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Dist. 203 Gets Passing Grade Naperville Schools Making Progress With No Child Left Behind Standards

Posted on: Friday, 28 October 2005, 21:00 CDT

By Melissa Jenco Daily Herald Staff Writer

Test scores for disabled students once again have proven to be a challenge for Naperville Unit District 203 schools trying to meet No Child Left Behind standards.

Lincoln Junior High was the only school in District 203 that failed to meet federal standards this year. The school's failing mark resulted from math scores for disabled students.

Only 10.9 percent of the school's disabled students met or exceeded standards in math, well below the necessary 47.5 percent.

"In my mind it's not about what happened at one school," Superintendent Alan Leis said. "This area is still a problem for us and they're actively working on it."

Both Naperville North High School and Jefferson Junior High failed to meet state standards last year due to test scores for the same subgroup of students. Both schools now meet the standards.

Last year, 31.5 percent of disabled students at North met reading and math standards. This year those numbers rose to 39 percent and 40.3 percent, respectively.

North received a passing mark this year, due in part to a deal between the U.S. Department of Education and the Illinois State Board of Education that allows certain groups to pass even if they are below the 47.5 percent benchmark.

Naperville North Principal Ross Truemper said his school has been working to improve scores by making sure to review key concepts and also helping students overcome anxiety issues about taking the tests.

"I credit our special ed staff for focusing on special needs students to better prepare them to take the test," Truemper said.

At Jefferson, last year's challenge was math for disabled students, with only 31.7 percent passing. This year, there were not enough disabled students to count as a subgroup.

As part of the new rules, there must be at least 45 students to be considered a subgroup, compared to 40 last year.

The district, as a whole, also received a passing grade this year because of the new rules. In the past, if any school in the district failed, the whole district failed. Now, a district only fails if one or more schools at each level - elementary, junior high and high school - fails.

Leis said the new rules were necessary to make the law more fair, especially for small groups where one or two students' scores could make a big difference.

"Changes in the law were not designed to make it unfair," Leis said. "They were designed to make sure schools are fairly measured."

Schools also had additional hurdles to climb this year. In the past, the schools only needed 40 percent of students meeting standards to pass compared to 47.5 percent this year. By 2014, that number will rise to 100 percent.

Leis said he is pleased to see the district cleared 266 of 267 hurdles this year.

"I feel good about the results," Leis said. "The overall results are still extraordinarily high as our parents would expect for us."

The scores are based on standardized assessment tests taken last year by high school juniors and other students in grades three through five and seven through eight.

Source: Daily Herald; Arlington Heights, Ill.

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