| 1. Which District 60 Schools are currently identified for NCLB Status (have not met AYP adequate yearly progress) for two or more consecutive years? | |
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Carman, Clearview, Glen Flora, Glenwood, Greenwood, Hyde Park, Little Fort, Lyon, McCall, North, Oakdale, Washington, Whittier, Abbott, Benny, Jefferson, Juarez and Webster are currently the schools identified as in federal school improvement status. Each of these schools has submitted School Improvement Plans that have been monitored by the Illinois State Board of Education and the Lake County System of Support consultants. Letters of notification are mailed each year to parents regarding both CHOICE option and SES options if applicable. **Please note: We also had schools that did not meet for the first year in 2010-2011. They do not go into federal status until they miss for the second consecutive year. They include: Clark and Cooke. This is important due to the fact that the bar rises 7.5% each year and we may have more schools added after the 2011-2012 testing results are returned. As parents are trying to research their new neighborhood school location they need to note that these schools may or may not be included in the NCLB sanction list next fall. We will not know until the test data is communicated early summer 2012. At this point SES reversal was offered to Greenwood and Whittier since both were identified CHOICE. Since no school made AYP they were offered SES tutoring as an alternative. For other questions regarding above information contact: Access our School State Report Cards and other school information at: |
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| 2. Does the AYP/NCLB status mean that overall each of the above schools does not meet the Illinois Learning Standards? | |
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No - many of these schools do meet in the overall categories, but each has at least one sub group of 45 or more students who did not make the target in reading, math, participation or attendance categories. If the school does not meet in any one category for two consecutive years then they are identified as a school in federal school improvement status and depending on the number of consecutive years begin compliance with the sanctions. (CHOICE 2 years or more, SES 3 years or more, Corrective Action 4 years or more and Restructuring 5 years or more) If you look at our schools' data over the past years, many have made great gains, but still do not meet the AYP calculation in which the measuring bar raises 7.5 % each year. For other questions regarding above information contact: Access our School State Report Cards and other school information at |
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| 3. Where can I find the AYP page for the new school my student will attend this coming fall? | |
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Each school's State Report Card is on our district web site at
http://www.wps60.org/wpsd60/reportcards.php. Another site is the Illinois Interactive Report Card site. Go to: http://iirc.niu.edu. Select the school category and type in the name of the school you wish to research. You can look at progress over the past several years on this site. |
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4. I noticed that all five of our middle schools are in NCLB status. Do we still have a CHOICE opportunity? |
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No - Our district does not have an intergovernmental agreement with a surrounding school district at this time and none of our middle schools qualifies to be a receiving school. We do ask our surrounding districts each year. Many of our surrounding schools now have schools that are not making AYP and thus would not even be eligible to receive our students; others cannot accommodate an increase in their student population at this time. Our district cannot force an agreement; it must be mutually agreed upon. All of our middle schools do, however, qualify for the SES tutoring services and those have been offered for the past five years in lieu of the transfer option. For other questions regarding above information contact: Access additional information at: |
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5. What other CHOICE opportunities are available? |
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District 60 does contact all surrounding district each year to ask if they will accept our students in transfer. To date, no district is willing to accept our students. Thus at this time we only have the option to transfer within our district to eligible receiving schools (schools that did meet AYP). There must be space available in a qualifying receiving school that is being requested by the parent. The space means there must be a seat in the appropriate grade level and instructional program required by that student in the school requested. This has been our challenge the past few years. The vast majority of requests have been in primary grades and our primary classrooms have been at capacity these same years. Due to teacher contract language we do have a finite number of students permitted in a classroom, we cannot overcrowd some and leave others with small classroom numbers. If we do not have a receiving school option, we have also applied for SES reversal and offered SES tutoring option one year early to parents with students in CHOICE status schools. For other questions regarding above information contact: Access additional information at: |
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| 6. What about Vouchers? Can we choose to send our student to private school with tuition paid? | |
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No - In Illinois we do not pay for private school tuition as an option. It has been discussed in the media and in legislation as something to consider, but to date it is not allowable. For other questions regarding above information contact: Access additional information at: |
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| 7. What about Charter Schools? | |
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At this time we do not have a charter school option. If we do eventually have public charter schools available, again it will depend on space availability whether or not students can be transferred when a parent makes a request and the policy of that charter school to determine eligibility. In the case of public charter schools the state general aid does follow the child to the charter school, any federal grant funding is awarded using the same calculation used for private school allocations, and depending on the charter there may also be local funds that follow the child to the charter school. Access additional information at: |
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| 8. What about the free SES tutoring? | |
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This is an option for Title One schools that did not meet AYP for 3 or more years Ð but it is only available to students who qualify for free/reduced lunch and attend a school site identified for SES services. This past year we had eight schools eligible, we serve approximately 750 students, and we had 10 SES providers who served our district this past school year. The state sets a per pupil cap that each company can charge for these services. There is a new option for 2009-2010 to offer this option after the school has not met AYP for two consecutive years. A waiver must be applied for and granted through the Illinois State Board of Education to qualify for this reversal. Access additional information at: |
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| 9. My child attends a school that offers SES tutoring, but I did not receive any notice of this option. Why? | |
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Again, SES tutoring requires that students qualify for free or reduced lunch or Provision 2 status students to be eligible. Only those students and their families who meet this requirement receive the letter and application to receive the SES services. After school tutoring is offered at each identified school and also some services are provided via the internet with access at the student's home. Access additional information at: |
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10. What about NCLB SES tutoring for our high school students? |
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At this time our high school is not a Title One school and does not qualify for SES tutoring sanctions. For other questions regarding above information contact: Access additional information at: |
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11. What about the Differentiated Accountability Flexibility? |
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This is a new option granted to 7 states. Illinois is one of the selected pilot states. District 60 will apply for the SES Reversal Waiver which will allow us to offer the Supplemental Educational Services (tutoring by outside providers) as the first sanction and Choice as the second option. We have been able to place very few students through the CHOICE option for reasons stated in # 5 above. We hope to serve more students with this Reverse option, as our numbers decrease in schools qualifying as receiving sites. This means that if a school does not meet AYP for two consecutive years, all students eligible in that school will receive the invitation to sign up for SES tutoring instead of waiting one additional year. Access additional information at: |
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12. Once a school has been identified as Corrective Action, what steps have been taken to make improvements? |
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Our district secured an outside consulting firm to work with school that have not met for 4 or more consecutive years to analyze achievement and behavior data, pinpoint areas of need and implement intervention strategies to improve sub group and overall student achievement. This group has worked with each school leadership team in development and implementation of their school improvement plan. This support is in addition to school improvement support already in place which is provided by the district. Access additional information at: |
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| 13. What about schools that are now identified as schools in Restructuring? | |
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The district writes the Restructuring plan which is in place now for eight of our schools: Clearview, Glen Flora, Little Fort, Abbott, Benny, Jefferson, Juarez, and Webster. One of the four options is change in governance and that is the option in each of our plans. These schools developed Building Leadership Teams and changed the way decision making takes place to analyze student data, develop and implement intervention strategies and review and evaluate intervention impact. Each of these plans has been monitored by the Illinois State Board of Education and each school receives additional support from the Lake County System of Support consultants. There is also a district leadership team that works with the School based Building Leadership Teams to ensure that the Restructuring plans are being implemented with fidelity. There are no plans at this time for state take over of any of our district schools. Access additional information at: |
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| 14. Where can I get additional information about NCLB Questions and Concerns? | |
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The following web links will provide additional information: For other Concerns Please Contact: |
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