Elmhurst D205 Outdone By Similar District: Official

ELMHURST, IL – Elmhurst District 205 and Naperville District 203 are similar in demographics, yet Naperville is performing better in test scores these days, an official said this week.

At a meeting Tuesday, Elmhurst school board President Kara Caforio said local officials should look at what Naperville is doing.

"They score a lot higher, and they made some changes that maybe would be interesting to look at because I think it's always good to learn from who is doing better," Caforio said.

She requested administrators come back with more information about the Naperville district.

Board member Courtenae Trautmann agreed. She said the district should look at others whose declines in test scores were less steep than Elmhurst's.

The two districts have similarities. In Elmhurst, 14 percent of students come from low-income families. That compares to 15 percent in the Naperville district. The state average is 48 percent.

Like most school districts, standardized test scores declined in Elmhurst and Naperville. But the drops weren't as steep in Naperville.

Last school year, 50 percent of York High School's juniors met or exceeded standards on the math section of the SAT. That compares with 59 percent in Naperville.

In English language arts, 52 percent of York's juniors met standards on the SAT, lower than Naperville's 59 percent.

In 2019, before the pandemic, both districts had the same percentage of students meeting standards in English language arts – 65 percent.

In math, York and Naperville were at 63 percent and 67 percent, respectively, in 2019