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News
OEHS improvement plan shows results : News : Oswego Ledger-Sentinel : Hometown Newspaper for Oswego and Montgomery, IllinoisOEHS improvement plan shows results
| School officals cite significant gains in math scores
| by Lyle R. Rolfe
| 11/19/2009
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Oswego School District Board members last week received the School Improvement Plan for Oswego East High School.
Principal Dr. Jeff Craig, Jim Seput, assistant principal for operations, and Brent Anderson, assistant principal for curriculum and instruction, made the presentation.
Craig said this is the second year for this group as a team and noted that they have had positive results, although they did not make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) because of student subgroups._
Anderson explained that the Adequate Yearly Progress is the method the federal government uses under the No Child Left Behind legislation to hold schools accountable for student learning.
He said the state uses the PSAE, Prairie State Achievement Exam for this purpose.
"For reporting purposes we have white, black, and Spanish student subgroups for testing purposes. And we also have students with disabilities and economically disadvantaged. The measure for AYP jumped 7.5 percent last year from 62.5 to 70 and this year will be 77.5 percent. The federal government continues to raise that bar," he said.
Anderson noted that as a school OEHS did not make AYP in reading or math, but white and Hispanic students scores improved from last year and made AYP through Safe Harbor.
All other subgroups failed to make AYP because there were no Safe Harbor groups he said. Safe Harbor is another measuring tool that can be applied.
Anderson said they made significant gains in math, especially in the area of African American students. While 32 percent met or exceeded the state level for math scores, it was not acceptable even though they were in the top 23 percent of the state, Anderson said.
The Prairie State Achievement Exam (PSAE) reading scores for past four years are in line with 2006, when 300 students were tested compared to 511 last year, he added.
Results showed 58 percent or 174 students met or exceeded the state requirements in 2006 and increased to 60 percent or 307 last year, according to Anderson.
He said they established an external review team as part of the state requirements for their school improvement team.
He said they are partnering with representatives of the Professional Development Alliance in Joliet, Northern Illinois University and two department chairs from Hinsdale South High School for consultation.
He said this team looks at everything the school is doing to come up with more ways for OEHS students to become more successful.
"This has become a very valuable tool for us, especially with Hinsdale High School to the point that I am now serving on their external review team," Anderson said.
The scores for math were the best OEHS has done. The number of students was larger and the classes were more racially and ethically diverse this year than in the past, he said. In 2006, and last year, 56 percent met or exceeded the state standard, he said.
One of the tools the school uses for its goal setting is a PLAN test, which is given in the sophomore year as a line to the ACT test. It indicates where a student is likely to score on the ACT test, he said.
On the 2008-09 PLAN test given to sophomores last fall, the mean score in English was 16.9, which matched the national mean score.
The mean scores in math, reading, science, and the composite all were above the national averages.
The ACT is a tool for college admissions and is taken in April of their junior or senior year, he said.
He noted that since OEHS opened, the ACT scores have continued to rise.
On the ACT test, the junior students (Spring 2009 PSAE) had a 20.4 composite, well above the state average of 20.0. And Anderson is predicting a score for the 2010 class of 20.7 to 20.8.
In the areas of reading and math, Oswego East students averaged a 20.8 in reading compared to state average of 20.2 and in mathematics the students scored a 20.3 compared to state average of 20.0.
This is the first time since the school opened in September 2004 that students exceeded the state average on every sub-test and on the composite score.
Anderson said there has been a steady increase in the number of students taking the AP Advanced Placement classes.
Craig said 206 students enrolled in Advanced Placement classes and 114 students took Advanced Placement exams in biology, calculus AB and BC, chemistry, English literature, European history, US history, US government, physics, microeconomics, psychology, statistics and studio art.
Students scored between one and five with 64 percent scoring three or above. The memo said seven students were named either AP Scholars or AP Scholars with Honors. This means that the students took at least three AP tests and averaged a score of three or higher.
Also, 54 students were named Illinois State Scholars.
Seput talked about their goals for this year.
He said the School Improvement Team last year looked at the ACT composite scores of 19.8 and challenged the class to bring the score up to 21 this year.
He said the number 21 was posted throughout the school and it was printed in their Wolfpack News.
Although they did not make the goal they came close, he said with a Composite ACT score of 20.4, a six tenths increase from the previous year. In reading the increase was nine tenths and math six tenths.
The team's second goal was do determine the level of internal and external communication in order to improve effective communication both in building and with the community.
He said they held an inaugural community pep rally, which was attended by 1,100 people, and the Freshman Orientation which was attended by 1,400.
The academic awards dinner was attended by 224 people, the back to school night was attended by 418, and the Parent Advisory attended 40 people.
They also held their first ELL Back to School Night, conducted 1,600 appointments during their parent-teacher conferences and increased communication through the school newsletter and the ConnectEd telephone communication system.
Craig said this is the second, four-year graduating class for the school.
"We're starting to build some tradition and history here at Oswego East High School," he said.
Enrollment as of October 15 was 2,175 students.
When the school opened it had 728 students, with an average class size of 18.3 students. And the staff consisted of 47 full time equivalent teachers, assistants and special education instructors.
Enrollment increased each year as additional classes were added and as rapid growth in the area brought new students to the school.
The average class size is now 25.47 students and the number of full time equivalent instructors is 143.
He commented on the school's graduation rate of 91.6 stating that this is figured on the basis of taking the number of students who graduated in four years and dividing it by the number of students who entered the school four years ago.
The attendance rate of 94.2 has remained stable never varying as much as a full point and the mobility rate of 9.2 also has been stable.
Disciplinary cases down,
diversity increasing
But there have been large variations in the suspension and expulsion numbers. There were 228 in 2004-05, 308 in 2005-06, 375 in 2006-07,502 in 2007-08, and 377 in 2008-09, Craig's first year at the school.
He said the drop over the past two years was not because someone was not doing the job, but probably because students were finally getting a message.
He said the 377 represented 237 students, indicating there were very few repeat offenders and noted that the number one reason for suspensions was for not serving Saturdays.
Craig said 12.6 percent of the students are gifted and on the advanced track, 10.7 percent are students with individualized or special needs, 7.7 percent are students requiring special reading help, and 1.4 percent are English Language Learners.
"The ethnic make-up of our school consists of the following: 52.8 percent Caucasian, 23.3 percent Hispanic, 14.5 percent African-American, 6.3 percent Asian, 2.9 percent multi-racial and under 1 percent American Indian/Alaskan," he added.
He said the school is proud of its diversity which was celebrated last year throughout the building and community. "Our diversity is steadily increasing each year," he added.
He commented on the many special programs at the school and said they started a School Improvement Team last year.
Craig said staff members were chosen to develop and lead the team in developing and determining their building goals. The team consists of three teachers, Heather Stanich, Jessica Ziegler and Michelle Nevarez, at least two members from every department, administrators, and some parents. .
This group recognizes staff members, determines professional development programs in the building and works with the student improvement team and the parent improvement team.
Other special programs at the school are Teams Activating the Language of Kindness (TALK), Advisory, Parent Advisory Council, School Advisory Council, Student Success, Reality Store, Project Lead the Way, Peer Mediation, Operation Impact and Little Wolf Buddies.
Most of the students, 35 percent, have an Aurora address, 29 percent are from. Oswego, 28 percent from Montgomery, and just over 8 percent live in Plainfield.
The district also serves students from other communities through the Kendall County Special Education Cooperative. The student body of OEHS is diverse in both its socio-economic, as well as, racial/ethnic background.
OEHS students are mostly middle income, although 22 percent are considered low income based on the District Free/Reduced Lunch list as of October 15.
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