Rockford Sun

The North Boone Community Unit School District Board of Education received an update from Director of Curriculum Kari Neri regarding the district’s performance on the Illinois state report card.

During the Nov. 15 meeting, which was streamed live, Neri updated the board on the designations of each of the schools in the district. North Boone Elementary, North Boone High, Manchester Elementary and Poplar Grove Elementary all earned designations of "Commendable"; while Capron Elementary earned an "Exemplary," which put it in the top 10% of schools in the state. Neri added that North Boone Middle School was listed as "Targeted," a designation that indicates there are students in the school who are underperforming.

“The really important thing I want to point out for our elementary, upper elementary and middle schools is that 50% of their designation rating comes from growth,” Neri told the board during the meeting. “So, 25% comes from their growth in English language arts on the air, and 25% is their math growth.”

Neri also updated the board on assessments taken in the district, including the IAR, MAP and SAT tests, providing a broad overview. She noted that scores at North Boone fell below state benchmarks, and the percentage of students who meet or exceed expectations was 18.9% in math (state mark 25.8%), 23.9% in ELA (state mark 29.9%), and 48% in science (state mark 50%).

“The state weighs heavily student growth when it comes to English and math, and they weigh it much more heavily than student achievement or proficiency, which only equals 15%,” she told the board. “We'll also look at science proficiency.”

Neri pointed out that the state substituted participation for proficiency. Furthermore, she explained that the district’s absenteeism scores are a key for success and a benchmark for school quality, and she cautioned that absentee rates across the state are high as a result of the pandemic. In the district, Neri noted that there is a 30.9% absentee population, indicating students who have been absent for 10 or more days. That number falls slightly above the state mark of 29.8%. She told the board that this number increased in the wake of remote learning being removed as an option for students.

The director also addressed other academic indicators.

“So, for our high school, it's important to note again in those academic indicators that 50% of the high school's score comes from their graduation rate, and it's a composite they look at both for our all three, four-year-, five-year- and six-year graduation rate, with four-year being the most important in terms of the highest number in that 50%,” Neri said. “But they do look at all of it together. We'll look at English language arts proficiency and math proficiency from SAT. We will also look at science proficiency—which, again, for high school, they also looked at participation, not proficiency.”