When my first-grade daughter didn’t qualify for math acceleration despite scoring 99th percentile on standardized testing, I thought I’d misunderstood the rubric. Then I checked the Illinois Report Card. In 2025, Oak Park Elementary School District 97 approved 276 seventh-graders for math acceleration. That same year, they approved 26 first-graders. 276 to 26. A 10-to-1 ratio. The grade cohorts are roughly the same size around 500 students per grade. So why are seventh-graders 10 times more likely to be accelerated than first-graders? Looking at the complete breakdown reveals a pattern: Kindergarten through Grade 2: Fewer than 50 accelerations combined Grade 7 alone: 276 accelerations, 62% of all math accelerations in the district If students’ readiness for acceleration were evenly distributed, we should see similar numbers across grade levels. Instead, there’s a wall preventing early-grade students from accessing opportunities freely available to middle-schoolers. What barriers exist in kindergarten and first grade that make it nearly impossible? When I asked D97 administrators about this disparity, I received no substantive response. When I requested the research supporting the rubric’s thresholds for young students, I was told it was “not readily available.” An FOIA request revealed administrators denying assessment access with just “the answer is no” no policy or statute cited. This isn’t just about my daughter. After sharing these numbers with other parents, several checked their own districts and found similar patterns: heavy concentration of accelerations in middle school, almost none in early grades. Illinois law requires districts to implement research-based acceleration practices and identify students capable of advanced work. But when 55% of seventh-graders qualify while only 5% of first-graders do, we should ask: Are we identifying readiness, or creating systemic barriers? I’ve documented this investigation at accelerationdenied. com The district owes parents an explanation. What changed between first and seventh grade? Why can’t we see the research? And most importantly: How many ready students are being held back? Parents deserve transparency. Students deserve equity. The data demands answers. Thomas Hallock Oak Park.
https://www.oakpark.com/2025/11/25/data-demands-answers-from-d97/
Data demands answers from D97
