Maine South
\'()Uitnt.' 25. issue 6 Nexember lo" 1988
His;h School
•WMW'K'W'^MCS'K'X:;;-::
South scores well on report card Recently, Maine South received its annual report card which compares all aspects of the school at both the district and state levels. It serves as a means of better understanding the school's, district's, and state's education policies. The report is required by state law and is designed by the Illinois State Board of Education. Information is provided by the school from the statistics of the 1987-88 school year. The topics surveyed include: student and teacher characteristics, academic performance in all areas (reading, comprehension, mathematics) instructional resources, school performance, financial information, curriculum, and ACT scores. The first noticeable characteristic about Maine South is that the school is basically used as a preparation for college with 85.9 percent of students whereas at the state level only 62.7 percent consider high school as college preparatory.
%outhfest '89 logo chosen Senior Russ Horvath's design was chosen from 28 other entries as the official Southfest '89 logo in a vote conducted by Southfest committee members recently. Russ will receive a wood and brass plaquewith his design engraved on it as an award. The design, which will appear in the school colors of red, white, and black, will grace all official Southfest documents and posters throughout the 1988-89 school year. Southfest '89 is scheduled for Wednesday, March 15, with the evening performance slated for the night before. As this is Maine South's 25th anniversary, a special Southfest is planned, featuring several alumni.
Our graduation rate is also much higher than that of the state with close to 95 percent of all students graduating as opposed to the state's 80.3 percent. The academic performance of the students depends a great deal upon the qualifications of the instructor. Quality of teaching relics heavily on the depth of the instructors' study and the length of their experience. District 207 scored extremely well on both counts; the average number of years teaching experience—18.9 years as opposed to the state's average—15.3 years and the astounding difference in depth of study—82.6 percent of Disuict 207 teachers have a Master's degree or above while only 44.2 percent of the stale's teachers have continued their education that far. Another critical factor in education is the amount of money spent on both the students and on teachers' salaries. The operating expenditures per pupil in our district is S7,049 compared to only $4,008 on a state average. Teachers' salaries are also much higher—the average district teacher making 344,187 per
year as opposed to $29,757. Scores geared toward college performance showed Maine South with an average of 20.7 on ihe ACT with 84.3 percent of the class participating. At the slate level, the average ACT was only 18.9 with only 59.2 percent of the class participating. This impact of this comparison is amplified by the fact that the majority of our school participated while only the top 59.2 percent of state students did. The difference between scores would be even greater ifonly the top halfofour students were scored. The above scores were based on all students, not only on those planning to attend college. South scored even higher when compared at this level with an average ACT composite of 21.2 as opposed to 19.6 for the Slate. In a recent article from the Chicago Tribune, the top 20 average high school ACT scores out of ttie 198 Chicago-area public schools. Though Maine South was just below the top 20, our school had a higher percentage of studcnis taking the test than most of the schools listed.
Will the real George please stand up?
While most cross country teams in the state found time to go trick-or-treathijj on Hall()\\tL II d.iv, Maine South's team was still practicing for the state meet. So they did the next best thing: they disguised themselves as their coach, Mr. George Gahauer (lie's the one sitting dow n.) I'or more on the cross country team, see page 8.