5,000 in U-46 to Get Option to Transfer Sub-Standard Test Scores Mean District Must Allow Students to Change Schools

A day after Elgin Area School District U-46 began a new year, officials said Thursday more than 5,000 students in schools with lagging test scores may transfer out.

Ten schools where test scores trailed state standards must give students the option of moving to a better-performing school this fall.

Four of the affected schools also must deliver an academic lift with tutoring or private learning services, district officials said.

Yet even schools that cleared state learning standards but are filled with low-income students will open a door to poor children who struggle in class.

The state’s second largest school district this year plans to take the transfer option required by federal law, and stretch it.

Low-income students in third, fourth and fifth grade who scored below grade level and attend schools where the poverty rate exceeds 57 percent will be eligible to move. Five schools may be affected.

“We’re giving a band of children an option they would not have had,” Superintendent Connie Neale said. “A school may be doing OK, but a child might not be.”

Parents need only check their mail to see if the option extends to their child.

District officials plan to send letters Thursday to parents whose children are entitled to switch into a higher-scoring school, either by federal law or U-46 initiative.

“It’s all on the drawing board right now,” Neale said.

Transfers will follow information meetings in September. Parents will have 30 days to apply for an open seat in a higher-scoring school.

Children will not likely move until October.

The No Child Left Behind act demands schools where test scores slipped below state standards for two straight years allow kids to enroll in schools with higher scores.

Schools missing the mark for three years also must offer academic boosters, be it tutoring or after-school programs.

And those falling below state learning targets for four years must do all that and more.

The third on a four-tiered scale of remedies, corrective action requires schools hire an education consultant, lengthen the school day, draft a new learning plan or reorder administrative and teacher ranks.

Such mandates extend only to schools that receive federal money reserved for low-income students. Fourteen district schools do.

District officials declined Thursday to name the schools facing sanctions. An announcement will be made early next week, they said.

Initial test results unveiled last month hint at the possibilities.

Seven elementary schools did not meet state learning standards: Garfield and Lords Park in Elgin, Laurel Hill, Ontarioville and Parkwood in Hanover Park, Oakhill in Streamwood and Nature Ridge in Bartlett.

All but two schools, Oakhill and Nature Ridge, fell below state targets last year, too.

Five elementary schools surpassed standards but remain under academic sanctions until they make gains for a second straight year. They are Elgin’s Harriet Gifford, Highland, Huff, Lowrie and McKinley elementary schools.