The Herald-News • Sunday, December 13, 2015
|GETTING STARTED
2
Holiday cheer is ‘contagious’ During this Christmas season, when so much focus is on what we might get, it’s been wonderful to see numerous examples locally of those wanting to give. I couldn’t name all of the examples I’ve heard about in the past few weeks, but one similarity has emerged as I discuss these various opportunities with people – the joy in their voices. “I know you hear the passion,” Marc Hayden, store manager at the Sam’s Club on Larken Avenue in Joliet, said Friday. “It’s contagious.” He was joined by fellow Sam’s Club employees Kim Sweeney and Tim Griest; Debby Meeker and Amirrah Abou-Youssef of Guardian Angel Community Services; and Eric Mattson with the Joliet Fire Department to collectively share their expe-
VIEWS Kate Schott rience from Dec. 6. That was the day they – along with dozens of Joliet firefighters, scores of Sam’s Club employees and many volunteers from area churches – came together to give some local kids a holiday experience they will remember forever. Shop with a Firefighter has happened at that store for nearly a decade. It is, for this group, the signal that the Christmas season has arrived. It started nine years ago, when Sam’s corporate office donated $10,000. It was to be a one-time deal, Hayden said. The store partnered with the
Joliet Fire Department and took local kids who might not otherwise have Christmas gifts shopping. “After we did it, it was obvious it couldn’t just be a one-time thing,” he said. “We had to figure out how to fund it.” They have. Firefighters hold barbecue fundraisers, and Sam’s Club employees raise money community volunteer projects. The proceeds from both groups is used for Shop with a Firefighter, which is when Guardian Angel Services reaches out to its client families and anywhere from 50 to 75 kids (depending on the year) are taken shopping at Sam’s Club. The kids get there at 7 a.m. the first Sunday of December, where breakfast awaits them. They are paired with a
firefighter, and with the store to themselves, they start their search for gifts. Volunteers from area churches wrap the presents. This year, each kid got $175 to spend. It’s amazed the group of organizers over the years how many kids buy first for their families. Pillows and blankets are common items. Air mattresses are bought every year – one kid said it was for his mom, who slept on the floor. Meeker said the kids learn Christmas isn’t just about getting, but giving. “It’s a time for them to shine and pass it on to their family,” Abou-Youssef added. And when they hit the check-out lanes, Meeker said she’s seen the firefighters take out their wallets to make up any difference. The kids bask being the center of at-
tention with the firefighters. It’s someone who focuses on just them for a few hours, she said, and the firefighters are truly interested in what these kids think and say. Mattson said the firefighters love taking part in the annual event. “We have to give back. We are fortunate to be here,” Mattson said. “... It just lifts everybody’s spirits.” Indeed it does. I hope you too have found a way to share the joy this holiday season. Thank you for reading The Herald-News.
• Kate Schott is editor of The Herald-News, the Morris Herald-News and Herald Life. She can be reached at kschott@shawmedia.com or 815-280-4119. Follow her on Twitter @Kate_Schott78.
Will County school districts score low on new state test By FELIX SARVER fsarver@shawmedia.com None of the largest school districts in Will County had 50 percent of students meeting or exceeding expectations on a new statewide test for students. Most didn’t even have 40 percent. But one school district in Grundy County – Morris Community High School District 101 – came close with 46 percent of students meeting or exceeding expectations for the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers assessment. PARCC scores were released Friday by the Illinois State Board of Education. They showed 33 percent of students statewide met or exceeded expectations on the test, which replaced the Illinois Standards Achievement Test and Prairie State Achievement Exam. The new test is based on Common Core standards. The previous tests, ISAT and Prairie State, last were given in 2014 and no longer are given statewide.
Composite percentage of students meeting/exceeding PARCC expectations Joliet Public Schools District 86 – 22 percent Joliet Township High School District 204 –17 percent Plainfield School District 202 – 38 percent Lockport Township High School District 205 – 42 percent Lincoln-Way High School District 210 – 27 percent Morris Community High School District 101 – 46 percent
More online Visit www.illinoisreportcard.com/ to find out how your child’s school did on the PARCC exam. The results are calculated using scores and corresponding five-point performance levels. Level one is the lowest, indicating students did not meet the expectations. Level five indicates a student exceeded expectations. The scores provide a baseline for measuring future student progress, state officials said in a news release. But school districts were allowed to choose at which grade level to test students at high schools and students could refuse to take it. Some Will County school
district officials noted the challenges of PARCC, such as it being a new test with more challenging standards than past exams. Some of them also said the test covered materials and skills students have not yet learned. Tim Reilly, Lincoln-Way High School District 210 assistant superintendent for curriculum, said it might be years until the district receives good comparative PARCC data. Lincoln-Way chose to test its freshmen students – some other high schools tested ju-
niors – so as to not disrupt upperclassmen taking other tests important for families, such as the American College Testing exam some college require for admissions purposes. “My biggest fear for this is we have some really bright kids who may start to doubt themselves because they took a test they were not overly prepared for a test in a style they’ve never taken before,” Reilly said. Lincoln-Way students typically have excelled with the ACT exam, he said. Pat Halloran, Morris Community High School superintendent, said he can’t get overly excited or disappointed with the PARCC results, but he was pleasantly surprised by them. He said school officials considered the outcome a testament to students, parents and staff. “We took it seriously and prepared our students. It’s good to have results and we’ll see where we go from here,” Halloran said. Plainfield District 202 officials said in a news release
PARCC is one of many tests they administer and one piece of the overall picture of student learning. The results are similar to what Plainfield schools saw in the first years of the ISAT. “We are treating this first year of PARCC as a baseline and fully expect our scores on the PARCC test will improve with time, just as they did with ISAT and Prairie State [exams],” stated Glenn Wood, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, in the release. The gap between state and district test scores for Joliet Public Schools District 86 is slightly less under PARCC – about 11 percent – than it was under ISAT, said Ankhe Bradley, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, at a Dec. 9 board meeting. The rigor is “extremely different” with PARCC but the gap has not increased, she said. “Our teachers, our students, our coaches, our coordinators – they’re on target. We’re staying on target,” Bradley said.