Westville school district receives bad news on testing
WESTVILLE – School officials learned Wednesday that too many high school and grade school students in the district performed poorly on standardized state tests last spring for their schools to meet the state's adequate yearly progress goals.
Judith Giacoma Elementary School failed to meet the goals in reading, and Westville High School failed to meet the goals in both math and reading. Judith Giacoma Elementary met its goals last year, but this is the second year in a row that Westville High has not.
Each spring, elementary and middle school students across the state take the Illinois Standard Achievement Test, and 11th-grade students take the ACT college-assessment test and the Prairie State Achievement Exam. The results allow school officials to see how their students compare with their peers statewide, as well as how they are progressing from year to year.
Under the adequate yearly progress goals, 70 percent of all students must meet or exceed state standards on the math and reading portions of the test.
In spring 2009, only 45.9 percent of Westville High School 11th-grade students taking the standardized test met or exceeded state standards in reading – as compared to 56.9 percent of 11th-grade students statewide in 2009.
Likewise, in spring 2009, only 37.5 percent of Westville High School 11th-grade students taking the standardized test met or exceeded state standards in math – as compared to 51.6 percent of 11th-grade students statewide in 2009.
At Judith Giacoma Elementary, students did well overall on the math and reading sections of the standardized state tests in spring 2009, but not enough students in the school with learning disabilities met the standards in reading for the school to reach its goal in that area.
Superintendent Jim Owens said that school officials are preparing a more detailed presentation on the test results for the Westville school board. Those presentations may take place in December.
Owens said that officials are breaking down the data from the tests to determine why students are not meeting state standards. Student attendance rates, the number of students who transfer into the district and the types of courses offered at the high school are among the factors that have to be considered.
"I am not overly surprised by the state testing results this year," Owens said. "But certainly, there is room for improvement."
Westville High Principal Guy Goodlove is already addressing identified student needs in a school improvement plan.
A review of the 2009 testing results show that Westville High needs to focus on students' reading comprehension. Also, data analysis and probability – which are taught in higher-level mathematics courses – need to be introduced to students earlier, Goodlove said.
The next regular meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. on Nov. 11.
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