State Report Card Is In: See How Niles and Morton Grove Schools Rank

By Amie Schaenzer, Patch.com

This year's Illinois School Report Card is in and Niles Township High School District 219 and Golf School District 67 schools showed test results meeting or exceeding state averages. (Other Niles and Morton Grove school districts' results can be seen here.) 
 
The State Board of Education released its annual report card Thursday. Of the schools ranked in the report card, 600 passed while 3,169 were "deemed failures," according to a Daily Herald analysis of the State Report Card. 

Golf District 67 showed 80 percent of its students met or exceeded standards on the Illinois Standards Achievement Test in 2013 while an average of 61.9 percent met that same benchmark statewide, according to the Illinois State Report Card website. In 2012, 94 percent met or exceeded standards within District 67, according to the Illinois Report Card.

Many elementary school districts throughout the state saw a significant drop in scores from 2012 as part of the state board's move to raise expectations — or cut scores — for the ISATs, which is given to third through eighth grade students. 

The move was meant to help "align with the more rigorous Common Core Learning Standards and give a better indication of college and career readiness," according to an Illinois State Board of Education press release. 

As part of those changes, schools meeting or exceeding expectations in 2012 on average dropped throughout the state nearly 20 percentage points from 82.1 last year to 61.9 percent this year. 

The scoring on the Prairie State Achievement Exam, which is given to 11th graders, did not change this year and statewide, the composite score increased from 51.3 percent to 51.9 percent statewide, according to the ISBE press release. The composite meets or exceeds percentage for math and reading was set at 53.3 on this year's State report Card. 

In Niles Township High School District 219, 61 percent met or exceeded state standards on the PSAE. This is the same as 2012,  when 61 percent met or exceeded those same standards. 

A new metric, “Ready for College Coursework,” on the Illinois State Report Card refers to the percent of students at each high school who earned a combined score of at least a 21 on the ACT college admissions test. Statewide, 45.7 percent of Illinois public school students from the Graduating Class of 2013 posted at least a 21 on the ACT.

Within District 219, 57 percent were listed as "ready for college coursework."