The results of the Prairie State Achievement Exam have been revealed and Illinois Valley Central High School has not made Adequate Yearly Progress.
Principal Kenton Bergman shared the scores with the IVC District 321 school board at its Sept. 22 meeting.
The AYP minimum target for each subject area to meet standards was 70 percent, and scores for IVC were: reading — 63; math — 53.1; and science — 60.5.
However, all of IVC High School’s scores were well above the state average.
Bergman said as a result of the scores, he and the department chairs are beginning to align their local learning outcomes with the state standards and state performance descriptors.
Bergman said the district will also implement Measures of Academic Progress testing at the high school with all freshman-level English and math classes and continue offering intervention options.
Board president Jim Hollenback said the expectation should always be for schools to meet AYP standards, but the test does not make or break them as a successful high school or district.
“We don’t get measured in student performance in foreign language, fine arts or tech classes. I think we should find out why we didn’t meet it and what we can do different, but also consider lobbying for the state testing laws to be changed,” Hollenback said.
Superintendent Dr. Nick Polyak said Illinois and Colorado are the only two states who use this AYP model under the No Child Left Behind Act, while other states have tweaked the system to fit their education model.
Polyak added that while last year, IVC was in the top 25 percent of districts in the state for testing performance, only 25 districts would make AYP this year if those scores stayed the same.
“Next year, that number would dwindle to nine with the same scores. I don’t know of anybody who is really making AYP lately,” Polyak said.
Next year, the AYP target increases to 77.5 percent, with 100 percent being a goal for all schools by 2014.
Bergman said he believes the 70 percent or higher goal is possible.
“It’s definitely attainable and we can try, but I think there is lots for us to do with our curriculum if we want to do it,” Bergman said.
At the Sept. 8 board meeting, it was announced that the district did meet and exceed AYP for its scores on the Illinois State Achievement Test, which measures grades 3-8 students in reading and math.
In other action and discussion, the board:
• approved personnel contracts for Ellen Bjerk as a special education aide at Mossville and Vickie Williams as a crossing guard at Chillicothe Elementary Center.
A resignation was also approved for Mary Ann Magnuson, a special education aide at CEC.
