What's New at District 200

Wheaton Warrenville CUSD 200 is proud to announce that six of its elementary schools have been awarded Academic Excellence Awards for 2007 by Illinois Honor Roll; the schools were: Emerson, Longfellow, Carl Sandburg, Pleasant Hill, Whittier, and Wiesbrook Elementary Schools. Illinois Honor Roll is sponsored by the Illinois State Board of Education.

Many of this nation's most honored schools are in Illinois. Awards and lists of outstanding schools generated by national magazines, government agencies, realtors, and research studies always include first-rate institutions in our state. The Academic Excellence Awards recognize 166 schools that have sustained very high performance levels.

These schools have sustained very high performance levels on state assessments for at least three years. These schools met the following criteria:

90% of students met or exceeded state standards in both reading and mathematics for at least 3 consecutive years.
Made Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) for the past three years on the No Child Left Behind standardized achievement tests and achieved the following criteria:

At least 55% meeting and exceeding standards in both reading and mathematics
95% participation rate in state assessments for all students and each subgroup
Attendance rate of at least 90%

Achieving and maintaining excellence is not easy in any school. Students, teachers, school leaders, parents, and community members all contribute to sustaining high-level academic performance

Longfellow Elementary School Named Blue Ribbon School by U.S. Department of Education

Longfellow Elementary School, in Wheaton Warrenville Community School District 200, has been identified as a Blue Ribbon School by the U.S. Department of Education for its high achievement on state tests and its incremental improvement over the last three years. The No Child Left Behind-Blue Ribbon Schools award, one of the most prestigious education awards in the country, distinguishes and honors schools for helping students achieve at very high levels and for making significant progress in closing the achievement gap. The award recognizes schools whose students achieve in the top 10 percent of their state or those who show dramatic improvement while having at least 40 percent of their students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Of the 413 nominated schools, only 287 schools were selected for the award nationwide. Of those, 19 are from Illinois. Margaret Spellings, U. S. Secretary of Education said, “These schools are proving that when we raise the bar our children will rise to the challenge. It takes a lot of hard work by teachers and students to become a Blue Ribbon school, and it's a privilege to celebrate their great efforts."

After learning about this achievement, current Longfellow Principal, Diane Thornburg, said, “As a veteran administrator in District 200 and a community member, it's a privilege to be associated with a school and staff that earned the Blue Ribbon Award under Principal Paul McKinney, who retired in June 2007. The Longfellow staff and students are certainly deserving of this recognition for their dedication to learning.”

U.S. News & World Report has ranked Wheaton North High School in the top 3% of high schools in the United States, using data from the 2005-06 school year. The magazine analyzed 18,790 high schools in 40 states (some states were excluded due to insufficient reporting information).

The evaluation of these high schools was based on three criteria. The first two criteria measured how well these schools served all students using proficiency benchmarks. The first measure looked at how students were performing statistically compared to other students in the state, particularly in the areas of reading and math. The second measure considered how these schools were supporting the least advantaged students and how they were performing.

The final assessment judged the schools nationally on college-readiness using Advanced Placement scores as the benchmark (Advanced Placement is a College Board program that offers college-level courses at high schools across the country).

In responding to the achievement, Jill Bullo, Principal of Wheaton North High School said, “It is such an honor for Wheaton North High School to be recognized at the national level. I am proud of the commitment to excellence of our students, faculty, and staff.”

Have a question or need more information about an issue? Please contact your child's school, call the District 200 office at (630) 682-2015, or e-mail the Director of Communications at rrammer@cusd200.org.