Results from Chicago’s Other Schools

Published August 1, 2001


Catholic Schools

Students at the 264 elementary schools run by the Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago scored as much as 25 percentile points above the national norm on the TerraNova standardized achievement test, according to results released by the Archdiocese in June. For students across the Archdiocese, combined test scores for reading, language, and math were at the 68th percentile for third-graders, at the 70th percentile for fifth graders, and at the 75th percentile for seventh-graders.

“All of our students, regardless of their background and economic circumstances, have done well,” said Sister Judith Cauley, C.S.J., interim superintendent of the Archdiocese’s schools. “The scores confirm that the longer a student remains in the Archdiocese of Chicago system, the greater are his or her achievement results.”

Charter Schools

Test scores released in June show that seven of nine Chicago charter schools increased the percentage of third- to eighth-graders reading at or above national norms. Results in mathematics, however, were mixed.

Although the overall improvements were the best posted since 1998, only three charter schools had more than half of their students performing at grade level in mathematics or in reading.