All District 181 Schools Earn State Honor Roll Top Rank

For the third consecutive year, all nine Community Consolidated School District 181 schools have been named Illinois Honor Roll Schools. The list of 2010 Honor Roll Schools recognizes 834 schools in 364 Illinois school districts for making progress toward or maintaining academic excellence.

Clarendon Hills Middle School, Elm, Hinsdale Middle School, Madison, Monroe, Oak, Prospect, The Lane and Walker schools received the Academic Excellence Award, the highest of three designations. In this category, 90 percent or more of elementary students met or exceed state testing standards in reading or mathematics for at least three consecutive years. The list of 2010 Academic Excellence Award Schools includes 6 high schools, 90 middle schools and 363 elementary and K-8 schools.

Other Illinois Honor Roll award categories are: Spotlight Schools, which are high-poverty, high-performing schools, with at least 50 percent low income students and 77.5 percent of students meeting or exceeding standards; and Academic Improvement Awards, which recognize schools that make significant gains in performance over several years.

“Having every school represented on the Illinois Honor Roll reflects the hard work and achievement of every student, teacher, and parent within our District and is evidence of District 181's vision that every child will experience success and exhibit excellence. Well done!” said Superintendent Renée Schuster.

Since the awards program began, District 181 has been a top performer. In 2010, only large school districts had more schools on the list than District 181. These include: City of Chicago (21 of 611 schools recognized), Indian Prairie District 204 (17 of 31 schools recognized), Naperville District 203 (16 of 21 schools recognized) and Schaumburg District 54 (12 of 27 schools recognized). Districts with nine Academic Excellence schools are Wheaton-Warrenville District 200 (9 of 19 schools recognized) and District 181 (9 of 9 schools recognized).

"The fact that this is the third consecutive year that all nine of our schools achieved this distinction shows the depth of this district's commitment to excellence for all students,” said Linda Rio Reichmann, District 181 Board of Education president. “ Our staff, teachers and community expect and support continued growth and achievement."

Seven District 181 schools are among only 43 in Illinois to have achieved the Academic Excellence Award for seven consecutive years: Clarendon Hills Middle School, Elm, Madison, Monroe, Oak, Prospect and Walker. The Lane School is one of 40 schools to have achieved the top rank for the past six years. Hinsdale Middle School is one of 159 schools earning the designation for the third time.

“These Honor Roll Schools continue to prove that hard work and reform efforts impact student achievement even as the bar to making Adequate Yearly Progress is raised,” said State Superintendent Christopher A. Koch. “ We hope administrators, teachers, parents, students and community members can celebrate their local schools’ success.”

For a complete listing of Honor Roll Schools, go to www.ilhonorroll.niu.edu. The Illinois State Board of Education developed the Illinois Honor Roll lists in partnership with Northern Illinois University.