Thursday, Nov. 05, 2009

Despite high overall scores, OTHS misses AYP

Even though, overall, its students recorded the highest average scores among area high schools on the 2009 Prairie State Achievement Examinations, this year's Illinois State Report Cards show O'Fallon Township High School has been listed among those schools not making Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) toward meeting the goals of the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act.

The report card, which reflects scores of students who were assessed in April 2009, indicates the district did not reach the mark in math among black students, students with disabilities and economically disadvantaged students.

OTHS is judged on the results posted by students in both reading and math in the following subgroups: school as a whole, white, black, multiracial, economically disadvantaged and students with disabilities. A subgroup is created when at least 45 students fall into one demographic. To be deemed as making progress on all hurdles this year at least 70 percent of those students must have met standards.

"Whether a school makes adequate yearly progress as a whole is dependent on all subgroups making adequate yearly progress. If one subgroup fails to progress, the entire school fails under the current rules for NCLB," Martha Weld, OTHS' director of instruction, pointed out while noting the hurdles keep getting higher.

The target rises to 77.5 percent next year. And it goes up seven percent every year until 2014, when the goal will be 100 percent.

This is the third year in a row the school has not reached AYP. Last year, it did not reach the mark among black students in reading. In 2008, it did not meet AYP because of the test scores of low income students in reading and black students in math. OTHS also missed AYP in 2003 because not enough black students met standards in math.

But Weld said the report card also shows the school has many strengths, despite not making AYP.

The composite ACT scores for the OTHS graduating class of 2009 was 22.7, compared to the state composite of 20.6. In English, OTHS students scored 22.3 (compared to the state average of 20.2). In math, they scored 23 (20.6); in reading, 22.8 (20.5); and in science, 22.3 (20.5).

Juniors who took the ACT on day one of the Prairie State Achievement Exam (PSAE) last April posted math scores of 22.5 and reading scores of 22.9. Both of those scores, which are the two areas the state tracks for its PSAE report, are improvements over the results posted by the 2009 seniors.

And the PSAE results indicate 73.3 percent of all OTHS juniors who took the test last April are meeting expectations in reading, 72.4 percent are meeting expectations in math and 68.2 percent are meeting expectations in science. The statewide averages were 56.9 percent in reading, 51.6 percent in math and 50.5 percent in science.

"We are very pleased with the overall results," Weld said.

But she noted the school remains troubled by scores posted on day two of the PSAE, when students are tested on work keys — skills deemed necessary in the workplace.

"Even though our overall ACT scores went up and our overall PSAE performance has increased, our work keys performance has dropped," she said.

To address the problem the school will increase its support services for students. The ACTion program will be expanded to include 220 students, an academic achievement center is being piloted at the Milburn campus, specialized software for assessing students will be used and the school is implementing the state’s Response to Intervention initiative.

Adjustments also will be made in the curriculum to increase the expectations for all students and professional development for teachers will be focused on targeted areas.

But then Weld said, "Questions have to be asked: Do you really want to sink a lot of effort into day two? Is that really going to benefit the educational needs of our students? Do we want to spend energies on what they really need or spend energies on a political standard that really is not helping the kids long term?

"They are difficult questions to answer because of the need to continue to make AYP. But I myself would be more inclined to focus on helping the students achieve their full potential for the long term," she said.

"If I am looking at the educational needs of our students, I would rather prepare them for the challenges they are going to face in either a career or college and not take education time to prepare them for taking day two of this standardized test," she said.

Weld added another reason for not focusing on the day two test is next year the goal for the state of Illinois rises to 77.5 percent.

She said, "This year overall we were not at 77 percent so my question is, if we really try, can we hit that 77 percent? Maybe. But, for the amount of time you would have to devote to hitting that goal, is it really worth it to take the time away from for the valuable academic instruction they need for post high school success."

Nevertheless, District 203 Superintendent Darcy Benway, Ed.D., said the school will continue to address the areas where shortcomings appear.

"We continue to try to reach kids on a multitude of levels,” she said. "We try to motivate kids. We try to get family involvement. We have implemented additional programming to bootstrap students up to grade point level.

"But," she added, "the reality exists that we get our students at ninth grade. There are a whole lot of opportunities to educate a student that occur before we ever see that student. And some students enter our doors way behind.

"We try everything we can to bring those students up to the level they need to be," she said.

Benway said another challenge comes “when student are defined by one federal law — the Individuals With Disabilities Act — to have struggles with learning, to need differentiated instruction and to have special needs. But another federal law — No Child Left Behind — says all students must be treated the same. All students must get the same test and all student must be at the same place at the same time.

"Those two laws really conflict," she said. "We realize federally that students are different and some students have different needs and learn a slower rate. But then the federal government turns around and says we are going to hold your school accountable and every student... must pass this test.

"That does not make sense. We are talking in two different languages. And it becomes problematic for educators," she said.

Benway then said, when it comes to meeting AYP, OTHS is at a disadvantage compared to many schools in the state.

"When they talk about academic performance and making or not making AYP, you have to consider the number of hurdles, or the number of benchmarks, OTHS has to meet," she said.

"OTHS has the highest test scores in Madison and St. Clair counties and yet there are schools with much lower scores that are making AYP because they don’t have all the hurdles that a large school like OTHS has.

"You have to be discriminating when you review the data and look at the big picture. Overall, our test scores are the best of the best. And, with regard to the value you are getting for the cost of the education, we continue to operate in the top 10 percent in the state of Illinois. Yet our costs per pupil are well below the state average — we are in the lower 10 percent among schools in Illinois."

Benway pointed out the report card documents many of OTHS’s strengths, as well.

• The graduating class of 2009 exceeded the state average on the ACT assessment with a composite score of 22.7, as compared to the state average of 20.6.

• Additionally, the students' overall performance on PSAE exceeded state averages. In 2007-08, OTHS's performance was 70.9 percent, compared to the state average of 52.5 percent.

• The OTHS attendance rate of 94.5 percent exceeds the state average of 93.7 percent, while the school's drop out rate (1.9 percent) is lower than the state average (3.5 percent).

• OTHS' graduation rate is 91.1 percent, which is above the state average of 87.5 percent.

• Last year’s operating expenditure per student at OTHS was $9,535, while the state average was $10,417. • On average, OTHS teachers have 11.9 years of experience compared to the statewide average of 12.5.

• The average OTHS teacher salary of $65,388 was higher than the state average of $61,402. And the average administrator's salary of $121,488 was higher than the state average of $106,217.

"It is very important for people to understand that OTHS is giving you high achievement at relatively low cost. I think that is a good bang for your buck," Benway said.