SPRINGFIELD — Parents, educators and all those interested in public education in Illinois will soon have new data and online features at their fingertips to better gauge kindergarten through 12th-grade student performance and school learning environments. Metrics, such as the percentage of freshmen on track for college or how students feel about their school’s environment, will soon debut on the award-winningIllinois Report Card.

The 2014 Report Card, set to go online Oct. 31 at www.illinoisreportcard.com, also reflects a state and national move toward monitoring school districts based on multiple measures of growth and performance as opposed to a single test score at one point in time.

The new metrics and capabilities build on the functionality and enhanced features of the state’s redesigned Report Card, which was introduced last fall and rated tops in the nation by both researchers and parents, according to the Education Commission of the States.

http://www.isbe.net/assessment/pdfs/report_card/2015/fact-sheet-metrics1410.pdf">“These improvements allow for more informed and productive discussions about individual school improvement efforts and each school’s capacity to equip students with the knowledge and skills necessary to meet the challenges of higher education and a competitive, global marketplace,” said State Superintendent of Education Christopher A. Koch. “This information is crucial as we move to a new accountability system based on updated learning standards, higher performance expectations and more useful assessments, all focused on college and career readiness.”

In April, the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) received a waiver from the U.S. Department of Education for many aspects of the No Child Left Behind Act, allowing the state to work with districts and schools to report more significant school improvement data. Among the changes, Illinois no longer reports Adequate Yearly Progress.

ISBE will now use multiple measures to evaluate schools, such as how much academic growth students are making and how well educators are able to narrow achievement gaps or improve graduation rates. Results of new state assessments in 2015 will set the baseline for many of those measures.

This transition occurs as statewide demographics continue to shift to a more diverse and economically challenged student population. The percentage of white students in the state dropped below 50 percent (49.9 percent) during the 2013-14 school year for the first time, and the percentage of Hispanic/Latino students has increased to 24.6 percent. Meanwhile, the percentage of students designated as low income last school year exceeded half of all students, at 51.5 percent.

This year’s Report Card also shows that the state’s dropout rate is at its lowest point over the past 15 years, at 2.2 percent. The graduation rate has increased by 3 percentage points from 2013 to 86 percent for 2014.

Principal turnover is new metric that reports the number of principals who have worked at a particular school in the past six school years. The current state average for this metric is about two principals per school over six years. The 2014 Report Card also includes data on teacher retention rates, which show the percentage of teachers returning to the same school over the last three school years. The current state average for teacher retention is more than 85 percent.

“I’m pleased that we’re reporting principal and teacher retention rates,” said State Board Chairman Gery J. Chico. ”This metric provides a better picture of what’s happening in our schools. It is information schools and parents can use to address the reasons for attrition so that high-quality educators can stay in classrooms and help improve student achievement.”

New College Readiness and Enrollment Metrics

To help gauge college readiness, the 2014 Report Card now includes 12-month and 16-month enrollment statistics for former Illinois high school students in two-year and four-year colleges. These figures will be reported at the school, district and state levels. This year’s results show 66.3 percent of all Illinois graduates are enrolled in higher education 12 months after graduation, compared to 70.4 percent of graduates enrolled after the 16-month mark.

The 2014 Report Card also highlights the percentage of students who finish their freshman year on track for college readiness, meaning they have earned at least five full-year course credits (10 semester credits) and have earned no more than one semester F in a core course (English, math, science or social studies). This data will be reported at the high school, district and state levels. Statewide, nearly 88 percent of the state’s freshmen are on track to graduate, according to the 2014 Report Card. This metric is significant as a student who is considered on track at the end of his or her freshman year is almost four times as likely to graduate from high school as a student who is not on track.

ISAT & PSAE Performance Levels

The 2014 Report Card includes performance results from the state’s previous assessment system, the Illinois Standards Achievement Test (ISAT) and the Prairie State Achievement Exam (PSAE). These tests are being replaced this spring with the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) exams. Under the previous accountability system, 54.3 percent of students are meeting or exceeding standards on the PSAE, compared to 53.3 percent for 2014. The state average for ACT composite scores also slightly increased to 20.4 from 20.3 the previous year, and the percentage of students ready for college coursework (students who earned a combined score of at least a 21 on the ACT college admissions test) also grew slightly to 45.8 percent, compared to 45.7 percent for the graduating class of 2013. The percentage of students meeting or exceeding standards for the ISAT is 58.7 percent for 2014, a slight drop of 0.1 percent from the previous year.

The 2014 Report Card shows that the student academic growth score (growth from year to year on ISAT scores) has decreased in reading from 102.1 in 2013 to 99.4. The growth score increased in math from 101.4 in 2013 to 102.9. Schools that score below the average are not meeting the state average growth, and those scoring above are exceeding the average growth for a school. The growth score simply indicates the average amount of growth for students in a district or school and adds more context to other metrics.

Teacher and Student Survey Results

This year is also the first in which each school’s​ 5Essentials Survey results will be posted on the School Report Card. The survey, which was first administered in 2013, is designed to inform school improvement by measuring change and providing individualized reports for each school. The 2014 results are benchmarked to 2013 statewide 5Essentials data to allow for year-to-year comparison. The 5Essentials measure performance on five school environment components identified through 20 years of research by the University of Chicago Consortium on Chicago School Research. The five “essentials” are: Effective Leaders, Collaborative Teachers, Involved Families, Supportive Environment and Ambitious Instruction.

This year’s Report Card will link to Illinois.5-Essentials.org and provide in-depth features for examining 5Essentials results. Through this site, parents, educators and community members have access to greater details on the 5Essentials. The site provides:

• Each school’s overall score.
• Each school’s score on each of the five Essentials.
• Scores used to calculate each Essential (e.g., Quality of Student Discussion).
• Individual question scores used to calculate each measure.
• Comparison, trend and download options.

Earlier this year, the Education Commission of the States (ECS) identified Illinois as having the best report card out of all 50 states and the District of Columbia for its accessible accountability reports. In “Rating States, Grading Schools: What Parents and Experts Say States Should Consider to Make Accountability Systems Meaningful,” ECS experts conducted a three-part analysis that assigned experienced online researchers to find school accountability reports in each state; asked parents to rate a school report card in each state on overall usefulness; and convened experts to determine essential indicators for meaningful school accountability systems. Illinois was the only state to be among the top picks for both parents and researchers.

“We applaud the great work of Illinois and their dedication to making their online report cards easy to find, easy to navigate and easy to understand,” said ECS President Jeremy Anderson. “Such transparency is essential for parents, educators and policymakers to make informed decisions about their students and schools.”

ISBE has produced the School Report Card since 1986 for every public school and district in Illinois. State Report Cards have been produced since 2002 and are required under No Child Left Behind. School districts must present the Report Card at a regular board meeting, make it available to local newspapers within the first 30 days of receiving it from the state and notify parents of the new Report Card in writing. Districts with websites must post the Report Card online. If they do not have a website, they must provide parents with copies.

Parents, educators and all those interested in public education in Illinois will soon have new data and online features at their fingertips to better gauge kindergarten through 12th-grade student performance and school learning environments. Metrics, such as the percentage of freshmen on track for college or how students feel about their school’s environment, will soon debut on the award-winning Illinois Report Card.

The 2014 Report Card, set to go online Oct. 31 at www.illinoisreportcard.com, also reflects a state and national move toward monitoring school districts based on multiple measures of growth and performance as opposed to a single test score at one point in time.

The new metrics and capabilities build on the functionality and enhanced features of the state’s redesigned Report Card, which was introduced last fall and rated tops in the nation by both researchers and parents, according to the Education Commission of the States.

“These improvements allow for more informed and productive discussions about individual school improvement efforts and each school’s   capacity to equip students with the knowledge and skills necessary to meet the challenges of higher education and a competitive, global marketplace,” said State Superintendent of Education Christopher A. Koch. “This information is crucial as we move to a new accountability system based on updated learning standards, higher performance expectations and more useful assessments, all focused on college and career readiness.”

In April, the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) received a waiver from the U.S. Department of Education for many aspects of the No Child Left Behind Act, allowing the state to work with districts and schools to report more significant school improvement data. Among the changes, Illinois no longer reports Adequate Yearly Progress.

ISBE will now use multiple measures to evaluate schools, such as how much academic growth students are making and how well educators are able to narrow achievement gaps or improve graduation rates. Results of new state assessments in 2015 will set the baseline for many of those measures.

This transition occurs as statewide demographics continue to shift to a more diverse and economically challenged student population. The percentage of white students in the state dropped below 50 percent (49.9 percent) during the 2013-14 school year for the first time, and the percentage of Hispanic/Latino students has increased to 24.6 percent. Meanwhile, the percentage of students designated as low income last school year exceeded half of all students, at 51.5 percent.

This year’s Report Card also shows that the state’s dropout rate is at its lowest point over the past 15 years, at 2.2 percent. The graduation rate has increased by 3 percentage points from 2013 to 86 percent for 2014.

Principal turnover is new metric that reports the number of principals who have worked at a particular school in the past six school years. The current state average for this metric is about two principals per school over six years. The 2014 Report Card also includes data on teacher retention rates, which show the percentage of teachers returning to the same school over the last three school years. The current state average for teacher retention is more than 85 percent.

“I’m pleased that we’re reporting principal and teacher retention rates,” said State Board Chairman Gery J. Chico. ”This metric provides a better picture of what’s happening in our schools. It is information schools and parents can use to address the reasons for attrition so that high-quality educators can stay in classrooms and help improve student achievement.”

New College Readiness and Enrollment Metrics

To help gauge college readiness, the 2014 Report Card now includes 12-month and 16-month enrollment statistics for former Illinois high school students in two-year and four-year colleges. These figures will be reported at the school, district and state levels. This year’s results show 66.3 percent of all Illinois graduates are enrolled in higher education 12 months after graduation, compared to 70.4 percent of graduates enrolled after the 16-month mark.

The 2014 Report Card also highlights the percentage of students who finish their freshman year on track for college readiness, meaning they have earned at least five full-year course credits (10 semester credits) and have earned no more than one semester F in a core course (English, math, science or social studies). This data will be reported at the high school, district and state levels. Statewide, nearly 88 percent of the state’s freshmen are on track to graduate, according to the 2014 Report Card. This metric is significant as a student who is considered on track at the end of his or her freshman year is almost four times as likely to graduate from high school as a student who is not on track.

ISAT & PSAE Performance Levels

The 2014 Report Card includes performance results from the state’s previous assessment system, the Illinois Standards Achievement Test (ISAT) and the Prairie State Achievement Exam (PSAE). These tests are being replaced this spring with the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) exams. Under the previous accountability system, 54.3 percent of students are meeting or exceeding standards on the PSAE, compared to 53.3 percent for 2014. The state average for ACT composite scores also slightly increased to 20.4 from 20.3 the previous year, and the percentage of students ready for college coursework (students who earned a combined score of at least a 21 on the ACT college admissions test) also grew slightly to 45.8 percent, compared to 45.7 percent for the graduating class of 2013. The percentage of students meeting or exceeding standards for the ISAT is 58.7 percent for 2014, a slight drop of 0.1 percent from the previous year.

The 2014 Report Card shows that the student academic growth score (growth from year to year on ISAT scores) has decreased in reading from 102.1 in 2013 to 99.4. The growth score increased in math from 101.4 in 2013 to 102.9. Schools that score below the average are not meeting the state average growth, and those scoring above are exceeding the average growth for a school. The growth score simply indicates the average amount of growth for students in a district or school and adds more context to other metrics.

Teacher and Student Survey Results

This year is also the first in which each school’s 5Essentials Survey results will be posted on the School Report Card. The survey, which was first administered in 2013, is designed to inform school improvement by measuring change and providing individualized reports for each school. The 2014 results are benchmarked to 2013 statewide 5Essentials data to allow for year-to-year comparison. The 5Essentials measure performance on five school environment components identified through 20 years of research by the University of Chicago Consortium on Chicago School Research. The five “essentials” are: Effective Leaders, Collaborative Teachers, Involved Families, Supportive Environment and Ambitious Instruction.

This year’s Report Card will link to Illinois.5-Essentials.org and provide in-depth features for examining 5Essentials results. Through this site, parents, educators and community members have access to greater details on the 5Essentials. The site provides:

• Each school’s overall score.
• Each school’s score on each of the five Essentials.
• Scores used to calculate each Essential (e.g., Quality of Student Discussion).
• Individual question scores used to calculate each measure.
• Comparison, trend and download options.

Earlier this year, the Education Commission of the States (ECS) identified Illinois as having the best report card out of all 50 states and the District of Columbia for its accessible accountability reports. In “Rating States, Grading Schools: What Parents and Experts Say States Should Consider to Make Accountability Systems Meaningful,” ECS experts conducted a three-part analysis that assigned experienced online researchers to find school accountability reports in each state; asked parents to rate a school report card in each state on overall usefulness; and convened experts to determine essential indicators for meaningful school accountability systems. Illinois was the only state to be among the top picks for both parents and researchers.

“We applaud the great work of Illinois and their dedication to making their online report cards easy to find, easy to navigate and easy to understand,” said ECS President Jeremy Anderson. “Such transparency is essential for parents, educators and policymakers to make informed decisions about their students and schools.”

ISBE has produced the School Report Card since 1986 for every public school and district in Illinois. State Report Cards have been produced since 2002 and are required under No Child Left Behind. School districts must present the Report Card at a regular board meeting, make it available to local newspapers within the first 30 days of receiving it from the state and notify parents of the new Report Card in writing. Districts with websites must post the Report Card online. If they do not have a website, they must provide parents with copies.