Palos Heights District 128 Receives Academic Excellence Award
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The Illinois State Board of Education has recognized Palos Heights School District 128 Chippewa, Navajo and Independence schools for sustained high academic performance as measured by the ISAT. In order to receive this award, at least 90 percent of all students must meet or exceed state standards in Reading and Mathematics for at least three consecutive years. These standards are based on the Federal No Child Left Behind Act and set adequate yearly progress student achievement requirements (AYP).
Each of these schools is the proud recipient of the 2012 Academic Excellence Award. Less than 10 percent of all Illinois public schools achieved this honor. Out of 2,605 Elementary schools, only 382 achieved this success. There were only 68 out of 744 middle schools earning this award.
Palos Heights School District 128 is among the top elite districts in our state based on academic success. Congratulations to the students, staff and parents for helping the district earn this academic merit award.
jmcbmb
1:50 pm on Saturday, February 23, 2013
Congrats! We are so lucky to live in an area with such wonderful public schools!
Bob
7:50 am on Thursday, February 28, 2013
This certainly is an accomplishment, but there's something about which readers should know concerning ISAT scores.
Over a decade ago the state stopped reporting actual average or median scores on the exams. This means that an ISAT "score" of 90%+ means that no more than 10% are not meeting minimum standards.
In the context of traditional grades, this is like saying that 90%of the students "didn't get an 'F'". It doesn't tell you how many got "A's or "C"s.
There are percentages in the school report cards that identify how many students "exceed standards" but, curiously enough, apparently that's not how "excellence" is defined for this award.
That only 10% of our schools in Illinois can manage "only" 10% students failing for three consecutive years certainly is an indictment of our public education in Illinois.