District 230 schools receive ratings from Illinois School Board

All three of Consolidated High School District 230 high schools - Carl Sandburg, Amos Alonzo Stagg and Victor J. Andrew - reached the Exemplary or Commendable levels on the 2022-23 Illinois School Report Card recently released.

To get to the Exemplary and Commendable levels, schools needed to have results higher than the lowest percentile in the state of Illinois with no critical areas of concern. Andrew reached Exemplary status as the entirety of all indicators placed them in the Top 10% of schools in Illinois. Stagg and Sandburg reached Commendable, which means they fell just shy of the Top 10%, but had no areas of significant gaps in performance data in general or among subgroups. The state established a state mark to reach for schools aligned to a 100 point scale.

The state board collects data on a range of “accountability indicators” for each public school, assigning a score out of 100 for each indicator. Those indicator scores are weighted and added up to determine a school’s overall index score.

The state board then issues a “summative designation” to each school based on its index score. The highest-performing 10% of schools are given the “exemplary” designation, while the lowest-performing 5% receive the “comprehensive support” designation. Every school in between receives a “commendable” designation, unless they have an underperforming student group, in which case they receive a “targeted support” designation.

Half of the Index Score is based on how many students earn a diploma. District 230 schools perform exceptionally well in this category with an average of just over 92%, which is above the state average of 88%.

One-fourth of the Index Score is standardized assessments in English/Language Arts (ELA), Math, Science, and the SAT college entrance exam. In general, District 230 students performed fairly well, with room to improve particularly in ELA. District 230 has programming in place to help improve student academic performance. Second-period intervention, lunchtime intervention, and a comprehensive structure to identify and support struggling students is in constant motion. D230 has aligned this progress to our Strategic Framework goals.

Chronic absenteeism, defined as students who miss 10% of the school year, or roughly 17 days, accounts for 10% of a school’s overall Index Score. A key indicator of student success, addressing absenteeism is a major component of the district’s Strategic Framework and an area that greatly impacts a school’s overall rating. This area is a particular area of focus to improve at all three schools over the next school term.

Superintendent Dr. Robert Nolting said, “Our students excel in our classrooms, alongside their teachers and staff dedicated to teaching and learning. We will continue to collaborate and connect with our parents and community, making every effort to reduce tardiness and absenteeism while continuing to improve the strong academic performance of our students.”

Participation in the Climate Survey, given once a year to students, teachers, and parents, is another component of the overall Index score. District 230 performs exceptionally well and receives close to full credit in this category.

Nolting added, “Summative designations are snapshots of how schools perform but do not tell the whole story. The full story is told day in and day out by the individual success of a student - both in class and on the court, stage, or countless other venues that support the whole student. We are in our second year of a very comprehensive Strategic Framework, designed for continuous improvement, hitting areas of improvement and growth. I applaud our faculty and staff for their commitment to all of our students.”