(This is one of ten stories and fourteen tables associated with the release of the 1995 Illinois school report cards for city and suburban schools.)
Every weekday morning, Denny Morys sends pupils from his math classes at Sunset Ridge School in Northfield to study geometry at New Trier High School.
“These are my most high-powered kids,” Morys said of the group, which this year includes a pupil as young as the 5th grade who requires a greater challenge.
Morys, a 32-year veteran in the two-school Sunset Ridge District 29, then paused and added, “But it’s a matter of degree, because nearly all the students here are high-powered achievers.”
Trying to match students with the appropriate superlatives is an enviable predicament for any teacher, and a task that gets a lot of practice in the public elementary and high schools across the northern suburbs.
The results of the statewide 1995 student assessment tests, using hard numbers in place of flowery adjectives, clearly bear that out.
On the mathematics test given to 8th graders, for example, 5 of the 10 highest-scoring schools in the state are on the North Shore.
North suburban elementary schools also blazed a path of distinction in 7th-grade science and social studies.
Reading scores, in general, remained stable or fell slightly from last year’s Illinois Goal Assessment Program testing, a trend that extended across the state. Some officials attributed the decline to an increased amount of classroom time spent on mathematics and science and, therefore, less time devoted to reading, which in the primary grades in some districts is allotted up to 80 percent of the instructional day.
At the high school level, New Trier students outdid themselves again this year:
– For the second consecutive year, 11th graders at the Winnetka school posted the state’s highest composite score on the American College Test, or ACT.
– New Trier placed first statewide for the third straight year in 11th grade social studies, and second this year in science.
– In the 10th grade, New Trier was tops for the third year running in reading and math scores.
The two high schools in Glenbrook District 225, which serves Glenview, Northbrook and part of Northfield, were close behind in all categories.
New Trier Supt. Henry Bangser said a tradition of expecting excellence provides a vital incentive for the 3,006 students in the district. But Bangser urged that the kudos be dispensed liberally.
“One of the more important components of New Trier’s success is the strong performance of the six feeder districts,” he said.
Evanston Township High School also received welcome news in this year’s state School Report Card.
The ETHS student body in general scored significantly higher than state averages in the four categories tested, as well as higher than national norms on the ACT.
In addition, the ETHS administration and school board refocused their attention this year on a widening gap in the academic achievement of white and minority students. While that examination will be ongoing, the state tests demonstrated that some early benefits have accrued in the district, which has a low-income enrollment of 32 percent.
The reading performance of African-American students improved over the 1994 level, according to a district analysis. Some 40 percent of black students fell below state reading standards in 1995, down significantly from 51 percent the previous year.
But the overall reading score for all ETHS sophomores declined in 1995, approximating a corresponding drop in the statewide average.
