A McLean County School is receiving national recognition for closing in the achievement gap, despite seeing its low-income student population double in recent years.
Parkside Elementary in Normal has a poverty rate of more than 52 percent.
The Illinois State Board of Education announced Thurs. that Parkside received a distinction from the National Title I Association for lowering its achievement gap among minority and low income students to 24 percent in 2014. That figure is down 11 percent from 2011.
By comparison, the achievement gap between white and black students in Peoria’s School District 150 was 37 percent in 2014. That figure comes from the Illinois Report Card Data and is based on annual PARCC test scores.
The National Title I Association recognizes up to two schools per state as National Title I Distinguished Schools. The other school recognized this year was Healy Elementary School on Chicago’s South Side.