News Release
Homer CCSD 33C
Goodings Grove Luther J. Schilling William E. Young William J. Butler
Hadley Middle Homer Jr. High
Contact: Charla Brautigam, Communications/Public Relations Manager
cbrautigam@homerschools.org | 708-226-7628
For Immediate Release:
Jan. 28, 2016
Homer 33C evaluating PARCC data
Setting goals for 2016-17 school year
Homer Community Consolidated School District 33C students continue to perform well on state achievement exams, scoring significantly higher than the state average.
According to the most recent PARCC scores:
- 50 percent of Homer 33C students are proficient or meeting state standards in English Language Arts. The state average is 38 percent.
- 45 percent of Homer 33C students are proficient or meeting state standards in Math. The state average is 28 percent.
The results were shared at a recent school board meeting; parents were sent individual reports with their child’s report card on Jan. 25.
Even though the scores are significantly higher than the state average, Homer 33C administrators are now analyzing the data — reviewing scores by grade level from each of the district’s six schools — to determine how they can improve.
Each school has a School Improvement Team that is charged with reviewing the data and coming up with a plan for improvement for their school and district.
Their plans can be found on the Homer 33C website under the School Report Cards tab.
Among the goals listed by individual School Improvement Teams are:
- Providing professional development in differentiated instruction and common planning time to review data and discuss instructional strategies to drive instruction
- Offering elective classes focused on Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math (STEAM)
- Offering an after-school assistance program
- Creating a school-wide critical thinking activity that fosters teamwork, problem-solving, creativity, analysis and reflection
- Promoting home-school partnerships through Curriculum Nights, Parent-Teacher Conferences, school-wide activities and parent/community communication
Since this was the first year that Illinois schools administered the PARCC exam, they do not have any prior data to compare it with when reviewing the scores.
The ISAT exam had been the barometer for student achievement in the past and differed in content. The PARCC assessment is in math and the English Language Arts, focusing on problem-solving, critical thinking, application and writing.
In addition, the format for the upcoming PARCC assessment (spring 2016) has been changed, said Kathleen Robinson, assistant superintendent for instruction. The two windows have been collapsed into one, reducing the amount of time students are in testing. As a result, the 2015 PARCC results cannot serve as a benchmark.
“It’s going to be several years before we have enough PARCC data to study trends and see how students are progressing year to year,” she added.
In the meantime, Homer 33C administrators plan to continue using local assessments to track student progress and set district goals.
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