The Evanston/Skokie School District 65 board discussed newly released test results at its meeting Tuesday night, but although officials praised the overall results, they lamented the continuing minority achievement gap.
The district continues to exceed state averages in almost all subject areas of the Illinois Standards Achievement Test. And most average scores improved from last year’s levels — particularly in math, where all three grades tested showed improvement.
But Latino and black students scored well below their white and Asian counterparts on all areas of the test, a trend that has troubled D65 for years.
Board member Greg Klaiber said the district has been working to overcome the minority gap but has had little progress to show for it on standardized tests.
Superintendent Hardy Ray Murphy noted that the district spends more than the state average on the minority achievement problem and devotes a significant amount of time to it.
“It’s extremely frustrating because so many people in the district are working so hard on this problem,” Murphy said. “If some students can pass the test, there isn’t any reason why others can’t also.”
The district’s third-, fourth- and eighth-graders who took the ISAT in April were tested in reading, math and writing. Science and social studies ISATs were given to students in the fourth and seventh grades.
Board member Lisa Kupferberg voiced disappointment in the ISAT for giving schools’ raw scores instead of performance evaluations.
“You can’t make improvement go up if you don’t know why the scores went down,” Kupferberg said.
Judith Levinson, D65’s director of research, evaluation and planning, told the board that the ISAT is not meant to be diagnostic but rather a “snapshot test.”
Levinson said the district will analyze the data in coming months to try to determine why particular schools and classes might score higher than others.
At the meeting, the board discussed ways to prepare for an expected $6.3 million shortfall in November. A delay in property tax bills — because the due date moved from Sept. 1 to Nov. 1 — will force the district to wait longer for revenue.
Murphy told the board that if the district does not prepare for a shortfall, it will be caught in an uncomfortable position because most cash flow is tied up in restricted funds and is inaccessible.
“It’s an absolute necessity if you look at where we are,” Murphy said.
The board is considering two options to cover expenses before the tax revenue arrives: early approval of a working cash transfer and the issuance of tax anticipation notes and warrants.
