Making the Grade: A Look at the D157-C Report Card

This week saw the release of the report cards for Illinois schools, one of the ways the state gauges educational success--and failure--in its school districts.

When it comes to the report for , Superintendent Tom Hurlburt said, overall, he liked the direction the schools were headed, staying well above the state average when it came to test scores.

Patch broke down other areas of the D157-C report card and got Hurlburt's reaction to the assessments.

Adequate Yearly Progress

, D157-C did not make its Adequate Yearly Progress goals--the academic standards schools are held to as part of the No Child Left Behind Act--because the level of achievement in reading for students with disabilities was not met. But just like , Frankfort School District met all its other AYP requirements.

Hurlburt doesn't mince words when he talks about the frustration in trying to meet No Child Left Behind's unrealistic expectations. He called the requirements unfair and said there are better ways to assess a student's educational growth.

District educators use a combination of indicators, including classroom assessments and a variety of testing--not just the Illinois Standards Achievement Test--to gauge how individual students are performing, Hurlburt said. Those results are then put on an "assessment wall," which allows educators to monitor students' growth, he added.

"For us, the ISAT is just one piece of data," Hurlburt said. "Unfortunately, it's tied to No Child Left Behind. ... AYP and No Child Left Behind are very unreasonable and put an unfair expectation on a child."

Spending Compared to State Averages

One area of the report card Hurlburt is particularly proud of in these difficult economic times is the district's continued fiscal responsibility.

READ: Is No Child Left Behind Unfair to Frankfort Schools?

In almost every category, D157-C spends less than the state average but is still able to maintain high academic standards, he said.

Here are the numbers for teacher and administrative salaries:

And the percentages for spending in other areas:

The increased spending in the other expenditures categories reflects the repayment of bonds for the building of , spending that will go away once the debt is cleared, Hurlburt said.

Keeping a tight rein on expenses without letting the educational process suffer has been a challenge, the superintendent added, especially with continued delays on state funding.

"It takes a lot of work because we have to weigh a lot of the financial decisions with the instructional impact," Hurlburt said. "We have to get as creative as possible. We've cut our budget by $2.5 million, and we continue to excel."

Other Report Card Data

Student-to-Teacher Ratio

• D157-C: 17.9
• State: 18.8

Average Class Size

Time Devoted to Teaching Core Subjects (in minutes)

MATH

SCIENCE

ENGLISH/LANGUAGE ARTS

SOCIAL SCIENCES

Patch will continue to look at the district's report card over the coming weeks. Do you have questions about the assessment? Leave them in our comments section, and we'll do our best to address them.