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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
August 7, 2003
State Board of Education Releases Preliminary School Choice
List
August 7, 2003 -- The Illinois State Board of Education today
released a list of districts it notified with an “early
alert” letter informing them of schools that may have
to offer Choice this fall. The letter notified districts of
more than 500 schools that preliminary data indicated fell
short of making Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP).
“This is a working document,” said State Superintendent
of Education Robert E. Schiller. “We felt it incumbent
on us to give these schools and districts a courtesy notice
so they would have time to plan for the fall.”
According to ISBE staff, preliminary data included math and
reading scores from the ISAT and PSAE results released in
July. The letter and list followed just days later.
The letter sent by Schiller notified schools that the Illinois
Administrative Code provides forty-five (45) days from the
receipt of the data for school districts to verify the accuracy
of the score information received and to notify the State
Board of Education of any discrepancies identified. If no
conflicting information is received from a district within
forty-five (45) days after receipt of data, those data shall
be considered correct.
According to the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB),
Title I schools that fail to meet Adequate Yearly Progress
(AYP) for two consecutive years must be identified as needing
improvement. Technical assistance is to be provided and public
school choice must be offered to these pupils by the start
of the next school year.
Title I schools that fail to meet the state AYP standards
for three consecutive years must offer pupils from low-income
families the opportunity to receive tutoring and other supplemental
academic enrichment services from a supplemental service provider
of their parents’ choice.
Beginning with the 2003 data, by federal and state law, there
are three criteria used in determining whether a school makes
AYP and all three criteria must be met.
- 40% or more of the students’ test scores must be
in the meets or exceeds level – overall and by subgroup.
- Schools must have a 95% participation rate on state assessments
overall and by subgroup.
- Elementary and middle schools must have an attendance
rate of 88%. High schools must have a graduation rate of
65%.
According to ISBE, some of the schools on the list may have
to offer
- public school choice; or
- public school choice and supplemental educational services;
or
- public school choice, supplemental educational services,
and corrective action.
ISBE officials anticipate that when all final calculations
and data corrections are made some schools will be off the
list, while others not reflected in this preliminary list
will be added.
A final list of schools that failed to make Adequate Yearly
Progress is expected to be released by late September.
The preliminary school choice list can be accessed at http://www.isbe.net/news/2003/preliminary_school_choice.pdf.
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