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Cherokee, LFHS make Sun-Times top 50 high-scoring schools list
2012 ISAT results by school
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Updated: November 15, 2012 11:56AM
LAKE FOREST — Cherokee Elementary School and Lake Forest High School are on Sun-Times Media’s Top 50 lists of high-scoring Illinois schools based on their performance on state-mandated tests taken last spring.
Cherokee ranked 39th among more than 2,600 elementary schools in the state, based on the average reading and math scores of students who took the Illinois Standards Achievement Tests in March.
Many of the schools that rank in the top 10 are gifted schools or use selective criteria to enroll students, while Cherokee is an attendance-area school.
LFHS placed 11th among high schools, both in the Chicago area and statewide, based on students’ performance on the Prairie State Achievement Exam. The PSAE is administered to high school students in 11th grade.
The Sun-Times Media analysis looks at the average scale scores earned by individual students in reading and math in relation to those earned by other test takers in the state. The method results in a more precise comparison than the figure typically reported — the percentage of students meeting or exceeding standards.
According to the analysis, the average score among Cherokee students in 2012 was higher than the scores earned by about 97 percent of pupils in the state.
LFHS students scored higher than almost 83 percent of other high schoolers in Illinois.
Julie Cooley, assistant superintendent of student services for K-12 in Districts 67 and 115, attributed the high rankings to the data-driven approach throughout both the elementary and high school districts.
“We’re very conscientious about looking for students that need support,” Cooley said.
Students are benchmarked three times a year and those that need extra attention are then tracked as often as every week, she said.
“We see the difference between students who move into the district and those who have been in our schools for a long time,” Cooley said.
The State Board of Education released the achievement results as part of the 2012 School Report Cards. The complete Sun-Times rankings can be viewed at fh.suntimes.com\reportcards.
