Pleasant Hill School:
Learners today, leaders tomorrow
A two-time U.S. Department of Education
No Child Left Behind Blue Ribbon School
 In
September 2004, Pleasant Hill School was named by the U.S. Department
of Education as a No Child Left Behind Blue Ribbon School for 2003-04.
The recognition marked the second time in four years that Pleasant
Hill had earned the Blue Ribbon designation, having also been selected
as a Blue Ribbon School in 2000-01.
Pleasant Hill is one of only 250 public and private schools across
the nation to receive the 2003-04 Blue Ribbon designation, and one
of just 14 schools in Illinois to be recognized with the prestigious
award.
The No Child Left Behind Blue Ribbon Schools program recognizes
schools that make significant progress in closing the achievement
gap or whose students achieve at very high levels. Schools are nominated
by the state based on specified eligibility requirements. Pleasant
Hill was nominated by the Illinois State Board of Education because
its student achievement in reading and mathematics on the Illinois
Standards Achievement Tests (ISATs) has been in the top 10 percent
in the state for three consecutive years.
Pleasant Hill is home to approximately 550 kindergarten through
sixth-grade students. Generations of parents and students have attended
the school and proudly continue the traditions and culture of a
highly connected and strongly supported neighborhood school. Pleasant
Hill’s curriculum, driven by the Illinois Learning Standards
and the District 15 Learner Statements, reflects the school’s
commitment to providing a quality education to all students. In
addition to academic achievement, the school’s mission includes
the goal of helping students develop intrapersonal skills and citizenship.
Among the qualities that enabled Pleasant Hill to earn recognition
as a Blue Ribbon School are these:
- Student performance on both the Illinois Standards Achievement
Test (ISAT) and the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS) are well
above both state and national averages. Pleasant Hill has been
designated as District 15’s benchmark school for student
achievement
- On the 2001-02 and 2002-03 ISATs, 90 percent or more of the
school’s students met or exceeded state standards on all
tests (reading, math, and writing in grades three and five and
science and social science in grade four).
- Data from the 2002-03 ITBS show that in the math portion of
the testing, 100 percent of third-grade students either met or
exceeded state standards, as did 98.8 percent of fifth-grade students.
- Pleasant Hill exceeds two District 15 performance targets:
1) At least 90 percent of the students who have been in the district
for one year meet or exceed all Illinois Learning Standards, and
2) There are no significant differences between student groups
in meeting or exceeding all Illinois Learning Standards for students
who have been in the district for at least one year.
- All Pleasant Hill students participate in the school’s
Cougar Character curriculum, a character education program emphasizing
life skills and positive character traits such as respect, responsibility,
and conflict resolution. Pleasant Hill is the district’s
benchmark school for “student-to-student” respect.
- Family involvement is strongly evident at Pleasant Hill, where
volunteers dedicated approximately 13,000 hours to support classroom-
and student-related activities during the 2002-03 school year.
Detailed test results are available on the District 15 website
(see State
Report Card).
Pleasant Hill School is one of seven District 15 schools to
have received the U.S. Department of Education Blue Ribbon designation
over the past several years.
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