Lyons Township High School touts ACT scores, AP achievement

Lyons Township High School officials announced last week that this year’s senior class provided the school with some its best standardized test scores ever during the 2005 testing period.

According to figures provided by LTHS, in 2005 more students took Advanced Placement tests than in any previous year and scored better than any previous group.

In addition, in 2005, students taking the American College Test (ACT) notched the school’s highest average score since 2001, the year in which taking the ACT test became mandatory for all students as part of the Prairie State Achievement Exam (PSAE) testing process.

Finally, those students taking the Scholastic Achievement Test (SAT) also scored better than anytime in the past 10 years, and significantly above state and national averages.

“It’s a really strong, positive trend that’s been happening the past decade,” said LTHS District 204 Superintendent Dennis Kelly. “This year we had really good results.”

Lyons Township High School serves the southern half of Brookfield, which falls within Lyons Township. All other Brookfield residents attend Riverside-Brookfield High School.

According to Kelly, he was most interested in the rise of the school’s ACT scores over the past five years. In 1998, the school notched its highest average ACT score at 23.7 out of a possible 36 points and stood at 23.5 in 2001. In 2002, for the first time, all students at the school were required to take the ACT exam, a college placement test, as part of the new testing guidelines set by the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE).

In that year, LTHS’ average ACT score fell over a full point to 22.3. Since that time, it has slowly inched upward, hitting 23.1 in 2004 and 23.4 in 2005. LTHS’ average score is well above the state average of 20.5 and the national average of 21.1.

“If someone had told me that five years later we’d have the same score with all the kids taking the test, I would have said I didn’t think it was possible,” Kelly said. “Sometimes you underestimate what you can do.”

The rise in ACT scores is no coincidence, however, school officials said. According to Scott Eggerding, LTHS’ director of curriculum and instruction, the rise in test scores corresponds with a deliberate effort to prepare students for testing beginning in freshman year.

“It’s not a one-year, short-term solution,” Eggerding said. “Five or six years ago, we undertook a review of our curriculum to align with the expectation of colleges and testing. It’s something that’s part of what we do for freshman, sophomore and junior year, so they’re familiar with the type of questions and types of tests.”

While LTHS has always had its share of high-achieving students, Kelly said the school is focusing on moving the middle group of students to a higher level of achievement. Part of that effort, he said, is encouraging all students to seek academic challenges where there’s an opportunity to do so.

“We want kids to challenge themselves, but we want it to be a realistic challenge,” Kelly said. “We want every student to take one higher-level class. Maybe if a kid is in an accelerated class, they take an honors class or an AP class.”

That effort appears to be having some effect. In 2005, more students took more Advanced Placements tests than at any time in the school’s history. Advanced Placement tests are graded on a 1 to 5 scale. A grade of 3 or higher on an AP test may earn college credit at most universities.

In 1996, the school gave 440 AP tests to 217 students, with 83 percent of those tests rating a 3 or above. In 2005, some 520 students participated in the AP program, taking 1,000 tests. A total of 92 percent of tests were awarded grades of 3 or better. Sixty-eight percent were awarded a score of 4 or higher.

LTHS also saw a rise in scores for students taking the SAT test, which is not required of all students. In fact, fewer students are taking the SAT than ever. In 1996, 204 juniors took the SAT with an average score of 1,162 out of a possible 1,600.

In 2005, just 139 students took the SAT, but scored a school-record average of 1,240, which is above the state average of 1200 and far above the national average of 1,021.

The focus on creating opportunities for students to push themselves and on achievement on the ACT test goes hand in hand with the school’s focus on standardized testing as it applied to the No Child Left Behind Act.

While the school traditionally scores well above state averages on the test overall, the school has run into problems with achievement as it pertains to special education and some minority students. In fact, for the past three years, LTHS has not met the ISBE’s benchmarks for annual yearly progress because of low test scores among special ed and minority students.

The school has responded by instituting educational initiatives such as an early intervention program for freshmen and sophomores and has increased efforts to prepare special ed students for standardized testing in their junior year.

The school has also begun expanding availability of ACT prep courses, which are offered in the evenings and has contemplated absorbing the cost of those classes for those who can’t afford them.

“Our goal is to gently push kids upward in the system,” Kelly said.

In the meantime, the district will continue to compile data that shows that its initiatives are aligned with state standards, Kelly said.

“A board goal is to move toward data-driven decision making,” Kelly said. “This was one of the first rounds. [Decisions] won’t be based on opinions, but on what the data is telling us.”