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Dunlap Community Unit School District #323 Recognized Nationally as a “High Return on Investment” In a recent study by the Center for American Progress, Dunlap Schools was ranking among the highest in the State of Illinois when it comes to educational productivity. Productivity is described as the amount of learning a district produces for every dollar spent, after controlling for factors such as cost of living and students in poverty. An interactive map is available to learn more about the rankings and methodology‐ http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2011/01/educational_productivity/ . The study only profiled 358 districts in Illinois and here is how Dunlap Schools ranked: unadjusted: State's highest‐
Range of spending spending spending in districts* districts** the state*** District rank District in the state $6,531 11 out of 358 $6,817 $10,924 $4,107 $7,265 21 out of 358 $7,224 $12,718 $5,494 $6,217 68 out of 358 $5,448 $9,208 $3,761 Per pupil expenditure, State's lowest‐
Dunlap Per pupil expenditure, after adjusting for differences in cost of living: Per pupil expenditure, after adjusting for differences in cost of living and student needs: The measures are based on the work of many other researchers and methodologies such as the Standard & Poor’s School Evaluation Services which created the school district return‐on‐spending index. The study looked at the percentage of students achieving proficiency in reading and math for every $1,000 spent per student on core operations. The method uses the “current expenditures” category, which includes salaries, services, and supplies. The expenditure data included money from all revenue sources, federal, state, and local. Achievement data came from the New America Foundation’s Federal Education Budget Project, which collects data from the states on district‐level student outcomes. For this study, 2008 data were used to create an achievement index and a score for each district by averaging together the percent of students designated proficient or above on the state assessment in reading and math in fourth grade, eighth grade, and high school. In all 3 categories (Basic Return on Investment Index, Adjusted Return on Investment Index and the Predicted Efficiency Index) Dunlap schools was ranked in the highest “Return on Investment” category. The data reported in this study indentified the following indicators in Dunlap Schools from 2008: Achievement District State 4th grade math 98% 84% 4th grade reading 94% 73% 8th grade math 97% 80% 8th grade reading 96% 81% High school math 83% 53% High school reading 78% 54%