Unlike Elmhurst, LTHS Does Not Avoid Bad SAT News

LA GRANGE, IL – A couple of weeks ago, Elmhurst School District 205 officials highlighted positive trends in student performance. But they avoided a glaring exception – dropping SAT scores at York High School.

By contrast, Lyons Township High School officials acknowledged a similar trend during a school board meeting and laid out steps to address it.

The dropping scores at York and Lyons Township are similar to those at other wealthy schools in the area.

Last school year, 53 percent of Lyons Township's 11th graders met math standards on the SAT. That's up from 51 percent in 2021, but down from 59 percent in 2018 and 65 percent in 2017. (In math, 50 percent of York's 11th graders met standards on the SAT last school year, down from 57 percent in 2021 and 63 percent in 2019.)

Like York, Lyons Township remains well above the statewide average, but that's to be expected, given the relatively low number of low-income students.

At a Lyons Township school board meeting this week, member Alison Kelly focused on the math SAT numbers. She said she did not want to "harp" on the issue or be "super negative," given the growth and achievement in other areas.

At the same time, she said she did not like that Lyons Township was rated "strong" with its math performance.

"Statistically, we can't be in a strong position there," Kelly said. "I don't feel we're strong."

Scott Eggerding, director of curriculum, said the school was comparatively strong to schools with similar demographics. But he said the administration knows it needs to increase students' performance.

"We look at these numbers, and we're not saying that it's great stuff or we're good," he said. "We're saying, 'How do we move more math students out of that bottom?'"

Another board member, Dawn Aubert, said she had the same reaction as Kelly. She called the recent trend unacceptable.

"Whether it's the (Illinois) metric or the College Board metric, we're still low. And the biggest concern for me is our decline over the years is outpacing the decline in the state," Aubert said. "That absolutely has to be turned around."

She said she liked that school officials presented a plan to reverse the trend.

Eggerding said he was concerned that fewer colleges were requiring standardized tests such as the SAT for admission. That means students may take such exams less seriously.

Hinsdale High School District 86 has expressed a similar concern.