Oct. 30--Illinois's latest school report card data show sizable gains in the share of students who graduate from high school in four years at two Lake County districts.
Both Round Lake Senior High School and New Tech High in Zion saw roughly 10 percent increases in the number of students graduating in four years.
The Illinois State Board of Education has released some of the data reported in the state's annual school report cards, though results of PARCC testing won't be available until later this year.
At Round Lake High, the latest data show 82.1 percent of students graduate in four years, up from 72 percent in 2014.
Principal Donn Mendoza, who also serves as District 116's assistant superintendent of secondary education, said the district has been making changes designed to spot struggling students earlier and help them stay on track.
"Additional counselors ... at the high school have allowed us to increase our ability to monitor individual students, ultimately leading to proactive intervention earlier and more frequently," Mendoza said.
District 116 also hired an additional teacher to work with students trying to recover credit and created a tutoring center that lets students get extra help during the school day, he said.
Only two Lake County high schools had fewer than 80 percent of students graduating in four years: Waukegan High School, with 77.5 percent; and North Chicago Community High School, with 67.8 percent.
However, state data on test scores show that while most Lake County high schools exceed the state average in producing graduates who are prepared for college classes, a handful still lag far behind.
Based on the state's analysis, more than 60 percent of Grayslake Central, Warren Township and Lakes Community High School students were prepared for college work, well above the 45.6 percent of students in the state as a whole. But in North Chicago, only 7.2 percent scored well enough on the ACT to be considered college-ready.
The state's benchmark for college preparedness is an overall ACT score of 21.
Most districts serving the Waukegan, Gurnee, Grayslake, Round Lake and North Chicago area saw scores stay relatively consistent, including District 121's Warren Township High School.
Superintendent John Ahlgrim said he was "not dissatisfied" with an average ACT score of 22.5 but would have preferred the same growth seen in students' AP scores. The district plans to study students' ACT results more closely to see whether there are areas where teachers can help students better prepare, he said.
"They are important to us because they have real outcomes for our kids," Ahlgrim said.
Scores were relatively consistent at Waukegan High School, where the average ACT was a 17.3, and 18.9 percent of students were considered college-ready.
Joan Brixey, associate superintendent for teaching, learning and professional practice, said the district would like those numbers to be higher, but also highlighted the school's areas of growth, particularly when it comes to graduation rates.
"Test scores don't encapsulate the progresses we are seeing both at our high school and districtwide," she said. "Anecdotally we are seeing a lot of student success. However, those successes have not yet translated to the gains we would like to see in standardized test scores."
Antioch and Lakes Community high schools both saw more than 5 percent declines in students considered college-ready since last year.
Community High School District 117 Superintendent Jim McKay said he thinks the fluctuation is "within reason" and noted that overall ACT scores are just one measure of student success. More District 117 students are enrolling in AP courses and a greater share of them are passing those exams, McKay said.
New Tech High, where composite ACT scores rose from 19.6 to 20.1, had 42.9 percent of students considered college-ready, up about 7 percent from 2014.
The state also sets college readiness benchmarks in individual subject areas. Only about a quarter of students across the state scored well enough to be considered ready for college work in all four subjects assessed -- English, math, reading and science.
New Tech High, where just 5 percent of students met that benchmark in 2014, now has 10 percent of students deemed college-ready in all four subjects. Lakes Community High School had the greatest share of students meeting that stricter standard, with 38 percent, while at North Chicago, only 1.3 percent of students met all four benchmarks, down from 2.2 percent in 2014.
lzumbach@tribpub.com
