Editor’s Note: This is the first of three stories about the school improvement plans submitted by District 80 to the Illinois State Board of Education. Today’s story focuses on the weaknesses identified and goals to improve the Primary Center.

By TESA CULLI

tesa.culli@register-news.com

MT. VERNON — The District 80 School Improvement Plan submitted to the Illinois State Board of Education targets specific areas with the goal to improve test scores at all sites.

All three schools in the district — The Primary Center, J.L. Buford Intermediate Center and Zadok Casey Middle School — answer the questions of what the school report card data tells about student performance, what factors contributed to the results and what the next steps in improvement planing will be. In addition, the plan lists the objectives and how the schools plan to reach the goals.

The Primary Center plan states the data from last year’s report card indicated the need to “consistently and systematically implement measures that will assist in improving students’ reading, which is identified as a main area of weakness ...”

Time will be spent daily to increase vocabulary, reading strategies and reading comprehension. The plan stated the strength identified on the school report card for the Primary Center is math.

“We believe we met [adequate yearly progress] in math because of a concerted effort to systematically teach SAXON mathematics in the building,” the plan states. “Although we did not meet in reading, we have adopted a new reading curriculum and are focused on successful implementation kindergarten through third grade.”

Students at the Primary Center are tested with the STAR reading test, the Illinois Scholastic Achievement Test and the Scholastic Achievement Test. The STAR reading test three times a year to assess reading performance, which is compared to the national results for students in the same grades.

At the end of the 2007-2008 school year, there were 143 third grade students who took the test, with 21 percent in the 75th percentile rank or above, 18.2 in the 50 to 74 percentile; 17.5 in the 25 to 49 percentile and 43.4 percent below the 25 percentile. There were 122 second grade students tested with 15.6 percent in the 75 percentile or above; 30.3 percent in the 50 through 74 percentile; 25.4 in the 25 to 49 percentile and 28.7 percent below the 25 percentile.

Some of the external factors that may have contributed to the low scores in reading are listed as the low income rate, mobility rate and limited parental involvement.

“Possible external factors that have influenced the achievement results may be directly impacted by the fact that the Primary Center has a 78.5 percent low income level for the 2007-2008 school year,” the improvement plan states. “Another external factor that may have impacted the results would be from the fact that the Primary Center has a 33.2 percent mobility rate as stated in the School Report Card. An additional factor is that parent involvement is limited, especially among economically disadvantaged households. Lack of general experiences has resulted in poor vocabulary acquisition for students, contributing to deficiency in reading comprehension.”

Additional training for staff may be needed to address the external factors, according to the improvement plan.

“These factors reveal to the administration that the Primary Center staff needs to be trained in how to educate students from a high poverty background,” the plan states “The data from the School Report Card reveals that we realize we should continue to stress the importance of reading and provide resources for our staff and to students in order to reach all students, especially minority and students with disabilities.”

Dealing with the high level of poverty students has encouraged the district to form partnerships with community organizations.

“The learning community of the Primary Center includes staff, students, parents and community partners such as Project Excel tutors, AmeriCorps, Foster Grandparents and college partnerships,” the plan states. “... Numerous studies have documented a correlation between low and socioeconomic status and low achievement. Community partners are providing food for many students over long weekends so students’ nutritional needs are met.

“Although the school cannot modify the economic status of the students’ families, we can focus on factors related to achievement. One of those factors is improving student attendance. Teachers, school office members and administrators work cooperatively with the District 80 Parent Coordinator as well as the Regional Office of Education to improve attendance. Attendance flags have also been purchased to use as a visual reminder and celebration for student attendance.”

The plan states that involving parents in school will help create a positive working relationship with the ultimate goal of improving student academic performance as well.

“...The school strives to maintain a strong connection to the parents through a variety of methods,” the plan states. “The school issues a student handbook to each student which includes school policies. Many teachers have daily and weekly notes to parents where they can connect and discuss student progress. The school issues a monthly newsletter to all families in the building. The district issues a quarterly newsletter to all families and many community members as well. Anther contact is made through the open house and bi-annual parent teacher conferences. Teachers also use all contact methods available to them from phone, e-mail, letters, home visits, Web site and School Reach.”

Some of the strategies identified at the Primary Center to increase reading achievement is to have students improve reading comprehension by summarizing, finding the main ideas and drawing conclusions in reading selections; increasing vocabulary skills through reading, spelling activities and class discussion; discussing genres and categories of literature; identifying the literary elements of reading selections such as plot, characters, setting, theme and author’s purpose; identifying the purposes for reading; and using graphic organizers to demonstrate and understanding of reading.