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Summer classes grow 38% Chicago's mandatory summer school enrollment jumped by 38 percent this year, thanks in large part to a tough new policy that required kids to rack up at least a C in reading and math to be promoted. Read more... Remedial course stats behind push for school reform Small-school idea similar to one used by Lanphier Read more... Marsh Elementary students win ExploraVision Award Fourth-grade students at Marsh Elementary School were honored at an assembly Monday for their winning entry in the ExploraVision Awards program. Read more... SD 118 wins sixth-straight Bright Red Apple Award Palos Community Consolidated School District 118 doesn't set out to win academic awards. Read more... National Achievement Scholarship winners The National Achievement Scholarship Program has announced this year's winners. Read more... Southland Golden Apple Scholars named Read more... Do the Right Thing recipients honored A crowd of parents filled the board room Monday night as the District 7 Board of Education honored March's Do The Right Thing award recipients. Read more... Why so many 8th-graders make the grade but later fail Educators say there are problems in the testing system, not students Read more... Schools pull out the stops for the ISAT Eight hours of sleep, a solid breakfast and the drive to do their best -- that is all educators are asking of the thousands of third- through eighth-grade students who are taking the Illinois Standards Achievement tests this week and next in reaching and math. Read more... Kids lose a lot when teaching aims at test This is ISAT state testing week, and teachers are under tremendous pressure to raise scores. Read more... Achievement tests begin in Ill. schools Schools hope months of preparation and extra help from parents will help nearly 1 million Illinois students score well as two weeks of standardized testing begin Monday Read more... Spanish-speaking students must take school tests in English Spanish-speaking public school students will have to take standardized tests in English beginning Tuesday, after the state rebuffed a last-ditch effort by Chicago Public Schools to delay the testing. Read more... Chamber seeks donations for high school scholarships Students are recognized often for athletic abilities, but not as often for intellect. Read more... Schools draw parents into ISAT prep game Families tackle practice tests, attend rallies to help students on state exam Read more... Board honors students for efforts The District 7 Board of Education meeting was exceptionally crowded Monday night as the board honored "Do The Right Thing" award recipients. Read more... CPS to unveil plans to reduce dropout rate SCHOOLS | Nearly half of freshmen eventually quit Read more... New program lifts grades, achievement of Hononegah freshmen Amanda Williamson is celebrating a drastic rise in her grades as a freshman at Hononegah High School. Read more... More Illinois students failing Advanced Placement tests Illinois high school students continue to enroll in Advanced Placement courses in record numbers. But data released by the College Board indicates the proportion of them passing the rigorous AP exams continues to decline. Read more... Parents protest test in English Angry Chicago Latino parents threatened Tuesday to keep their kids home on test day next month if state education officials insist on giving students who are still learning English an achievement test in English. Read more... Top education official will visit three schools in metro-east today The top education official in the Midwest will be in the metro-east today to observe best practices at three St. Clair County schools. Read more... Harlem School Board honors student achievements Several student achievements were recognized Monday during the Harlem School Board meeting. Read more... District warns of state test's impact An Arlington Heights-based school district can offer little help to juniors with limited English proficiency who in April will take the standard statewide achievement test, officials say. Read more... Much at stake for several schools in state tests With a week's worth of tests looming just over the horizon, Jimmie Harris is driving a car in a video game. Read more... New standards to boost student achievement Bloom Township High School District 206 officials are adjusting some academic standards hoping to boost student achievement. Read more... 2 metro-east schools make magazine's list of top American high schools Belleville East, Marissa make the list Read more... State of the Schools: Speech's overview doesn't touch safety Parents say they want to hear about safety, academic improvement and parental involvement. Read more... Schools worry as federal NCLB standards increase Crescent City Grade School kids know something about getting 100s. Read more... Charleston schools get state recognition for test scores When Jefferson Elementary School Principal Debbie Poffinbarger heard a student say she'd like help finding books by authors she likes, Poffinbarger knew just what to do. Read more... District 204 says missing tests have been found Indian Prairie Unit District 204 fifth-graders hoping for one special package this season got their wish Wednesday. Read more... Spotlight is on area schools Student performance at three Park Forest-Chicago Heights District 163 schools has set an example of progress. Read more... Youths seek edge for college prep test COURSE OFFERED | Parents pay tutors $100 an hour Read more... Poor marks for Chicago schools 'NATION'S REPORT CARD' | Official sees 'positive direction'; activist calls it 'reality check' Read more... City's Catholic students top U.S. average on test, but suburban kids do even better Local Roman Catholic elementary students scored well above the national average on standardized tests, but suburban students significantly outperformed city kids, data released Thursday by the Archdiocese of Chicago show. Read more... District 95 school improvement While as a whole, District 95 made Annual Yearly Progress (AYP) for its school report cards, Paris High School fell below state standards. Read more... High school test results show lowest-ever pass rate State education officials want to hire an independent expert to determine if a technical problem could have caused a decline in this year's high school test results, which reflected the lowest-ever pass rate. Read more... State looks into whether test compromised POOR RESULTS | Technical flaws may be to blame Read more... Reviews coming in on year-round schools State Report Card shows mixed results, but unconventional schedule wins converts Read more... Making the push: Rewards, Saturday classes, hands-on learning used to increase scores It wasn't the $100 savings bond or even the free trip to Six Flags that was responsible for Tania Chaney's performance on the annual Illinois Standards Achievement Test. Read more... Grade schools improve, high schools tumble in latest test scores In a year of heightened expectations on state tests, 900 Illinois schools landed failing grades, results released today show -- including more high schools than ever in the past five years of No Child Left Behind accountability. Read more... Illinois schools facing test dilemma Across the state, test-weary high-schoolers are putting down their pencils after taking the ACT test -- and educators think they're not picking them up again for the state test the next day. Read more... Grade schools improve, high schools tumble in latest test scores In a year of heightened expectations on state tests, 900 Illinois schools landed failing grades, results released today show -- including more high schools than ever in the past five years of No Child Left Behind accountability. Read more... State testing goals will get tougher to meet Results of 2007 standardized tests leave more Rock River Valley schools in danger of facing state and federal sanctions under the federal No Child Left Behind Act. Read more... Nearly tenth of Ill. high schools are 'dropout factories' At Sullivan High School on the Chicago's North Side, 479 students -- the majority of them minority and low-income -- enrolled in the class of 2006. By senior year, just 82 of them remained in school. Read more... School assembly lauds St. Anne success New St. Anne High School Principal Mark Zych is the first to admit it. Earlier in the school year, when he attended meetings with other educational leaders and the subject of student discipline came up, the group looked to him for input. Read more... Students are front and center in new format for CMS parent conferences With the end of the first quarter of the school year last week and report cards sent out on Friday, CMS did a switch from the usual parent-teacher conferences that follow the end of the year's first term. Seventh-graders at the school had to be the first to explain their progress, not the teachers. Read more... Students swayed by candy STUDY | Rate teachers who give chocolate as better than others Bad teachers might want to invest in some chocolate candy. A new study suggests that giving students chocolate can influence teacher evaluations. Read more... Foundation formed for Kankakee High scholarships A college scholarship will be waiting for every Kankakee High School student who meets certain academic standards if the vision of a new foundation comes to fruition. Read more... Northbrook music teacher gets federal award Longtime educator gets American Star for his innovative approach, which harmonizes array of studies at Northbrook elementary school William Vaananen has penned some 30 children's plays in his 27-year tenure as a music teacher at Wescott Elementary School in Northbrook... Read more... Illinois' students failing to keep pace Critics say scores show state's test is watered down This year's results, released Tuesday, show Illinois' schoolchildren posted scores lower than or equal to the national averages in all but... Read more... Write or wrong: New exam for 8th-graders? CPS | Policy would focus on writing before high school Chicago public schools are putting writing on the front burner. Next school year, 35,000 CPS eighth-graders would have to pass a new three-part writing test or get at least a C in writing to... Read more... National scholarship semifinalists named EDUCATION | Program will pick about 800 black students who achieved high scores on merit test These high school students from the city and suburbs have been named semifinalists in the 2008 National Achievement Scholarship Program... Read more... Illinois pupils' improvement doesn't quite match national average Math and reading tests taken by 4th and 8th graders Illinois math and reading scores rose slightly in the only nationwide standardized tests, but not as much as the rest of the nation, leaving Illinois... Read more... Editorial Assignment: Boost high school scores Why is it proving so difficult to improve high school students' standardized test scores? That question jumps off the page from news reports on the latest round of results, which the Illinois State Board of Education... Read more...
National Merit Semifinalists Out of 16,000 chosen nationwide, congratulate the 2008 National Merit Scholarship semifinalists from Illinois and northwest Indiana... Read more... Illinois public high school reading scores take a dive EDUCATION | Elementary students improve in reading, math Illinois high school reading scores took their biggest tumble in at least five years, while elementary reading scores moved solidly upward, 2007 statewide test results showed... Read more... Study: Teens blank on Constitution Day WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Constitution Day is here and many teenagers know little about commemorating the document's signing. A study being released Monday by a foundation that focuses on journalism and the First Amendment found that... Read more... Editorial: The making of a good teacher Teacher Montie Apostolos understood that it's not enough to punch in, instruct students for 5 hours and 45 minutes, then punch out. It's particularly not enough in a classroom of 34 adolescents struggling with poverty and a host of extreme social problems... Read more...
SPRINGFIELD -- The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) announced the names of eight finalists for the 2007-2008 Illinois Teacher of the year... Read more... New incentive for teachers EDUCATION | Bonuses also would go to principals, and even janitors and clerks About five years ago, as a teacher in Los Angeles, Nicole Guillen supported a pay-for-performance plan that was voted down by her public school. But times change, and Guillen changed school districts. Today, as Chicago Public Schools open a new school year, Guillen is part of... Read more... State's SAT scores buck national trend Average math and reading SAT scores fell four points for the high school class of 2007 to their lowest mark since 1999 -- although students in Illinois bucked the trend. Last spring's graduating seniors scored... Read more... Fewer students pass exam Chief: City's high schools need boost The percentage of Chicago public high school students who passed a state standardized test linked to the ACT college entrance exam has dropped for the second year, according to preliminary scores released Thursday. State officials will release a final district-by-district report card to schools this fall... Read more... Ignoring U.S. News college ratings We at Columbia College Chicago, the nation's largest arts and media college, have decided to no longer submit institutional data to U.S. News & World Report's college issue ("Ivy League schools keep top positions in annual ranking," News, Aug. 17). We make this decision at a time when a growing number of institutions... Read more... Schools hire group to grade district Through the work of its citizen action committee Lincolnshire-Prairie View District 103 has sought to develop and foster communication between the district and residents it serves. Now, to evaluate how effective the district is and what can improve, the district has hired Chicago based... Read more... Teachers saying yes to merit pay tied to test scores WASHINGTON - While the words "merit pay" drew hisses and boos at a recent teachers' union convention, educators are endorsing contracts that pay bonuses for boosting students' test scores. The National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers oppose linking a teacher's paycheck to how well their students do on tests. But that is not stopping Rob Weil, the AFT's... Read more... ACT scores climb, but not college readiness Six years after Illinois required that all high school juniors take a college entrance exam, state ACT scores plateaued at last year's record high and more students graduated equipped for college. Yet, less than a quarter of Illinois' Class of 2007 could score at least a C in core intro-level college courses... Read more... Average CPS freshman: 19 absences, 2.6 F's The average Chicago public school freshman misses nearly a month of school and racks up more than two semester grades of F in their critical first year of high school, a new study by the University of Chicago indicates... Read more... District has improvement plan in place Guide to bring schools to standards was approved by board, still needs state OK DECATUR - The numbers are sobering. Decatur's truancy rate was 4.9 percent in 2006, up from 1.6 in 2001. Poverty is higher, with more than 66 percent of students classified as economically disadvantaged, up from... Read more... Editorial: 25,000 'superior' teachers A mere three-tenths of 1 percent of Chicago public school teachers receive "unsatisfactory" evaluations. A recent study by the New Teacher Project, a national non-profit aimed at raising the caliber of public school teachers, also found that even among the district's 87 most demonstrably failing schools, 80 percent hadn't issued an "unsatisfactory" rating to a teacher. Either that's one astounding teaching force, or the Chicago Public Schools' evaluation system is whacked... Read more... Editorial: Raise standards on graduation Illinois just got knocked by the Education Trust, a Washington-based think tank, for setting its high school graduation goal too low. But rather than admit that the group has a valid point, state education leaders are... Read more... Report criticizes schools' goals for graduation Illinois and most other states are setting the bar too low when it comes to goals for high school graduation, according to a report released on Wednesday. The national study by The Education Trust, a Washington think tank, focused on graduation requirements under the No Child Left Behind... Read more... Teachers' grades inflated CPS | 'Unsatisfactory' ratings 'out of whack' Most veteran Chicago Public Schools principals admit they have inflated their performance ratings of teachers -- 93 percent of whom are rated "superior" or "excellent," according to... Read more... Opinion: Learning science can be fun It's great news that Chicago public school students improved their test scores in reading and math --and CPS deserves credit for this achievement! But as a community, we need to recognize how detrimental it is to our children and our society that Chicago students have declined in science once again... Read more... National Merit Scholarships Here are the names of area high school seniors who have won college-sponsored National Merit Scholarships announced Monday by the National Merit Scholarship Corp... Read more... Opinion: School Scores Thank you for what we believe is intended to be praise for Chicago Public Schools in the June 28 editorial "A well-deserved chicken dance." We are delighted that so many former critics are... Read more... Editorial: A well-deserved chicken dance If football has the end-zone chicken dance, the Chicago Public Schools system has its own victory ritual: Mayor Richard M. Daley shows up at a press conference alongside school officials to announce happy test-score... Read more... Success rate still lags for blacks who take AP tests Many are reluctant to enroll in courses WASHINGTON - Participation in the Advanced Placement program has more than doubled in 10 years. But this surge in college-preparatory testing has not reached most African-American students, according to a Washington Post analysis of Read more... Study: States should improve teacher licensing, evaluation WASHINGTON - A new public school teacher in North Dakota works for a year on probation before getting job security. For a teacher in Illinois... Read more... |
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