D203 ranks high in state
As in years past, Naperville School District 203 continues to place near the top of the list of the highest performing schools in the state.
According to calculations by the Sun-Times' annual ranking of top 100 Illinois schools, Highlands Elementary School ranks No. 9 in elementary schools and Kennedy Junior High ranks No. 10 among junior high schools. And Naperville North advanced several spots from 18 to 12 on the list of top 100 high schools in the state.
(Sun-Times Media File)
• D204 schools moving up in rankings
"There's been a lot of persistent hard work by faculty and students over a number of years to improve student achievement," Naperville North Principal Kevin Pobst said.
Rather than focus on one specific area of study, it has been "an across the board effort" to make improvements, he said.
Although Naperville Central's ranking dropped by a little more than a dozen spots, it still ranks high at No. 27 on the list. Central Principal William Wiesbrook could not be reached for comment.
"There's a lot of fluctuation from year to year, depending on the particular achievement of a graduating class," Pobst said of ranking high schools.
District 203 Director of Assessment and Quality Dave Chiszar said it's difficult to say why there is a change in the rankings. There are too many variables in the rankings to identify any one reason why a school may have moved up or down, he said, including how well the District 203 students performed this year compared to students in previous years, as well as how other districts' students performed one year from the next.
"If you look at the data, it's somewhat arbitrary," Chiszar said.
Some of the elementary schools made some big leaps on the list. Highlands is now in the top 10, moving from 13 to 9. River Woods moved from 53 to 40 and Ellsworth jumped from 139 to 73.
Chiszar said it's nice to have a high ranking, but if all the district is working toward is the ranking, then it is working toward the wrong thing.
"Our main goal and objective is to educate the students the best that we can," he said.
According to state report cards, the district as a whole achieved adequate yearly progress guidelines by the federal No Child Left Behind Act. While the high schools did not make adequate yearly progress, all of District 203's elementary and junior high schools did.
"It has been exciting to see the work of the staff to align quality work for students with the opportunities meeting standards will afford them in the future," said Tim Wierenga, assistant superintendent for instruction. "The mathematics curriculum has just completed a three-year review, with the staff aligning the curriculum to state testing while at the same time infusing the curriculum with challenge and inquiry to create complex thinkers, which is part of our mission."
Students will set goals and teachers will provide feedback so each individual student is challenged, he said.
"The staff at Naperville Central and Naperville North high schools have access to even more tools to help the struggling learner. New mathematics courses have been developed in the past two years to support a student when they are struggling," Wierenga said. "If a student has difficulty with reading, there are tutoring services, courses, and technological tools that can be employed to help the student succeed. It is our belief that an exemplary school district models a collective partnership of students, staff, parents and community."
Like those in Indian Prairie District 204, school officials stress the key is assessing the needs of each student and how they progress.
"The schools look at the group of kids in front of them, down to the individual, so that each student has the best opportunity to learn," Chiszar said.
With the district receiving high marks each year, sometimes there is pressure to maintain that achievement.
"Every school feels some pressure because they're dealing with the lives of their students and they want to do the best for those students," Wierenga said.
No matter how the district ranks, Chiszar said, the district is always trying to find where it can improve and help students move forward.
"It's not the end all be all," Chiszar said. "It's important. It's nice to see good scores. But no matter what the score, there's always room to do better."
