No Child Left Behind Benchmarks Too High for Many School Districts

The standardized testing at the heart of the federal No Child Left Behind law has served as a virtual report card on local schools, and if Illinois schools were assigned a letter grade on those tests, most would be getting Fs.

About 80 percent of Illinois schools fail to meet standards under NCLB. Locally, school districts are well above the state average in percentage of students meeting or exceeding requirements. But the districts here still aren't meeting the increasing benchmarks set by NCLB.

In February, the Illinois State Board of Education plans to seek a waiver from some of the law’s provisions now that the president has authorized states to seek exemptions if they commit to reform efforts.

Specifically, the state wants an exemption from the requirement that all students must pass standardized reading and math tests by 2014. In October, the state released standardized test data. Illinois Statehouse News reported on the results:

This past year, about half of Illinois’ 11th-graders, who take the Prairie State Achievement Exam, or PSAE, scored at or above the 85 percent benchmark:

• 51 percent in reading and math;
• 49 percent in science.

In all, 656 of Illinois’ 666 public high schools failed to meet NCLB requirements.

Students in third through eighth grades, overall, scored below the 85 percent benchmark, except for the following student groups who scored at or above the mark:

• 85 percent of eighth-graders in reading;
• 86 percent of eighth-graders in math;
• 87 percent of fourth-graders in math.

State Board of Education Chairman Gery Chico told Statehouse News that the failure rates show NCLB has “lost its usefulness.” To receive a waiver, the state must:

• set stricter curriculum standards
• establish teacher and principal evaluations ties to student performance
• turn around 15 percent of the worst-performing schools

Bloom Township District 206 Scores

The hasn't met the high federal standards since the they were set in 2004, and this year had its lowest percentage of students meeting or exceeding those standards, lagging behind state averages by 33 percentage points.

District 206 didn't meet Adequate Yearly Progress, which this year required 85 percent of all students to meet target goals set through NCLB. Because the district hasn't met AYP in past years, it's on an academic watch status with the state.

The district's scores have dropped from the previous year, with about 22.7 
percent of students meeting or exceeding standards in reading and 20.4 percent in math. The state average is 75 percent in reading and 80.8 percent in math.

PSAE Scores

College Readiness

Numbers indicate the percentage of students who meet or exceed state standards.

Check back for more coverage of the state report cards. For more information, go to the Illinois Interactive Report Card website.