Illinois’ 2010 Honor Roll Recognizes More than 830 Schools (IL)

February 1, 2011

The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) and Northern Illinois University (NIU) announced today that 834 schools made the Illinois Honor Roll for their continued academic progress. The 2010 honor roll includes 71 schools that are being recognized for the seventh or eighth consecutive years. All of these outstanding schools are being honored for their accomplishments in making progress toward or maintaining academic excellence.

“These Honor Roll schools continue to prove that hard work and reform efforts impact student achievement even as the bar to making Adequate Yearly Progress is raise d,” said State Superintendent Christopher A. Koch. “We hope administrators, teachers, parents, students and community members can celebrate their local schools’ success.”

Northern Illinois University worked with ISBE to establish criteria, identify winners of the awards and administer the Illinois Honor Roll, which is divided into three categories – Spotlight Schools; Academic Excellence and Academic Improvement. Each award has unique criteria that best reflect the diverse circumstances of Illinois schools.

* Spotlight Schools – Recognizes 300 high-poverty, high-performing schools that are beating the odds to overcome the achievement gap.
   
* Academic Excellence Awards – 459 schools have sustained high performance for at least three years.
   
* Academic Improvement Awards – 93 schools are showing substantial improvement.

The 2010 Honor Roll roster includes elementary, middle and high schools, and represents 364 school districts statewide. Downstate schools represent 45 percent of the Honor Roll schools, suburban schools represent 43 percent and Chicago schools make up the final 12 percent this year. There were a total of 852 awards in the three categories.

Other 2010 Illinois Honor Roll facts:

* At all 93 Academic Improvement Award schools, the number of students meeting or exceeding standards increased by at least 7.5 points over one year or 15 points over two years.
   
* Three schools, all in Chicago, won the Academic Improvement Award, sustaining annual 7.5 point improvements, for the fourth time. They are Cather Elementary, Harvard Elementary and Sherman Elementary. One school, Dett Elementary in Chicago, won an Academic Improvement award for the fifth consecutive year.
   
* Seven Spotlight Schools are receiving their eighth award this year, having maintained high level performance since the award began in 2003, and 21 schools earned the award for the seventh year.
   
* In 2010, 43 Academic Excellence schools sustained their long-term high achievement and won a seventh award, 40 schools are being recognized for the sixth time and 20 for the fifth time.
   
* In 2010, 257 Academic Excellence elementary schools showed increases in scores over last year, even though they started at a baseline above 90 percent of students meeting or exceeding standards.
   
* This year, five schools won both the Spotlight Schools award and the Academic Excellence Award. Among them is a Chicago high school, Jones College Preparatory, which has made the Honor Roll more than any school in the state with 14 awards since the Honor Roll began in 2003. Vanderpoel Elementary Magnet School in Chicago, Tilden Attendance Center in Tilden, Willow Elementary in Pekin and Armstrong-Ellis Elementary School in Armstrong also earned both a Spotlight and Academic Excellence Award.
   
* Another 13 schools won both the Spotlight Schools Award and the Academic Improvement Award.