Downers Grove High Schools Rank Among Best in Area, State
Both District 99 schools were recognized by the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times for their performance on the Prairie State Achievement Exam.
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Both schools in Downers Grove's Community High School District 99 were among the top-performers in the Chicagoland area and state, according to rankings published last month by the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times.
Both newspapers used 2012 Illinois School Report Card data in determining the rankings.
Downers Grove North High School was ranked 23rd in the Chicago area and 24th in the state by the Chicago Sun-Times, down slightly from 2011 when it was ranked 20th in the area and 21st in the state.
The Chicago Tribune ranked North High 28th among schools in DuPage, Kane, Cook, Lake, Will and McHenry counties.
Downers Grove South High School was ranked 45th in the Chicago area and 57th in the state by the Sun-Times—an improvement from 2011, when the school failed to crack the top 50.
Both newspapers used 2012 Illinois School Report Card data in ranking the top elementary, middle and high schools in the area. The Sun-Times utilized a statistical method called "standardizing" to analyze the "scale score" of every reading and math score from the Prairie State Achievement Test, which is administered each April to high school juniors.
The Chicago Tribune used each school's combined PSAE test scores.
Neither Downers Grove high school achieved Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) in math and reading as defined by the No Child Left Behind Act, according to the schools' 2012 Illinois School Report Cards.
Among the conditions for making AYP in 2012 are having at least 95 percent of each student group tested for reading and math, at least 85 percent meeting or exceeding standards in reading and math standards and an 82 percent graduation rate.
At North High, 74.8 of all students met or exceeded standards in reading, and 79.8 percent met or exceeded standards in math. Students with disabilities did achieve the school's "safe harbor" target in reading, with 53.8 percent meeting or exceeding state standards.
North High's graduation rate in 2012 was 93.3 percent.
At South High, 65.1 percent of all students met or exceeded standards in reading. White students achieved the school's safe harbor target with 74.7 percent meeting or exceeding. The meet/exceeds rate fell short in each of the school's subgroups—Black, Hispanic, Asian, students with disabilities and economically disadvantaged.
In math, 74.4 percent of all South High students met or exceeded standards. The school missed safe harbor targets for Black, Hispanic, disabled and ecomonically disadvantaged students.
South High's graduation rate was 89.8 percent.
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In This article
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Community High School District 99
6301 Springside Ave, Downers Grove, IL -
Downers Grove North High School
4436 Main St, Downers Grove, IL -
Downers Grove South High School
1436 Norfolk St, Downers Grove, IL -
Village of Downers Grove
801 Burlington Ave, Downers Grove, IL
Tony Cesare
8:58 am on Thursday, November 8, 2012
This is why so many of us have chosen Downers Grove to raise our kids!
Amanda Luevano
9:00 am on Thursday, November 8, 2012
This is part of the reason why I was so excited to start covering Downers Grove!
Patricia Gronlund
9:22 am on Thursday, November 8, 2012
As a retired DGS teacher I know how hard our staff works to achieve these results. Kudos and congratulations.
Mark Thoman
11:14 pm on Thursday, November 8, 2012
Good schools support good communities. Honors earned.
Elena Taylor
11:20 am on Thursday, November 8, 2012
Great news for all! Congrats to teachers and students alike.
Joseph O'Shaughnessy
2:52 pm on Thursday, November 8, 2012
These are great achievements. Minority kids at South should be doing better. Kids need what they need. Tougher standards, more direct attention, whatever the problem...these kids should be able to graduate and go on to higher education. Teachers know how to fix it. They fix some of it every day. But they can go just so far. I'm astonished sometimes that they can teach at all. We would get the point of a flying eraser on the side of the head simply for not paying attention. Teachers today have it much harder. And on top of it all, they expect some kind of decent retirement. Shameful.
Jeff Tandy
3:00 pm on Thursday, November 8, 2012
How many high schools are there in Illinois, just for reference sake?
Michael Rawson
3:19 pm on Thursday, November 8, 2012
The ranking is based on beating minimum state standards, which is not tough to do. A better measure is a nationally recognized standardized test, such as the ACT. By that measure, DGN (23.7) is well behind Hinsdale Central (26.4), Naperville North (25.1) and Central (25.5), Wheaton North (24.1).
This is not something to be proud of.
Joseph O'Shaughnessy
4:06 pm on Thursday, November 8, 2012
I don't know if 23rd is a great accomplishment, but it is pretty good. I think there are several hundred districts. But I agree that we should be up there with Hinsdale Central. No excuse not to be. Again, it is not the teachers. I think it is a matter of goal setting. What is important to you. I think a lot of these kids are pretty smart.
Tony Cesare
4:52 pm on Thursday, November 8, 2012
Wheaton North should be proud at 24.1 but DGN should not be at 23.7?? Harsh. Don't get me wrong, there is room for improvement no doubt but DGN is not far off. I would like to see that number approach 26-27 by the time my kids are ready to attend.
Ray
11:26 am on Thursday, November 15, 2012
A 23 is still over a 70 percentile and is more than respectable.
Gregory Bolts
9:41 pm on Thursday, November 8, 2012
How can these schools be so good if there "is such a big problem with nepotism"? It is so big that the school board shut down a recent meeting when this topic was challenged! Yet there is no mention of the big problem here. Why?
Amanda Luevano
10:10 pm on Thursday, November 8, 2012
Hi everyone, let's try to stay on point. This article was about the schools' performance on the PSAE compared to other schools across the state. Regardless of anything else, the data shows that Downers Grove students out-performed those at other schools. I thought this was worth highlighting.
Mark Thoman
10:47 pm on Thursday, November 8, 2012
"Greg Bolts" is a fake account created by people who hate lifelong Downers Grove resident and Republican Greg Boltz. Downers Grove Community Advocates are the primary haters. Official and unofficial members of this group can either come on and join in condemning these types of disgusting political antics or take responsibility for them, but you can't keep silent and think others will assume your innocence.
Ms. Luevano I suggest you alert your fellow Patch editors it is officially campaign season in Downers Grove, so be ready for the dirt, insinuations, and tricks to fly fast and furious. This is just the start.
Mark Thomans
2:26 pm on Friday, November 9, 2012
hello
Lindy Sullivan
10:32 am on Thursday, November 15, 2012
We don't get it a Mark Thoman comes on off the point about some good intentioned civic group (Advocates) that he apparently hates and complains about fake names and politics. Then another Mark Thoman with an s at the end of the name comes on and says "hello." Who is using a fake name and what does that or the civic group he dislikes have anything to do with the fact that the high schools in DG are really good?
Finally Greory Bolts asked about "nepotism" which was a big deal at a recent meeting of high school District 99 school board. How is that a bad political question? It seems related to the schools more so than any complaints about "fake names" and the Advocate group. It seems to us that "Mark Thoman" is being political and slanderous!
Mark Thomans
2:26 pm on Friday, November 9, 2012
Why do you think Greg Bolts is a fake name.
PAUL C.
2:34 pm on Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Amanda welcome to the Patch wise guy world! I may have blogged the most during the primary race between our 2 DG peeps running for State Rep. DGN & DGS are both great schools and we are very lucky to live here. The world isn't perfect though as you have seen.
Ralph
1:15 pm on Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Love the DG high schools. My wife and I went to them, her to North and me at South and so did my kids, to North. Some of the best teachers anywhere.
My question is the money they've been spending on school improvements. How can North justify the expense of putting in a brick paver parking lot? What is South doing to their auxiliary field at the northwest corner of their property and couldn't that money have been put to better use that more students would have benefitted from?