Schools
St. Charles School District ACT Science Scores Rise While Composites Decline
ACT science scores reach new high for St. Charles students.
Editor's Note: This story was updated to reflect additional information.
St. Charles student scores for the science portion of the ACT exam reached a new high this past school year, District 303 officials announced Wednesday morning.
The average score for students in the district reached 23.1, a nine-year high in the science category, according to district data. Students who graduated in 2011 achieved an overall composite score average of 23.4, more than two points above the Illinois average for the same year.
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The composite score dipped to an average of 23.4 for 2011, down slightly from the 23.6 average from the previous year, according to an Aug. 17 TribLocal article.
To district officials, the goal is to focus on instructional practice—specifically, teachers examining student performance to target effort—and the ACT score improvements are a byproduct of that.
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“It’s not really to get a test score higher,” said district Superintendent Don Schlomann. “The result of higher test scores is that our kids are more competitive when they go out there."
The good news about the college entrance exam comes in contrast to a mixed performance for District 303 in a different set of more contentious measurements: Academic Yearly Progress.
Three St. Charles schools have received an early academic warning for failing to meet annual standards two years in a row.
East High, Thompson Middle and Richmond Elementary, which has been renamed Richmond Intermediate, are all schools listed as having “Academic Early Warning Status,” according to information released by the Illinois Interactive Report Card in June.
Schools listed with that status did not make Adequate Yearly Progress, as defined by the national No Child Left Behind Act, for two consecutive years and are now eligible for state sanctions.
Schools everywhere are quickly starting to fall behind AYP standards. Both Geneva and Batavia high schools failed to keep up in 2010. St. Charles North did meet AYP for 2010. Updated data is expected to be released in October.
In St. Charles, the English Language Learning students and those with disability tend to have the most difficulty meeting the standard, but that isn't always the case.
“While AYP is important, the most important thing is a student's success because that’s where our community expectations lie," Schlomann said.
The 2010 report card also shows several bright spots for District 303. Eight schools, mostly elementary and Haines Middle, were listed as receiving academic excellence awards in 2010.
But for Schlomann, the proof of academic improvement isn’t just reflected in figures on a chart.
“When I start hearing that the Ivy League schools are now sending teams of people to recruit, I start to feel good, Schlomann said.
By the numbers—ACT Scores
English
Math
Reading
Science
Composite
D303
State
D303
State
D303
State
D303
State
D303
State
2007
21.9
20.2
22.3
20.4
21.9
20.5
22.2
20.4
22.2
20.
2011
23.0
20.6
24.1
20.9
22.9
208
23.1
20.7
23.4
20.9
Change (%)
5.0
2.0
8.1
2.5
4.6
1.5
4.1
1.5
5.4
2.0
Source: St. Charles District 303
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