Forest Park’s elementary and middle school students improved in both math and English language arts testing last year, but one school still fell below state expectations and now must begin a four-year remediation period, according to District 91’s latest Illinois report card. 

State report cards evaluate schools’ performance in areas that include grade-level proficiency measured by statewide tests, year-to-year student improvement and rates of chronic absenteeism. It uses those results to put schools into ranked categories. D91 spokesperson Nurys Uceta-Ramos said that this round of state data has offered the school district a much-needed opportunity for reflection as it looks to develop a new strategic plan for after 2026.

“As a district we really prioritize using this data,” Uceta-Ramos said. “The data that comes out of state reporting is some of the data we use to guide our approach for an upcoming school year as well as highlight some moments of celebration. We can see what’s working well and what needs to shift in terms of the approaches we’re taking.”

In 2023-24, the district saw 41.4% of students reach proficiency for their grade level in language arts, compared to 31.3% the year before, while 22.3% of students at the districts’ four schools reached proficiency in math, compared to 18.6% the year before. D91 students narrowly rose above the statewide proficiency rate of 39.4% in ELA, but still lagged eight points behind the statewide math proficiency rate of 26.9%, according to the state report.

The students’ year-to-year improvement in both math and ELA is encouraging for the district and can be attributed in part to adjustments to how the district has structured its curriculum, Uceta-Ramos said.

“We are now using materials that build upon each other across grade levels,” Uceta-Ramos said. “Additionally, our students are reading significantly more, which we can attribute to the intentional approach of incorporating more reading and writing opportunities and providing culturally relevant texts through the Rising Voices Library [curriculum]. This comprehensive approach has had a meaningful impact on student engagement, literacy growth and math proficiency.”

Uceta-Ramos also pointed to a year-over-year drop in D91’s rate of chronic absenteeism and a growth in its enrollment as signs of a district trending in the right direction. However, neither figure for the district has yet recovered to pre-pandemic levels, according to the report.

School results

Betsy Ross Elementary, Garfield Elementary and Forest Park Middle each received “commendable” designations on the state’s 2023-24 report card, while the state classified Field-Stevenson Intermediate as a “targeted” school, according to the report card. 

“Commendable” schools do not have any subsets of students underperforming and graduate more than two thirds of their students but are not among the state’s top 10% of schools, according to state guidelines. Targeted schools have at least one subset of students performing in line with the bottom 5% of Illinois schools, according to state guidelines. The other two designations the state hands out are “exemplary,” for institutions with students performing in the top 10% of the state, and “comprehensive,” for schools performing in the bottom 5% of the state, according to state regulations.

Low proficiency rates among Black children in last year’s testing at Field-Stevenson Intermediate, which serves third, fourth and fifth graders, put the school under its new designation, which requires the school to undergo an improvement plan. 

The proficiency rates for Black students were half that of the district overall, with only 19.1% of the school’s Black students meeting or exceeding the states’ standard of proficiency in ELA. Only 6% of Black students met or exceeded state standards in math, according to the report card. 

“Field-Stevenson received a targeted support designation this year due to specific student group performance, narrowly missing a commendable designation by just two points,” Uceta-Ramos said. “When analyzing the data by student group, it is evident that growth is needed across all groups, particularly as our school serves a predominantly Black/African American population.”

She said they have developed a “robust school improvement plan” to address the deficiencies.

Field-Stevenson’s student body is 43% Black and has a higher rate of low-income students than the other three schools in the district, according to the state report.

Schools that receive a targeted designation from the state must embark on a four-year improvement cycle, in which the school must work to “focus on building and/or modifying the systems needed to improve student achievement and performance outcomes,” according to state guidelines.

Field-Stevenson must improve the performance and help more of its Black students meet proficiency standards by the end of the four-year cycle.

“I don’t believe our staff or leadership is discouraged by this’ if anything it’s just extra motivation to keep putting our best foot forward to support our learners,” Uceta-Ramos said.