Elmhurst Community Unit School District 205 Shares Results of ISBE Report Cards
– Denoting a steady positive change in the trajectory for students in District 205 –
Elmhurst, IL – The data released today in the 2023 Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) for District 205 shows a strong return on investments with multiple areas increasing beyond predictions after a year focused on data, research and implementation of new curricula and professional development. The annual Report Card data provides a detailed look at each school’s progress on multiple areas including academics, student success, school culture and climate, and financial investments. Elmhurst District 205 students demonstrated significant academic achievements in many areas, compared to prior years and again this year all schools in District 205 have received the top two designations of Exemplary or Commendable.
Heading into the 2023 school year, District 205 utilized student data to drive informed decisions for student and staff success. The 2022-2023 school year brought the launch of six new curricular programs district-wide, including Wit and Wisdom & Fundations. Each was also paired with strong professional learning plans. Additionally, staff performed three robust curricula reviews around math, dual language and english language learners.
“Success like this doesn’t happen on its own,” said Elmhurst District 205 Superintendent Dr. Keisha Campbell. “Our teachers, staff and administration have worked hard throughout the year to launch curricula that were directly aligned with standards, research and data and the tremendous strides we see in the report are a direct result of their hard work and dedication to our students and partnership with our families.”
Last year, the state utilized participation only for the Illinois Science Assessment (ISA), this year they measured proficiency and the percentage of students who are proficient or exemplary. The ISA is taken by all fifth, eighth, and eleventh graders and accounts for 5 percent of the percentage of students who are proficient or exemplary for all our elementary, middle, and high schools. While two years ago, District 205 students’ proficiency was slightly below the state average, this year shows an increase in proficiency over the last two years that surpasses the state average by nearly 20 percent and an increase in 6.7 percent of students meeting proficiency benchmarks in science overall. District 205 has aligned curricular resources utilized at the elementary, middle, and high school to ensure students are achieving at the highest level.
There was also an increase in students meeting the SAT Achievement and ISBE benchmark scores this year. Following three years of declining proficiency they are now seeing an increase of 3.2 percent more students meeting the math benchmark and 2.5 percent more students meeting the Evidence Based Reading and Writing benchmark.
Following their implementation of Wit & Wisdom and Fundations district-wide, dramatic increases were noticed within the Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR) scores. Student proficiency levels showed steady increases for the second year in a row, and even surpassed 2019 for both math and ELA, with an 8 percent increase in ELA and 4 percent increase in math.
One area where they did see a slight decrease was in the Freshmen-On-Track rate. Quickly outlining a plan to address this, Dr. Campbell shared that, “the Student Services team collaborates directly with teachers to ensure that students are receiving the support during their freshman year,” she said. “ If a student does earn an F, counselors work with the student and family to ensure that the student is on-track after summer school to set the student up for success for the remainder of their high school career. Research shows that on-track students are four times more likely to graduate from high school in four years than off-track students. This work is particularly important and we are continuing to focus on students with IEPs and our English Language Learners.”
“Seeing results like this tell me that, although there is still work to be done, our efforts to align curricular resources, programs, and instructional practices to research, standards, and data are working.” Said Dr. Campbell. “We know that we need to continue to support individual student academic and social-emotional needs through varied programs and supports, based on progress monitoring and assessment data as well and we will continue to see student growth.”
Dr. Campbell will be sharing these results as well as a full review of the 2022-2023 school year at the State of the District Address at York High School on November 1, 2023 at 7:00 PM.
View District 205’s complete Illinois Report Card data at www.illinoisreportcard.com.
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