Dec. 10--The majority of students in Elgin-area U46 schools fail to meet state education guidelines according to state test results released Thursday.
More than two-thirds of district students fell short in math. In English and Language Arts, the percentage of students meeting or exceeding expectations was slightly higher, though still hovered around one-third, according to results based on spring tests.
District officials said Thursday that, since this is the first year for Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, it is difficult to draw concrete conclusions from any of the data.
"It is baseline data," district spokeswoman Mary Fergus said. "We have questions and we're not drawing a lot of conclusions at this point."
U46 students overall are roughly 1 percentage point behind the state average of kids who meet or exceed the rigorous expectations of Illinois' new standardized test, better known as PARCC.
District-wide, 36.8 percent of U46 students meet or exceeded the English and Language Arts threshold, less than a percentage point below the state average of 37.7 percent.
On the math side, 27.7 percent of district test-takers met or crossed the math minimum proficiency threshold, half a percentage point below the 28.2 percent statewide.
But the percentage of students meeting or exceeding the math portion of the PARCC at the district's high schools was roughly 10 percentage points below the state scores, according to Illinois State Board of Education data.
While 18.7 percent of Illinois high schoolers met or exceeded the PARCC math expectations, demonstrating they were prepared to proceed in grade level and were on track for college and careers, only 8 percent of U46 high schoolers hit the threshold, according to ISBE data.
Unlike the previous tests used by Illinois, the state has yet to send the district the kinds of contextual information that helps officials decipher the score thresholds and other factors, district officials said.
There are questions about the increased literacy required in the test, with the math section's word problems, for example, and how English-learning students fare with such material, officials said.
Roughly a third of the high school students who took the test also did not sit for the math section because it was algebra they had already advanced beyond, according to Dr. Suzanne Johnson, assistant superintendent for teaching and learning.
With a new assessment and the varying factors, as well as state context that has yet to arrive, it may take U46 several years of testing to fully make sense of the test data, Johnson said.
"It's difficult for us to ascertain what it's telling us," she said.
Officials said they may receive such information from the state next month, but that they have not received any set confirmation on when that will arrive.
Such context helps staff figure out the necessary tweaks to improve performance, Johnson said.
"It's a question for us right now," she said. "I don't know if we have a lot of answers."
Districts across the state have been bracing for the arrival of the PARCC test, which was given for the first time this spring and replaced separate standardized tests.
The test is designed to gauge students' understanding of the recently implemented Common Core curriculum, a new way of teaching that aims to help students apply classroom lessons to the real world in a more practical way via critical thinking. But it is also one that critics have accused of being an overreach.
Some parents and school districts have balked at Common Core and the new test.
District CEO Tony Sanders earlier this year said that if the district did not demonstrate that 96 percent of its kids took the PARCC, it risked losing out on federal aid.
While U46's high-schools fell below the state's math minimum, it also fell below the English Language Arts/Literacy portion of the test, with 28.5 percent of high schoolers meeting or exceeding the threshold versus 34.7 percent statewide.
Eastview Middle School in Bartlett boasted the district's best scores, with 67.5 percent of students meeting or exceeding the English requirement and 53.8 percent hitting the math threshold, according to state data.
Eastview 7th and 8th graders each beat the state percentage by more than 20 percentage points.
Huff Elementary School in Elgin had the lowest percentage of student meet or exceed the English expectation at 13.4 percent, while Larkin High School had the lowest percentage of students passing the math threshold at 2.3 percent, according to state data.
The PARCC exam, based on the new Common Core standards, was given for the first time last year in math and English and language arts to students in third through eighth grades. At the high school level, it was given in English or math courses selected by each district.
Students earned one of five performance levels based on their exam scores -- did not yet meet expectations, partially met expectations, approached expectations, met expectations and exceeded expectations. Students who met and exceeded expectations are considered prepared for the next grade and on track for college and careers.
geoffz@tribpub.com
