

BUREAU COUNTY -- Two Bureau County schools have received academic improvement awards from the Illinois State Board of Education. Allen Junior High School in LaMoille and Leepertown Elementary School in Bureau are among 46 schools being recognized for making academic improvements in student scores during the last three years of test assessments. Amber Harper, superintendent at Leepertown, attributed the increased test scores to staff development and being able to retain staff in the school. After Leepertown was placed a couple years ago on an academic watch list, the state sent an educator-in-residence to meet regularly with the Leepertown teachers, Harper said. The educator provided instructions to the teachers, gave examples of how that instruction worked in the classroom and then attended classes at Leepertown to see how the teachers were implementing what they had learned. "I feel confident we've done the best we can do," Harper said Monday. The Leepertown superintendent said small schools, like Leepertown, can have a disadvantage with state tests simply because of their small numbers. If only a few students are in a certain grade and one of those students is having a bad day when tests are taken, the school's scores may not be a fair representation of what the school is accomplishing with its students, Harper said. State Superintendent Robert Schiller commended the Bureau County schools for their improvement. "More often than not people talk about our schools failing, and time and time again I have said that they are not," Schiller said in making the recognition announcement. "As demands to meet the requirements of No Child Left Behind Act increase, it is gratifying for us to recognize those schools that are not only meeting requirements, but are definitely showing trends in improvement." To receive an academic improvement award, schools had to have made adequate yearly progress in 2003, have their state test results show an upward trend and have their school show at least a 7.5 percent improvement in state test scores between 2002 and 2003. To qualify the schools also had to show at least a 15 percent improvement in scores between 2001 and 2003. The academic improvement program is an extension of the Spotlight Schools program that recognizes high academic performance in schools where a majority of students come from low-income families. School officials at Allen Junior High School could not be reached for comment.