Standard and Poor’s Recognizes District’s Academic Success

District 200 received another academic honor this week when Standard and Poor’s School Evaluations Services recognized it as an academic ‘outperformer’ in the first year of its study.  The District is one of 69 Illinois districts to receive this recognition and one of five in DuPage County.

An ‘outperformer’ is a district that has a higher percentage of students who meet or exceed state standards in reading and math than other districts with a similar level of economically disadvantaged students.  To be named an ‘outperformer’ a district must repeat this performance for at least two consecutive years. 

In addition, the recognized districts perform at higher than expected levels based on 40 years of research that tracked the relationship between economically disadvantaged students and academic performance.

“This honor recognizes District 200’s effort to narrow the achievement gap between high and low performing students while still increasing the percentage of students who meet and exceed state standards in reading and math,” Superintendent Gary T. Catalani said.

The District has been engaged in a systematic improvement process for the last eight years.  This process focuses on providing the curriculum, training and materials teachers need to help all students become successful learners.

“We are reaping the benefits of years of hard work by our teachers, principals and administrative team to improve student achievement,” Dr. Margo Sorrick, Assistant Superintendent for Educational Services said.  She noted that all curriculum is aligned to state standards, tests are given in most basic courses to test students’ mastery of the subject, instruction is targeted for identified struggling students, data is used to determine which students receive additional support, and entry into support programs is consistent across the District.

Standard and Poor’s said it is important to recognize the ‘outperforming’ school districts so that lower-performing districts might adopt some of their strategies and best practices to improve achievement in their schools.

More information on this recognition is available at www.schoolmatters.com.