Post by title1parent on Jun 12, 2008 6:53:51 GMT -5
Wheaton-Warrenville South HS combating failing label
By James Fuller | Daily Herald Staff
Published: 6/12/2008 12:09 AM
Academic achievement at Wheaton Warrenville South High School outpaces the majority of Illinois schools, but not enough to outrun a failing grade in the world of No Child Left Behind standards.
The school is officially in a mandated restructuring phase after slipping below NCLB benchmarks for five straight years. School board members approved a plan Wednesday night to reverse that trend.
School staff actually formulated the 84-page plan and put it into action during the school year that just concluded. The plan targets specific groups of students who are not meeting testing standards in reading and math.
The problematic groups are students from relatively poor families and students with disabilities. Both populations are growing at the school. The number of financially-challenged students, in particular, have more than doubled during the current decade.
To better reach both groups of students, teachers are adopting a new learning approach that amplifies student participation in the classroom. Students who need extra help are also being designated for special tutoring and study hall sessions. The district is also working to pull parents into the learning process, including forming more connections to households that only speak Spanish. Nearly 98 percent of the high school's staff is white.
It'll take about three years to fully train all the teachers in the new methods and standardize tests at both high schools to create a measuring point. Staff believe the new approaches will benefit all students, not just the targeted groups.
That said, the school must meet all NCLB standards for a couple years before it's officially out of the mandated restructuring phase. And that's only if the school hits the targets. Those targets will only become tougher to hit as the standards increase each year. Likewise, the student body will change each year, adding new students with learning challenges if the current trends continue.
It's unclear what would happen if the school continues to fall below the testing standards. Staff told the school board the law is silent on a penalty for when that occurs.
By James Fuller | Daily Herald Staff
Published: 6/12/2008 12:09 AM
Academic achievement at Wheaton Warrenville South High School outpaces the majority of Illinois schools, but not enough to outrun a failing grade in the world of No Child Left Behind standards.
The school is officially in a mandated restructuring phase after slipping below NCLB benchmarks for five straight years. School board members approved a plan Wednesday night to reverse that trend.
School staff actually formulated the 84-page plan and put it into action during the school year that just concluded. The plan targets specific groups of students who are not meeting testing standards in reading and math.
The problematic groups are students from relatively poor families and students with disabilities. Both populations are growing at the school. The number of financially-challenged students, in particular, have more than doubled during the current decade.
To better reach both groups of students, teachers are adopting a new learning approach that amplifies student participation in the classroom. Students who need extra help are also being designated for special tutoring and study hall sessions. The district is also working to pull parents into the learning process, including forming more connections to households that only speak Spanish. Nearly 98 percent of the high school's staff is white.
It'll take about three years to fully train all the teachers in the new methods and standardize tests at both high schools to create a measuring point. Staff believe the new approaches will benefit all students, not just the targeted groups.
That said, the school must meet all NCLB standards for a couple years before it's officially out of the mandated restructuring phase. And that's only if the school hits the targets. Those targets will only become tougher to hit as the standards increase each year. Likewise, the student body will change each year, adding new students with learning challenges if the current trends continue.
It's unclear what would happen if the school continues to fall below the testing standards. Staff told the school board the law is silent on a penalty for when that occurs.
