CALUMET CITY | Not to be outdone by a neighboring district in Calumet City, Lincoln Elementary District 156 officials are reveling in their own good news about student performance on last year's statewide achievement tests.
While nearby Hoover-Schrum Elementary District 157 was celebrating the latest Illinois Standards Achievement Test results for 2007-08, District 156 Superintendent Darryl Taylor was spreading word about Lincoln School also making adequate yearly progress on the test.
Taylor made the announcement Thursday over the school's public address system and urged staff and students to keep the momentum going for this year.
Recalculated ISAT scores that the Illinois State Board of Education posted Tuesday show 62.2 percent of all Lincoln students meeting or exceeding state reading standards and 65.8 percent meeting or exceeding math standards, according to information Taylor provided.
"We're able to make (adequate yearly progress) due to the leadership of our (school) board and administration, the hard work of our staff and students, and the support of our community," Taylor said.
Earlier scores had indicated there were three subgroup categories at Lincoln that came close but did not make adequate progress in reading, he said. The newly calculated scores show the single-school district's five subgroup categories made adequate progress in both reading and math.
Schools and districts needed to have at least 62.5 percent of students meeting or exceeding state standards in reading and math to make adequate yearly progress on tests that students took this past spring.
Although 62.2 percent of all Lincoln students met or exceeded state standards in reading, Lincoln is considered to have met the mark based on the number of students who took the test, Taylor said.
Among Lincoln's subgroups, black students achieved the highest results in reading, with 63.5 percent meeting or exceeding state standards. The Hispanic subgroup excelled in math -- 73.7 percent met or exceeded standards, Taylor said.
The federal No Child Left Behind law requires states to establish annual achievement targets and to measure the performance of each public school and district. The ultimate goal of the act is to have all students meeting or exceeding reading and math standards by 2014.
ISAT performance is among the factors used to determine whether schools and districts have made adequate yearly progress. Those that don't make annual targets for consecutive years face sanctions.
District 156 is in its seventh year of sanctions and is in corrective action and restructuring, Taylor said. But the district will leave behind that status if it makes adequate yearly progress again this year.
The AYP target for the 2008-09 school year is to have 70 percent of students meeting or exceeding reading and math standards.
