How Far We Have Fallen: D181 On Downward Slide as Reality of ISAT Results and Learning for All Shock Community

Our last post published the Illinois State Report Card rankings of all 9 D181 schools as reported by the Chicago SunTimes.  These rankings are based upon the overall performance of schools on the Illinois State Achievement Test (ISAT) that our students took last Spring.  We expressed our disappointment in the rankings, especially since the majority of our schools dropped in the rankings and we are still well behind the ranking of Butler, our neighboring district in Oak Brook and one of the districts that feeds into Hinsdale Central High School.

While we expressed concern, on Friday, Dr. Schuster chose to celebrate the results in the letter she sent to D181 Families and Staff.  Her letter lacked transparency, failed to report any actual data, and spun the harsh reality of the rankings into a celebration dance that we find downright shocking and offensive to our sensibilities. 

Rather than address or even acknowledge the drop in rankings of most of our schools, she spun the bad news as follows:

"D181 Schools Shine in 2013 ISAT Data Rankings
The 2013 Illinois Standards Achievement Test (ISAT) results are in, and We are currently ranked #7 for all elementary school districts in the state based on the 2013 ISAT results. When compared to elementary school districts of 2,000 students or more, our ISAT results are the highest in the state! As you may have seen in our Chicago media, we did very well in the various methods of rankings that compare schools’ ISAT data. In the Chicago Sun-Times, six of our seven elementary schools were listed in the top 50 out of more than 3,000 ranked schools, and both CHMS and HMS were listed in the top 50 for middle schools. In the Chicago Tribune listing, three of our schools were listed in the top 50 (elementary and middle school combined). Additionally, the Chicago Tribunereported that Walker School was among the top ten schools in the state with the highest percentage of students who earned the highest scores in reading, math or science on the ISAT."...

ISAT Data Shows Areas to Celebrate, Improve
As our team of educators continues to review data from the 2013 ISAT, we will find many strengths and many reasons to celebrate. Additionally, we know there will be areas needing improvement. With the new cut scores and increased rigor due to the inclusion of 20% Common Core-based questions, all schools in Illinois anticipated a more challenging assessment. We welcomed that challenge, and we look forward to the opportunity to better identify those areas for improvement." (11/1/13 Letter to Parents and Staff from Dr. Renee Schuster.)


We highlighted in red the 7 times in two short paragraphs that Dr. Schuster tried to paint a picture of how well our students did when compared to other districts.  We also highlighted in blue the 2 times that Dr. Schuster briefly notes that there may be areas for improvement that her administration will find as they analyze the data.  


After reading this letter, one parent sent an email to Dr. Schuster calling her out for the representations she made in her letter.  The parent's letter was then submitted as a comment to this blog. The parent said:

"I am horrified that you are celebrating these results. This administration has a habit of sugar coating hard truths and putting a spin on them. Since you refuse to tell the truth, I will."

We couldn't have said it better ourselves.  We whole-heartedly agree with this parent's reaction and hope you do too, after we expose the hard truth that Dr. Schuster has refused to acknowledge or address.

The reality is that last Spring's ISAT data and our school's rankings show that D181 is on a downward slide.  There is no reason to celebrate at this time, and what needs to happen is an open, transparent, candid and harsh discussion led by our elected representatives -- the Board of Education -- to immediately identify and address exactly what needs to happen STARTING NOW to improve the performance of all of our students in D181.

Here are the facts that show just how far D181 schools have fallen:  

D181 has fallen from a district that used to have all SEVEN elementary schools ranked in the TOP 25 schools in the state, to a district that has only three in the top 25.

As parents who have had children in D181 in a span of over 15 years, we recalled that our schools USED to truly be BEACONS of EXCELLENCE.  That beacon shown brightest less than 10 years ago -- in 2004.  The title of an article in the December 15, 2004 SunTimes read as follows:

UPDATED: Hot Off The Press: Illinois School Report Cards Have Been Released, Along with School Rankings

At midnight, the Illinois School Report Cards and the official rankings were finally released for everyone to see.

Click to Open Chicago SunTimes Ranking Charts

The Top 50 Schools were ranked for each category:  Elementary, Middle and High School.

High School:

First, we want to extend a huge congratulations to Hinsdale Central High School.  It was ranked 4th in the entire state, moving up one spot and bumping New Trier down to 6th place.  Looks like the high school has continued to show improvement and excellence in its instruction of our students!  We are very fortunate in our community to be able to send our children to such a prestigious high school.

Middle Schools:

The news was not so good for Hinsdale Middle School (HMS) or Clarendon Hills Middle School (CHMS).  They both dropped in the rankings this year.

Continuing Series, Part 4: A Critical Analysis of the "Doctors in Training" at the helm of D181 and their Questionable Qualifications – The Director of Learning (Curriculum, Assessment and Instruction)

Dawn Benaitis is D181's Director of Learning (Curriculum, Assessment and Instruction). 

Just before Dawn Benaitis was hired as Principal of Monroe School in 2011, she served as a K-2  elementary school principal in Antioch, IL, which is a small town very much unlike that of communities that feed into District 181. (Click to open Benaitis Resume.) After serving just two years as principal at Monroe, Ms Benaitis was promoted in June 2013 to oversee district-wide assessment, despite the fact she had little to no experience (academically or job based) dealing with the complexities of testing, measurement, and interpretation of results. Of equal importance is the fact that Monroe School's MAP test results showed grade upon grade of under performing students. (Click to open MAP assessment report and scroll to Pages 38 and 39 for Monroe results.) The results are among the lowest in the district (Click to open 6/10/2013 Blog Post on MAP data.), and this was evident under Benaitis' watch. 

What is most concerning about the fact Ms Benaitis was promoted despite Monroe School's poor MAP results, is that she is now officially responsible for analyzing test results for the entire district. Monroe is the largest school in the district, and barely 50% of the students are achieving the growth targets on the MAP test. In fact, just 40% of third graders met the growth targets in reading for the 2012-2013 MAP test. This is in addition to the last year's poor MAP math test results for last year's third graders. We wonder: will Ms Benaitis have the knowledge base to monitor and assess the current fourth grade performance district wide, not to mention all the other grades? 

With the implementation of the Common Core curriculum this year, along with one additional year of math acceleration in all grades, it will be challenging for Ms Benaitis to consistently monitor, evaluate, analyze, and interpret test results, and determine