River Forest district 90 produced the largest achievement gap in district history in 2024, nearly doubling the state’s average gap in scores for poor versus non-poor students in math and English language arts.
The gap in test scores between poor and non-poor students increased in recent years with a -48 point separation in English language arts (ELA) and a -58 point separation in math in 2024. The district’s gap in scores exceeded the same State of Illinois gap for three consecutive years ending 2024, according to the Illinois State Board of Education Report Card.
The increasing gap in scores come as Oak Park K-8 district 97, River Forest district 90, and the Oak Park and River Forest high school district 200 continue with a “systems change” experiment using de-tracking, or reducing options and combining ability levels in core classes, to eliminate the racial predictability of achievement. Previously, students had more options based on ability. It is similar to an experiment tried in Evanston Township on Chicago’s north shore around 2010.
The Illinois State Board of Education considers students poor when satisfying any of the following conditions: eligible to receive free or reduced-price lunches, live in substitute care, or whose families receive public aid. According to ISBE, the proportion of poor students in River Forest was 6.9% in 2015 and gradually declined to 3.4% by 2024. The State trend in decline is similar for the period, 54.2% to 49.8%.
The ISBE website describes Achievement Gap as “The persistent difference in academic performance between different ethnic and racial groups, income levels, gender, and special student groups”. An example of a persistent gap in scores in local, state, and national data is female students outperforming males in reading. The widening of the gap between poor and non-poor students in River Forest is anything but persistent.
For example, the poor/non-poor gap in ELA doubled (-24 to -48) in the three years between 2021 and 2024. Non-poor student scores rose all three years while poor-student scores declined in two of three years.
The gap between black and white student scores is narrowing in ELA with gains in both student groups. This gap is about half the size of the state average.
The gap between black and white student scores in math is similar to the state; however, average district scores are substantially higher than average state scores.
GAP IN ENGLISH LANGAUGE ARTS SCORES (source: www.illinoisreportcard.com)
The trend for a widening gap in scores between poor/non-poor students also occurs in math, with the -58 gap explained most by lower scores among poor students.
The gap between black and white students in math was -31 points in 2024, similar to the state’s average gap of -30, although average scores in River Forest exceed state averages for both groups.
Whereas the males have a small but persistent math advantage over females in the state between 2019 and 2024, that advantage is not evident in River Forest.
GAP IN MATH SCORES (source: www.illinoisreportcard.com)
The gap in scores between poor and non-poor students in River Forest now surpasses the gap between all other student groups, as reported by the Illinois State Board of Education Report Card.
A previous report showed the 2016 change in pedagogy emphasizing “social justice equity” corresponds with steep declines in learning rates for poor, white, and male students below the national average. Rates for these groups were lowest among eight other wealthy suburban Chicago school districts and lowest among five other US districts most similar to River Forest based on demographic and socioeconomic circumstances.
The Illinois State Board of Education report cards show the gap in both math and ELA scores between poor and non-poor students is largest in River Forest district when compared to K-8 districts in other wealthy Suburban neighborhoods.
“His vision for District 90 is to have it be a leader in providing a thoughtful, evidence-based approach toward eliminating the achievement gap” wrote an Oak Park media outlet in 2015 about River Forest district 90 board president Ralph Martire. “The school board has kept its attention on its mission … creating an environment where a child can reach his or her potential,” said Martire.
Part of the pedagogical change would require River Forest, a high performing K-8 district, to “lower the ceiling” before de-tracking was implemented for freshman year at OPRF high school in 2022. The board would vote unanimously on changes to K-8 curriculum and instruction. While many in the country were beginning to ban Lucy Calkins Units of Study for reading and writing, River Forest was adopting it and other poorer performing curricula.
Martire’s presidency at River Forest district 90 would be proceeded by Barb Hickey, Rich Moore, and Stacey Williams. Katie Avalos, former Director of Communications for the board is the only incumbent candidate. She’s a proponent of “progressive curriculum” and is looking to serve a third term, or ten years, in the uncontested April 2025 consolidated election.
At the very least, River Forest district 90’s results immediately after implementing the experimental pedagogy, and results reported here, suggest there may be a problem. If the experiment in Evanston was used as the model, then a cursory look at score gaps there could be helpful.
The Illinois State Board of Education’s 2024 report card for Evanston K-8 district 65 reports the gap in scores between poor and non-poor students was -42 in English language arts and -44 in math, compared to an overall average state gap of -29 and -30 for ELA and math, respectively. The gap in scores between black and white students was -44 in ELA and -50 in math in 2024, compared to a state average gap of -30 for both subjects. These gaps are consistently higher than the state average gap back to 2018. Evanston township high school (ETHS) also posted large gaps.
ISBE reports the ETHS 2024 gap in scores between poor and non-poor students was -52 in ELA and -49 in math, compared to the average state gap of -29 and -27 for ELA and math, respectively. The gap in scores between black and white students was -58 in ELA and -52 in math, compared to a state average gap of -30 and -28 in ELA and math, respectively.
A reasonable person might wonder if these are resident aspirations for their public schools, or if there is disconnect between the community and school officials.
In 2024 River Forest district 90 reported their 9 month daily average attendance at 1263 compared to 1327 in 2016, having 216 full time employees compared to 165 in 2016, and total Educational disbursements/expenditures of $32.6 million compared to $23.9 million in 2016.
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