Division of Data
Analysis and Progress Reporting
2007 REPORT CARD
DEFINITIONS AND SOURCES OF DATA
The Better Schools Accountability Law (Section 10-17a of the
Illinois School Code) is reprinted below, one paragraph at a time, with terms
to be defined underlined. The
definitions for each paragraph then follow immediately below the paragraph. In some instances, terms have already been
defined in statute, or they derive from current state practice.
Legislative Citation
(1) Policy and Purpose.
It shall be the policy of the State of Illinois that each school
district in this State, including special charter districts and
districts subject to the provisions of Article 34, shall submit to parents,
taxpayers of such districts, the Governor, the General Assembly
and the State Board of Education a school report card assessing the performance
of its schools and students.
The report card shall be an index of school performance measured
against statewide and local standards and will provide information to
make prior year comparisons and to set future year targets through the
school improvement plan.
Definitions
School districts, for purposes of this legislation,
include all regular operating elementary, high school, and unit districts. Excluded are other state-funded education
agencies such as area vocational centers, special education cooperatives,
university laboratory schools, the Illinois Math and
A special charter district is
any city, township, or district organized into a school district and operating
in whole or in part under a special Act or charter of the General Assembly.
(Section 1-3 of the School Code.)
Submit to parents:
The report card will be disseminated to all parents whose children are
enrolled in the school by the district's usual means of distributing student
report cards, by a comparable method, or by making it available on the
district’s Internet web site as detailed in paragraph (2).
A parent means the natural or
adoptive parent, a guardian, or a person acting as a parent of a child.
. . . to taxpayers: The report card will be kept on file by the
district and the respective regional superintendent. According to the Freedom of Information Act,
copies must be made available upon request.
A fee to recover actual costs may be charged.
A taxpayer is anyone who owns
property, resides, or pays taxes in the school district.
. . . to the Governor, the
General Assembly: The report cards
will be transmitted to the Governor and the General Assembly by the State Board
of Education.
School, in current State Board of
Education use, is synonymous with "attendance center." A school is a division of the school system
consisting of students comprising one or more grade groups or other
identifiable groups, organized as one unit with one or more teachers to give
instruction of a defined type and housed in one or more buildings. More than one school may be housed in one
building, as is the case when elementary and secondary schools are housed in
the same building.
A student is an individual of
legal school age who is enrolled in an educational program in grades K-12 or in
an age-appropriate placement under the jurisdiction of a school or school
district.
An index of school performance
is an indicator that represents accomplishment.
Statewide and local standards are measures or criteria
established by local and state authority.
Legislative Citation
(2) Reporting
Requirements. Each school district shall
prepare a report card in accordance with the guidelines set forth in this
Section which describes the performance of its students by school attendance
centers and by district and the district's financial resources and use
of financial resources. Such report
card shall be presented at a regular school board meeting subject to applicable
notice requirements, posted on the school district’s Internet web site,
if the district maintains an Internet web site, made available to a
newspaper of general circulation serving the district, and, upon request, sent
home to a parent (unless the district does not maintain an Internet web
site, in which case the report card shall be sent home to parents without
request). If the district posts the
report card on its Internet web site, the district shall send a written notice
home to parents stating (i) that the report card is available on the web site,
(ii) the address of the web site, (iii) that a printed copy of the report card
will be sent to parents upon request, and (iv) the telephone number that
parents may call to request a printed copy of the report card. In addition, each school district shall
submit the completed report card to the office of the district's Regional
Superintendent which shall make copies available to any individual
requesting them.
Definitions
Financial resources include the amount of money that
districts receive from all sources as listed in paragraph (3)(b) of the
legislation.
Use of financial resources refers to "District
expenditure by fund" in paragraph (3)(b) of the legislation.
Applicable notice requirements are the terms and procedures of
notification specified for regular meetings in the Open Meetings Act.
Posted on the school district’s
Internet web site: Districts must provide parents with
information relative to the availability of report cards on the districts’ Internet
web sites and also provide printed copies upon request. Districts that do not maintain Internet web
sites must continue to send printed copies of report cards home to parents.
Made available to a newspaper of
general circulation
means that the information must be provided to a newspaper that is circulated
in the district and in which the school district usually publishes
notices. This does not include
newspapers that are available for free distribution.
Sent home is the same as "submit to
parents" in paragraph (1) of the legislation.
Make copies available means that the report card is kept
on file. According to the Freedom of
Information Act, copies must be made upon request. A fee to recover actual costs may be charged.
Legislative Citation
The report card shall be completed and disseminated
prior to October 31 in each school year.
The report card shall contain, but not be limited to, actual local
school attendance center, school district and statewide data indicating the
present performance of the school, the State norms and the areas
for planned improvement for the school and school district.
Definitions
Disseminated is the same as "submit"
in paragraph (1) and "made available" in paragraph (2) of the
legislation.
The actual local school
attendance center is the location where a child is housed and counted as
enrolled in school in the fall of the school year.
Present performance refers to the most recent data
available for the various indicators.
State norms are the quantitative values that
constitute the typical performance in
Areas for planned improvement include academic and other areas targeted
for improvement by local administrators.
Legislative Citation
(3)(a) The report card shall include the following
applicable indicators of attendance center, district, and statewide student
performance: percent of students who
exceed, meet, or do not meet standards established by the State Board of
Education pursuant to Section 2-3.25a [105 ILCS 5/2-3.25a]; composite
and subtest means on nationally normed achievement tests for college bound
students; student attendance rates; chronic truancy rate; dropout
rate; graduation rate; and student mobility, turnover
shown as a percent of transfers out and a percent of transfers in.
Definitions
Percent of students who exceed,
meet, or do not meet standards established by the State Board of Education refers to the distribution of
students in the various performance levels based on their Illinois Grade 2
Assessment, ISAT, PSAE, IMAGE, or IAA scores. These performance levels are
defined in the school report cards.
Composite and subtest means on
nationally normed achievement tests for college bound students refer to the average ACT scores
based on the most recent performance of students in the school’s class of 2007
who sat for the ACT on a national test date or PSAE testing. The composite mean is the reported average
composite score while the subtest mean is the reported average for each of the
ACT subtests which include English, mathematics, reading, and science.
Student attendance rate is the aggregate days of student
attendance divided by the sum of the aggregate days of student attendance and
aggregate days of student absence multiplied by 100.
Chronic truancy rate is the number of chronic truants
divided by the average daily enrollment multiplied by 100. Chronic truants include students subject to compulsory
attendance who have been absent without valid cause from such attendance for 10%
or more of the previous 180 regular attendance days.
Dropout rate is the number of dropouts divided
by the fall enrollment less post-graduates multiplied by 100. Dropouts include students in grades 9-12
whose names have been removed from the district-housed roster for any reason
other than death, extended illness, graduation/completion of a program of
studies, transfer to another public/private school, or expulsion.
Graduation rate is the number of 2006-07 high
school graduates divided by the first-time ninth grade 2003 fall enrollment
less students transferred out plus students transferred in multiplied by
100. [Numerator = number of graduates;
denominator = (9th grade enrollment-transfers out) + transfers in]. “Transfers out” include students from the
freshman class who transferred to another school or died prior to
graduation. “Transfers in” encompass 2006-07
graduates who were not counted in the first-time ninth grade 2003 fall
enrollment; they may include students who transferred from another school, students
with or without disabilities, and students who graduated in fewer or more than
four years.
Student mobility (Turnover) reflects any enrollment change between
the first school day in October and the last day of the school year. It is the sum of the students who transferred
out and the students who transferred in, divided by the average daily
enrollment multiplied, by 100. Students
are counted each time they transfer out or in during the reporting year. Thus, individual students may be counted more
than once.
Transfers out, relative to student mobility,
comprises all incidents of students being removed from the enrollment roster
for any reason.
Transfers in, relative to student mobility,
comprises all incidents of students being added to the enrollment roster.
Legislative Citation
(b) The report card
shall include the following descriptions for the school, district, and state: average class size, amount of time
per day devoted to mathematics, science, English and social science at primary,
middle and junior high school grade levels; number of students taking
the Prairie State Achievement Examination under subsection (c) of Section
2-3.64 [105-5/2-3.64], the number of those students who received a score of
excellent, and the average score by school of students taking the
examination; pupil-teacher ratio; pupil-administrator ratio;
operating expenditure per pupil; district expenditure by fund; average
administrator salary; and average teacher salary. The report card shall also specify the amount
of money that the district receives from all sources, including without
limitation subcategories specifying the amount from local property taxes,
the amount from general state aid, the amount from other state
funding, and the amount from other income.
Definitions
Average class size is the sum of specified class
enrollments from kindergarten through grade 8 for schools having grades below
grade 9 and in all subject areas in high school divided by the number of
classes. For high schools, and
optionally for grades 6 and 8, an average for the 2nd and 5th class periods is
used.
Amount of time per day devoted to
mathematics, science, English, and social science at primary, middle, and
junior high levels
is the average number of minutes of instruction per 5-day school week reported
as allocated for instruction in each of the specified subject areas at grades
3, 6, and 8 divided by 5.
Number of students taking the
Number of those students who
received a score of excellent may be derived by multiplying the number of students taking
the PSAE by the percent in Level 4 (Exceeds Standards) for each subject at the
school.
Average score by school, for each subject, is the sum of the
individual student scores divided by the total number of students tested in
that subject. Average scores range from
a low of 120 to a high of 200.
Pupil-teacher ratio is the fall enrollment for the
school year divided by the number of full-time equivalent classroom teachers in
the district. Excluded are teachers
classified as special education teachers.
Pupil‑administrator ratio is the fall enrollment for the
school year divided by the number of full-time equivalent administrative staff.
Operating expenditure per pupil is the gross operating cost of a
school district (except summer school, adult education, bond principal retired,
and capital expenditures) divided by the
District expenditure by fund is the total expenditure from each
of the eight funds: educational;
operations and maintenance; transportation; bond and interest; rent; municipal
retirement/social security; fire prevention and safety; and site and
construction/capital improvement.
Average administrator salary is the sum of the salaries for all
administrative staff divided by the number of full-time equivalent
administrative staff.
Average teacher salary is the sum of the salaries for all
classroom teachers divided by the number of full-time equivalent classroom
teachers.
Local property taxes.
The receipt of taxes that apply to prior year’s levies as well as those
available from the current levy. Also
included are payments in lieu of taxes as monies from the Corporate Personal
Property Replacement Tax.
General state aid.
Amounts received from the state for the general apportionment (flat
grants) and the equalization portions of the State Aid Formula as authorized in
Section 18-8.05 of the School Code.
Other state funding.
State funds apportioned for various programs such as Transportation Aid,
Bilingual Education, Early Childhood, etc., excluding General State Aid.
Other income.
Revenue from sources including Federal Funding (federal programs, grants
and contracts) and Other Local Funding (such as interests on investments,
tuition, and sale of property).
Legislative Citation
(c) The report card
shall include applicable indicators of parental involvement in each attendance
center. The parental involvement
component of the report card shall include the percentage of students
whose parents or guardians have had one or more personal contacts with the
students' teachers during the school year concerning the students'
education, and such other information, commentary, and suggestions as
the school district desires. For the
purposes of this paragraph, “personal contact” includes, but is not
limited to, parent-teacher conferences, parental visits to school, school
visits to home, telephone conversations, and written correspondence. The parental involvement component shall not
single out or identify individual students, parents, or guardians by name.
Definitions
Percentage of students is the number of students whose
parents or guardians had one or more personal contacts with the students'
teachers during the school year concerning the students' education, divided by
the average daily enrollment multiplied by 100.
There are no multiple counts; each student is counted only once even if
his or her parents made more than one contact with the teachers during the
school year.
Teachers, referred to in this section of the
legislation, include all certified staff.
Such other information may include matters related to
students' behavior, social, and physical well-being that a district chooses to
report.
Personal contact includes visits in person and
individualized communication. The
following are excluded: form letters or
notices, parental letters relating to student absences, regular notification of
grades, student progress report cards, school report cards, attendance at
school athletic, music, drama events, and other co-curricular activities.
Legislative Citation
(d) The report card form shall be prepared by the
State Board of Education and provided to school districts by the most
efficient, economic and appropriate means.
Definitions
The report card form is a
document designed by the State Board of Education to reflect the minimum
required content to be reported by school districts and provide districts with
the necessary statewide data.
Most efficient, economic and
appropriate means
refers to electronic dissemination.
Supplemental Information
The report cards also contain information not specifically
required in state legislation. Some of
the data elements are required by the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act
of 2001. Following are definitions of
the supplemental information.
Definitions
Enrollment total is the total student enrollment in
the school and district in the fall of the school year.
The percent of students for each
racial-ethnic group
(White, Black, Hispanic, Asian- Pacific Islander, American Indian-Alaskan
Native, and Multiracial/Ethnic) is the count of students belonging to a
particular racial/ethnic group divided by the total fall enrollment multiplied
by 100.
Low-income students are pupils aged 3 to 17, inclusive,
from families receiving public aid, living in institutions for neglected or
delinquent children, being supported in foster homes with public funds, or
eligible to receive free or reduced-price lunches. The percent of low-income students is the
count of low-income students divided by the total fall enrollment multiplied by
100.
Limited-English-proficient students are those students who have been
found to be eligible for bilingual education.
The percent of limited-English-proficient students is the count of
limited-English-proficient students divided by the total fall enrollment
multiplied by 100.
The percent of teachers by
race/ethnicity is
the number of full-time equivalent classroom teachers belonging to that
particular racial-ethnic group as reported for the district divided by the
total number of full-time equivalent classroom teachers multiplied by 100.
The percent of teachers by gender is the number of full-time
equivalent classroom teachers for a particular gender divided by the total
number of full-time equivalent classroom teachers multiplied by 100.
Pupil-certified staff ratio is the fall enrollment divided by
the number of full-time equivalent certified staff, excluding adult education
personnel.
Average teaching experience is the sum of the years of teaching
experience for all full-time equivalent classroom teachers in the district
divided by the total number of full-time equivalent classroom teachers.
Percent of teachers with Bachelor's
degrees is the sum
of all full-time equivalent classroom teachers with Bachelor's degrees as
reported in the district divided by the total number of full-time equivalent
classroom teachers multiplied by 100.
Percent of teachers with Master's
degrees and above
is the sum of all full-time equivalent classroom teachers with Master's degrees
and above in the district divided by the total number of full-time equivalent
classroom teachers multiplied by 100.
Percent of teachers with emergency
or provisional credentials is the number of full-time equivalent teachers teaching with emergency
or provisional credentials divided by the total number full-time equivalent
teachers multiplied by 100.
Percent of classes not taught by
highly qualified teachers is the number of classes not taught by highly qualified teachers divided
by the total number of classes multiplied by 100.
Equalized assessed valuation per
pupil, an
indication of district wealth, is the district’s equalized assessed valuation
divided by the 9-month average daily attendance.
Total school tax rate per $100, an indication of district effort,
is the district’s total tax rate for education (per $100) as shown on local
property tax bills.
Instructional expenditure per pupil: Instructional expenditures divided
by the
Expenditure by function consists of expenditures for
instruction, general administration, supporting services, and other
expenditures.
Overall Student Performance, presented graphically, shows the
percentage of student scores meeting or exceeding Illinois Learning Standards in
all the state assessments for the most recent two years, in compliance with
NCLB legislation.
Percentage of students not tested in
state testing programs is the number of students not tested for each state assessment divided
by the enrollment as reported during the testing windows, multiplied by
100. This is another
Illinois Measure of Annual Growth in
English (IMAGE) is
taken by students who have been in state-approved transitional bilingual
programs for less than five academic years and for whom the ISAT or PSAE is not
appropriate due to their lack of proficiency in English.
Illinois Alternate Assessment (IAA) is administered to students with significant
cognitive disabilities whose Individualized Education Programs indicate that
participation in the ISAT or PSAE, even with accommodations, is not
appropriate.
Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) is an
School Improvement Status.
SOURCES OF DATA FOR
THE REPORT CARDS
1. School
Report Card Data Form (ISBE86-43). 2006-07
2. Teacher
Service Record (ISBE 87-05), 2006-07
3. Public
School Fall Enrollment and Housing Report (ISBE 87-03), 2006-07
4. Annual
Financial Report (ISBE 50-35)/General State Aid Claim for 2005-06 Payable in 2006-07 (ISBE 54-33)
5. Special file
from ACT for Class of 2007
6. State
Assessment Files, 2006-07
7. Special File
from Data Systems Division, 2006-07
REPORT CARD ELEMENTS SOURCE(S)
Parental Involvement....................................................................................................... (1)
Dropout Rate................................................................................................................... (1),(3)
Student Attendance Rate................................................................................................. (1)
Student Mobility................................................................................................................ (1)
Chronic Truancy Rate..................................................................................................... (1)
Average Class Size......................................................................................................... (1)
Amount of Time Devoted to Math,
Science, English and Social Science
at the Primary, Middle, and Jr. High School Levels....................................................... (1)
Pupil-Teacher Ratio......................................................................................................... (2),(3)
Pupil-Administrator Ratio................................................................................................. (2),(3)
Average Teacher Salary.................................................................................................. (2)
Average Administrator Salary.......................................................................................... (2)
Operating Expenditure Per Pupil..................................................................................... (4)
District Expenditure by Fund........................................................................................... (4)
ACT Scores..................................................................................................................... (5)
Graduation Rate............................................................................................................... (1)
Overall Student Performance.......................................................................................... (6)
ISAT................................................................................................................................. (6)
PSAE............................................................................................................................... (6)
IMAGE.............................................................................................................................. (6)
IAA.................................................................................................................................... (6)
Areas for Planned Improvement...................................................................................... Local
SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION
Grades in the School....................................................................................................... (3)
Enrollment by Race/Ethnicity.......................................................................................... (3)
Low-Income Enrollment................................................................................................... (3)
Limited-English-Proficient
Enrollment............................................................................. (3)
Teacher Distribution by
Race/Ethnicity and Gender……………………………………... (2)
Pupil-Certified Staff Ratio................................................................................................ (2),(3)
Average Teaching Experience......................................................................................... (2)
Teachers with Bachelor's Degree and
Master's Degree and Above.............................. (2)
Teachers with Emergency or
Provisional Credentials.................................................... (7)
Classes Not Taught by Highly Qualified
Teachers.......................................................... (1)
Other School Finance Indicators..................................................................................... (4)
Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP).................................................................................... (6)
School Improvement Status............................................................................................ (6)
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