11 of 13 schools earn state’s highest rating for schools
The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) published its annual Illinois Report Card on Tuesday, Oct. 30 at www.illinoisreportcard.com. The Report Card highlights how well Illinois schools are progressing in their educational goals. New this year, schools were evaluated on six academic and student success indicators, and these data were used to give each school a summative designation, or rating, in one of four tiers.
Downers Grove Grade School District 58 is pleased to announce that all of its schools performed within the Commendable and Exemplary tiers, the State’s highest recognitions. Eleven of the District’s 13 schools earned an Exemplary School – Tier 1 designation, the state’s highest rating. In addition, two District 58 schools earned a Commendable School – Tier 2 designation, the state’s second highest rating.
These impressive school ratings are based on the State’s calculations of students’ academic growth and proficiency, English learner progress, absenteeism rate, and climate survey participation. An Exemplary rating is awarded to the top 10 percent of schools in the state of Illinois. Exemplary Schools must also have zero underperforming subgroups. A Commendable rating is similarly awarded to schools with zero underperforming subgroups but are not among the top 10 percent of schools.
“The academic growth component accounts for 50 percent of the overall summative rating, which is a welcome recognition by the state of Illinois, as we have been emphasizing student growth as a significant measure of overall school and district success for many years,” said Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction Justin Sisul.
Within DuPage County, 21 percent of elementary and middle schools earned an Exemplary School rating, while 75 percent were designated as Commendable Schools. Herrick Middle School in District 58 is one of only three DuPage County middle schools to earn the Exemplary designation.
“I am very proud of all of our schools, our students and our staff for their hard work and of our ongoing academic growth. These designations reflect the significant learning that our students achieve. Our schools’ strong performances on each of these measures also reflect our teachers’ and staff’s dedicated work to ensure that all students are continually learning and growing,” said Superintendent Dr. Kari Cremascoli. “These designations celebrate our students and our staff for their outstanding work!”
No District 58 schools fell within the Tier 3 or Tier 4 school designations, which are named Underperforming and Lowest Performing, respectively.
In addition, the Illinois Report Card also publishes PARCC assessment scores. District 58 is pleased to share that its spring 2018 PARCC scores show significant improvement in each area. Students who met or exceeded English-Language Arts standards improved by 9 percentage points between 2017 and 2018. In other words, an additional 275 students achieved English-Language Arts proficiency in 2018, as compared to 2017. Students who met or exceeded Math standards improved by 8 percentage points over the same year.
“We are very proud of these early indicators, which demonstrate that we are taking the right steps in support of our pursuit of excellence within each of our schools,” lauded Dr. Cremascoli. “Yet we know that we have work to do. We look forward to continuing our work in support of the success of all students as well as to continuing our ongoing improvements to our curricula. We are excited about the path we are on and about the work that lies ahead.”
State-level rankings and PARCC scores are just one way that the District measures its school successes and opportunities for growth. District 58 also considers students’ MAP, AIMSweb and other standardized data to monitor achievement and growth. In addition, the District focuses on the student learning environment and the social-emotional development of each child. For a glance at some of these other measures, please see District 58’s points of pride flyer. District 58 is hosting parent forums at each school to provide parents with more information about school achievement, growth, improvement planning, student supports and more.
Visit www.illinoisreportcard.com and type in “Downers Grove GSD 58” to view the complete Illinois Report Card for each District 58 school.
Visit www.dg58.org/essa to learn more about District 58’s school designations.