Facing the stringent demands of the No Child Left Behind Act, local school officials are scrambling to address low achievement scores for black and Latino students, in addition to students from low income backgrounds.
District 202 school board members spent Tuesday evening discussing student achievement at Evanston Township High School and how it could be improved.
Judith Levinson, director of research evaluation and assessment, presented the academic achievement report to the board. Focused on standardized testing measures, the report looks at student achievement in the past year and how it compared to previous years.
“We are looking at averages tonight, and averages mask the highs and lows,” Levinson said. “The point is not to just have the numbers, but to use them to help us make decisions in the future.”
The numbers show the performance of black and Latino students, as well as students from low-income backgrounds, was not up to par on some standardized tests, which could have an affect on the district’s finances.
Board member Martha Burns said the district needed to come up with ways to help these students improve.
“I’ve been in the community for 13 years, and every year it’s the same thing about how African-American and Latino students are doing,” Burns said. “(The) bottom line for me is that if it is low income that is impeding kids of color from learning, I’d like to hear more discussion on what we can do about it.”
Last year 34 percent of black students earned passing scores on the Prairie State Achievement Exam’s reading section, and 33 percent passed the test’s math section.
Low-income students scored slightly lower, with 27 percent passing in reading and 29 percent passing in math.
Through the No Child Left Behind Act, the federal government uses the statewide test to measure student achievement and will require 40 percent of students overall and in most subgroups receive passing scores in 2004. The federa guidelines also have some teeth attached: If low-performing schools do not meet their guidelines, they can lose all federal funding. The guidelines affect ETHS as well as the middle and grade schools overseen by Evanston/Skokie School District 65.
Superintendent Allan Alson said a key to raising scores for all students is to reach beyond the classroom.
“We need to do more to engage our students in reading for both leisure and school,” Alson said. “Literacy has to be key because it’s linked to every subject.”
Alson brought the meeting to a close with the superintendent’s annual report, which looked at the previous year and drew attention to accomplishments of both the district.
