State Releases School-by-School Test Scores

State Releases School-by-School Test Scores

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The Illinois State Board of Education is releasing test score results for individual schools today.

Related: Northern Illinois University’s Interactive Illinois Report Card.
               IL State Board of Education’s eReport Card Public Site

Overall, the state’s elementary schools are bringing home good grades again this year—a six-year upward trend.

But high schools continue to struggle. Only about half of students there met state standards.

SMITH: The scale of improvement has not carried over to the high schools, where there’s actually a decline.

Harvey Smith is an education researcher at Northern Illinois University.

SMITH: That’s the issue that will grab the attention of parents. How is it that my child will likely do pretty well in the elementary school, receive a good education on average in schools in Illinois, but then into the high school there won’t be nearly as much apparent improvement in the instruction and learning going on.

That’s what state and Chicago officials are trying to figure out.

Another problem that has to be addressed: wide achievement gaps persist between white and minority students.

I’m Linda Lutton. Chicago Public Radio.