Quote:
Originally Posted by BRU67
What are the test scores for Berwyn high school. middle school and elementary.
Some nearby District comparisons (elementary and middle schools) for the 2006-07 ISAT (% meeting or exceeding state standards):
Riverside Dist. 96 – 91.7
LaGrange Dist. 102 – 88.7
Oak Park Dist. 97 – 86.8
Brookfield/LaGrange Park Dist. 95 – 85.4
North Riverside Dist. 94 – 80.0
Lyons Dist. 103 – 78.7
Berwyn Dist. 100 (south) – 78.0
Forest Park Dist. 91 – 73.1
Berwyn Dist. 98 (north) -- 69.4
Maywood/Melrose Park/Broadview Dist. 89 – 60.8
Cicero Dist. 99 – 60.2
|
Be careful when using K-8 ISAT 'meets and exceeds' percentages to evaluate the quality of school districts, the percentages are misleading.
Illinois K-8 schools generally don't assess students with nationally normed tests (National Assessment of Educational Progress - aka NAEP, etc.) so that meaningful information on educational quality can be gathered. In Illinois, K-8 schools test students on the ISAT (Illinois Standards Achievement Test) with cut scores for 'Meets Standards' that are so low it's ridiculous ...practically criminal.
Illinois and its K-8 schools are not alone in presenting a much rosier picture to parents and the public about the effectiveness of K-8 education than is actually the case. Many states set the bar way too low. This linked chart compares 4th and 8th grade state standards proficiency level vs. the NAEP proficiency level:
NAEP Researchcenter - NAEP and State Equivalent Percent Table
For each grade level, the first column lists the percentage of students scoring as proficient (meets or exceeds state standards) on the state test; the second column lists the percentage of students scoring as proficient or above on the NAEP (National test). Illinois, for example, reports that in reading 72% of 8th graders are proficient - but on NAEP testing, only 31% are proficient.
Chris Jenner, a D26 School Board member, explains how the ISAT tests and cut scores are manipulated here...
http://www.chrisjenner.org/ISATComparison2007.pdf
This article discusses the dumbed down state standards problem:
Lake Wobegon, U.S.A. -- where all the children are above average
(Pay particular attention to the college prof's comment at the bottom of the above linked article. 
) The article was updated to include Bush's proposal to require schools to include NAEP results on their NCLB report cards so that parents can see if their states have been manipulating their standards tests and passing scores to deliberately mislead the public into thinking that their children are getting a better education in the public schools than they actually are.
Given the fact that K-8 ISAT testing is so dumbed down, all families have to go on are the results on the nationally normed high school tests that colleges and universities use for admissions and course placement decisions - the ACT and/or SAT, and AP and/or HL IB Exams.
This is useful even for families whose children may not be college-bound as more and more employers are finding that with the technological advances they've experienced in their industries, workplace readiness equates more than ever to the same level of competency expected for college readiness.
It's somewhat risky to assume that a high-scoring public high school will maintain its excellence, though. Score trends over a multi-year time span might be useful in that regard. Additionally, it would be fairly reasonable to assume that a high-scoring high school would receive students from high quality K-8 schools.
Welcome to City-Data.com forum! Make sure to register - it's free and very quick! You have to register before you can post and participate in our discussions with 700,000 other registered members. User profiles and some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your free account you will be able to customize many options, you will have the full access to over 15,000 posts/day about local topics and you will see fewer ads. 
Linear Mode
