We all remember how we, as students, lost sleep waiting for that report card to hit and what the reaction of our parents would be. Now we, as parents, can view our local school district's report card.
The grades are in, and the results make clear that parental supervision is required!
Here's where our kids' schools scored according to the State Board of Education annual Report Card published last month:...
ILLINOIS REPORT CARD
| Lake Forest High School
English: D- (60.5% of students meet grade-level proficiency) Math: D (64.0% of students meet grade-level proficiency) |
| Deer Path Middle School
English: F (45.4% of students meet grade-level proficiency) Math: F (54.0% of students meet grade-level proficiency) |
| Lake Bluff Middle School
English: F (37.9% of students meet grade-level proficiency) Math: F (41.0% of students meet grade-level proficiency) |
Click for Elementary Schools Performace |
Regardless of how we each found ourselves in this community, did any of us imagine we would be looking at these numbers?
Fixing ANY problem begins with honestly accepting the evidence and then creating a sense of urgency for a course correction.
High School admin is highlighting an "Exemplary" rating from the State Board of Education despite 2 out of every 5 of our students not performing at grade-level expectations. At Lake Forest District 67, 2nd-year Superintendent Mike Montgomery accepts responsibility for disappointing scores and specifies some efforts he says will lead to improvement (we haven't found any communication from Lake Bluff District 65 but will add any official communication here).
But vague promises of anticipated improvement and the articulation of remedial efforts can only inspire confidence if accompanied by specific goal metrics that we can evaluate. Effective leaders set specific and clear goals and hold themselves accountable for meeting them. So that we don't confuse activity with achievement, School Boards and Administrations should articulate specific academic proficiency performance goals for each of the next five years.
These are our kids; what percentage of them do you think we should expect to should perform at grade level?
A great leader once said: "When you find yourself in a hole, the first thing you do is STOP DIGGING!" Parents, we need an "ALL HANDS ON DECK!" call to action from our faculty, school administrations, and school boards. We as parents have a duty to DEMAND that educators set clear and measurable goals and hold themselves accountable for achieving them. There is no greater priority for our community and elected school boards than to mandate improvement now. Do you agree?
Subscribe
