The average ACT score for students in Glenbard District dropped compared to last year, but continues to top the state average.
The district’s composite score of 21.9 again exceeded the state average of 20.7. This has been a consistent trend in District 87 for at least the last decade, said Hector Garcia, assistant superintendent for educational services.
However, the 2010 test score still fell by .2 point from last year’s score of 22.1, which he said was disappointing but not significant enough to spark a radical change in the district’s approach with students.
“We really feel like we are on the right track,” he said.
Garcia said the score still reflects the “high level of academic readiness” among students as well as the hard work of teachers and administrators who continue to look for new opportunities to increase the number of students meeting and exceeding state standards.
“We are committed to saying, ‘What about those students not scoring at that average number?” Garcia said.
The ACT includes tests in English, math, science and reading. The highest overall score a student can achieve is a 36.
The slight gain over the state average comes at an interesting time for the district, which recently began a series of curriculum revisions to help make students more college and job ready.
Last year, officials looked to increase the level of support for struggling students beyond freshman year, offer more rigorous courses and establish a common curriculum across all grade levels.
The Glenbard Curriculum Council, which is a joint venture between District 87 and its feeder schools, has been at the center of this work. The end goal of the council’s work is to provide a better alignment among grades kindergarten through 12th in order to increase student achievement, Garcia said.
The council is also looking to develop a shared transition process among all feeder schools for students moving from eighth grade to the high school and better define learning expectations.
“We don’t want to play the freshman year of catch-up,” Garcia said.
Some of the more recent changes at the high school will be added academic support in different levels of English, different advanced placement pairings and changes to science and math.
Teachers and administrators will be working through this year to finalize the new curriculum for the high school, with the hope to roll it out starting next year.
“We think this is going to take it to even higher levels,” Garcia said.
To check out The Chicago Tribune’s rundown of Illinois schools’ report cards, go to schools.chicagotribune.com.
