Minooka High jumps in school rankings
By Kris stadalsky For The Herald-News November 5, 2012 9:56AM
Updated: December 14, 2012 6:02AM
MINOOKA — According to the Chicago Sun-Times’ exclusive ranking of schools, published on Oct. 31, Minooka High has moved up to 99 out of 689 high schools ranked in the state.
That information follows on the heels of the ISBE Report Card just a few weeks ago that the high school didn’t make Adequate Yearly Progress.
The Sun-Times has been reporting school rankings for more than a decade and bases ratings on average scores of state achievement tests, not on the percentage that meet state standards of AYP, according to the Sun-Times’ report.
Minooka High ranked 206 out of 638 schools for the 2011 school year, putting it in the 32nd percentile, said Superintendent Jim Colyott. The 2012 rank puts the school in the 14th percentile.
“Which is an 18 percent improvement,” Colyott said. “That’s impressive for any school to make that kind of progress.”
Other neighboring high schools, with varying numbers of student populations, are Morris ranked at 241, Coal City at 165, Wilmington at 307, Joliet West at 474 and the Plainfield schools — Central at 364, South at 448, North at 117 and East at 284, according to the Sun-Times report.
Colyott reviewed the rankings of the three school districts that feed into Minooka High.
Out of 1,423 middle and junior high schools with grade 7-8 students, Channahon Junior High ranked 272 (19th percentile), Minooka Junior High ranked 309 (21st percentile) and Troy Middle School ranked 669 (47th percentile).
“If you look at those numbers, and a few years later (students) are in the 14th percentile,” Colyott said. “We are thrilled with the growth our students have had.”
School rankings are important not only to indicate a district’s growth, but for families who are considering a move to the area, Colyott said.
“It’s not a contest, but it’s important to a lot of folks looking to relocate,” he said. “The ISBE Report Card and the media are what they have to look at.”
