The Mayor praised Portage Park Elementary School for a dramatic increase in test scores. Since 1995, the number of its students at or above national norms in reading has risen from 47 to 60 percent. Math scores have gone up 6 percentage points in that same period, to 64 percent. He noted that the Portage Park Women's Club has supported the school, since 1915, with efforts ranging from providing materials for a reading program to coordinating a clothing drive. Another active volunteer, William J. Kellogg III, runs a book club, supplies books to the students and takes students to a play and lunch each year.
Test scores continue to rise.
Attendance is rising, and our schools are safer than ever before. Our ban on social promotion is working, and we are doing a better job of providing extra help to those who need it to advance to the next grade. Teachers have to keep raising their expectations for their students while making sure they are getting the help they need to meet those expectations. Parents have to continue to encourage their children to excel. That means turning off the television for parents as well as children and doing the homework that every school is requiring on a daily basis.