More than half the public school districts in the DailyNorthShore.com coverage area scored better than twice the state average on the annual PARCC (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers) test given to elementary and middle school students.
School Report Cards issued by the Illinois State Board of Education were released November 3 showing a variety of information for schools across the state including strong test scores for all North Shore districts.
The test score shows what percentage of students taking the test in a particular school or district meet or exceed grade level expectations set forth by the Illinois State Board of Education for meeting Common Core standards. Common Core is part of the No Child Left Behind Act passed by the United States Congress in 2001.
Walden Elementary School in Deerfield topped the list of 58 public North Shore schools with an average score of 83.9, while Northbrook School District 27 has the highest score on a district-wide basis with 79.4. The state average is 34.1, according to the ISBE website.
While nine of the 15 districts in the DNS coverage area stretching from Wilmette and Glenview on the south through Lake Bluff on the north more than doubled the state’s average, all were substantially higher.
District 27 headed the list for the second year in a row with the top three districts unchanged from 2016. Northbrook Glenview School District 30 was second at 77.3 and Deerfield Public Schools District 109 was third at 76.7.
Avoca School District 37 serving Wilmette stayed in fourth place with a 74.9 score but was joined there in a tie by Wilmette Public Schools District 39. Following them were Kenilworth School District 38 (74.0), Sunset Ridge School District 29 (73.3) in Northfield and Bannockburn School District 106 (71.3). Bannockburn and Kenilworth are one-school districts.
Winnetka School District 36 placed ninth on the North Shore with a 69.0 score followed by Lake Forest School District 67 (66.6), Glencoe School District 35 (66.5), Lake Bluff School District 65 (64.9), Northbrook School District 28 (59.5), Glenview School District 34 (56.4) and North Shore School District 112 serving Highland Park and Highwood (48.2).
Of the top 10 primary schools on the North Shore only two middle schools, Wood Oaks Junior High in Northbrook’s District 27 and Marie Murphy in Avoca, made the list. The other eight were elementary schools including three of the four in Deerfield’s District 109.
Following Walden were Shabonee Elementary School in Northbrook’s District 27 (83.0), Willowbrook Elementary School in Glenview and District 30 (81.9), Greeley Elementary School in Winnetka (81.0), Wilmot Elementary School in Deerfield (80.7), South Park Elementary School in Deerfield (80.3), Wood Oaks (80.0), Ramona Elementary School in Wilmette District 39 (79.8), Marie Murphy (79.3) and Middlefork Primary School in Northfield (78.5).
Only two of the 58 schools in the 15 North Shore districts failed to better the state average. They are Oak Terrace Elementary School in Highwood (21.1) and Northwood Junior High in Highland Park (33.1). Of those 58 schools, 25 more than doubled the state average.
Click here to search the ISBE website for specific results on a school or district.
Ranking of Individual North Shore Schools
