State School Report Card
See how Rankin compares to the State
by John Prinz
October 29, 2007
The State Report Card for Rankin School District is available at the link below. It is an Adobe file.
A summary of the results and our plans for improvement is printed below. We welcome your comments and input.
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Rankin School District 98. |
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PLANNED IMPROVEMENT FOR THE SCHOOL AND DISTRICT |
Rankin Elementary School District No. 98 continues to provide a quality education for the children entrusted to our care. Our teachers, staff and Board of Education are committed to the academic and social development of our students. Working together with parents and our community we help prepare our graduates for success in high school, college, work, and life.
As you review this Report Card, you will see that our students generally performed better than the State average. Our overall student performance this year was almost thirteen percentage points (12.9%) higher than the state average. Rankin had just under ninety percent (87%) of our students meeting or exceeding State standards. We excelled in many areas with more than half of our grade/subject results over 88%. There were a few areas where our students did not achieve at the high level we expect. Fifth grade reading performance was lower than desired with only seventy percent (70.6%) of students meeting or exceeding standards, but this was a fifteen percent increase over the previous year. Fifth grade also struggled in math with only sixth-five (64.7%) meeting or exceeding standards. Seventh grade was below our expectations in with seventy-four percent (73.9%) of students meeting or exceeding standards in both math and reading. To address these areas for growth, we have reevaluated our curriculum and classroom instruction in a continuing effort to improve student performance. We split the eighth grade class (last years seventh grade) to provide increased teacher interaction and more individualized instruction for all students. We added a new Reading Handbook series, which has a more comprehensive program to improve comprehension. All teachers are working to improve the learning process in their classrooms and to more accurately align our local curriculum with the Illinois Learning Standards on which ISAT is based. The mathematics program has incorporated a daily math problem solving format for classroom use. We are proud of the fact that we tested one hundred percent (100%) of our test eligible students. This included students with special needs and economically disadvantaged students, who often tend to struggle more in school and formal testing situations. Also, because Rankin is a small school our student numbers are relatively low, with each student carrying a larger percentage value in the total results. Thus one or two students can results in up to a 10 percent change in performance. We recognize our commitment to helping all children meet or exceed state standards and the entire staff is dedicated to work towards that goal.
While we are proud of our students performing above the state average, we are also pleased with our financial standing. Our instructional expenditures per pupil were a significantly less ($332) than the state average and our operating expenditures per pupil were also much less ($1,198) than the state average. We continue to provide a lower ratio of students to teachers and students to administrators for more individualized attention. The Rankin School community is receiving an excellent return on their investment. Our students are achieving well above state average while our expenses are well below average. We are proud of that balance sheet and will strive to maintain and improve our performance.
We have identified the following areas for targeted improvement:
• Focus on the important interactions in the teaching-learning process that will enhance and improve overall student achievement.
• Focus on essential reading and math skills, while also raising the expectations for student achievement in all academic areas.
• Utilize curriculum guides to enhance, coordinate, and document learning in all subject areas
• Focus on using technology to enhance learning at all levels.
Please let us know if you have any concerns or
suggestions. We welcome your input.
