District 210's PSAE Scores Highest in School's History

The newly released 2013 Illinois School Report Card has Lemont High School District 210 administrators celebrating.

Results show that the high school's Class of 2014 not only met or exceeded state standards at a rate significantly above the state average on the 2013 Prairie State Achievement Exam (PSAE), but its scores were among the school’s best ever.

The Illinois School Report Card provides a snapshot of a school district’s demographic data, student achievement and financial information, among other items.
 
Lemont High School District 210 administrators presented this information at the district’s Board of Education Oct. 21 meeting, and the report card now is available on the school’s Web site.

PSAE
The percentage of Lemont High School’s Class of 2014 that met or exceeded standards on the 2013 PSAE - both overall, and within each of the subtests - continued to be significantly above the state average.

The PSAE is administered to all juniors enrolled in an Illinois public high school over a two-day period each spring. It consists of two parts - the ACT, which is given on the first day of testing, and the WorkKeys exams, which are given on the second day.

When taking into account students’ performance on the Reading, Mathematics and Science subtests, 72.5 percent of members of the Class of 2014 met or exceeded standards on the 2013 PSAE. That percentage is much higher than the state average (53.3 percent) and marks the second-highest percentage in school history. Only the Class of 2010, which had 73.8 percent of students meet or exceed standards on the 2009 PSAE, had a higher percentage.

In the Science subtest, 73.4 percent of students in Lemont High School’s Class of 2014 met or exceeded standards, which is the best performance in school history and significantly above the state average (49.3 percent). The school’s previous best performances came from the Class of 2010 and the Class of 2012, each of which had 70.3 percent of students meet or exceed standards.

In the Reading subtest, 73.7 percent of students in Lemont High School’s Class of 2014 met or exceeded state standards, which is the second-best percentage in school history; only the Class of 2010 (75.7 percent) has had a greater percentage of students meet or exceed standards. Across the state, 54.8 percent of Illinois high school students met or exceeded standards on the 2013 PSAE.

In the Mathematics subtest, 71.4 percent of Lemont juniors met or exceeded state standards, compared to the state average of 51.8 percent.

Lemont High School tracks students’ performance on the EXPLORE and PLAN tests - which are given to students as freshmen and sophomores, respectively - then predicts where each student may score on the ACT as juniors. Of the more than 350 students who participated in the 2013 PSAE, 88 percent met or exceeded their predicted range on the ACT portion of the exam.

ACT
Lemont High School consistently has scored above the state average on the ACT, and that trend continued this year. The average composite score for Lemont’s Class of 2013 - 22.2 - was nearly two points above the state average (20.3). Additionally, 63.2 percent of the Class of 2013 posted a composite score of 21.0 or better, which represents the level at which ISBE has determined students are ready for college course work.

For the first time this year, ACT included the scores of all students - including those who were provided special accommodations - in the averages for schools across the state. Consequently, the Class of 2013’s average composite score is slightly lower than those compiled by previous classes. Still, the Class of 2013’s average composite ranks among the school’s top five since 2002.

Beginning with the Class of 2002, all State of Illinois students who were classified as juniors were required to take the ACT as part of the PSAE. Prior to that year, students who took the ACT generally were limited to those who were college-bound.

The ACT includes four subtests - Mathematics, Reading, English and Science. Despite the adjustment in reporting, the Class of 2013’s average composite scores in many of those subtests still ranked among the school’s best performances. Its scores in the Mathematics (22.3) and Science (22.0) subsets rank fourth in school history, and its English score (21.9) ranks fifth among all classes.

The average composite ACT score reflects graduating students’ most recent scores from an ACT national testing date or PSAE testing, and includes scores of all students, regardless of ability or familiarity with the English language. While all students are required to take the ACT as part of the PSAE, most take the ACT again in an effort to improve their scores.

The Class of 2011 established the school’s standard for average composite ACT score with its 23.0 average.

Other School Report Card Data