The Chicago Tribune chose to run a second version of a story in November 1997 after publishing across the top of Page One a story on school test scores in a Chicago suburb.

The Nov. 19 story led off:

Southwest suburban ACT scores fail to meet state average

None of the public high schools in Will County or southwest suburban Cook County met the statewide average on the ACT last spring, according to newly released report cards for the state’s public schools.

School officials have an explanation for that: money, or rather the lack of it. Traditionally, they say, south and southwest suburban districts have spent far less on education than other suburban areas.10

The story was wrong. Several schools scored above the state average. An editor who reviewed the situation concluded that the data released was mislabeled, but the reporter or editor should have noticed.

The next day, the Tribune ran a new version across the top of Page One:

Homewood-Flossmoor High school beating odds

Year after year, Homewood-Flossmoor High school has been the lone bright spot in a region of particularly dispiriting high school test scores.

Despite an erosion of state funding for education, a small commercial tax base and racial change, the school has not only survived but thrived.

“I would say that our ACT scores have held steady for the last 15 years, not varying by more than a few tenths of a percentage point,” Supt. Laura Murray said. “I think we’ve been able to do that by staying one step ahead.”

The Flossmoor-based school was the only school in the south suburbs to post a composite ACT score above the state average. It was incorrectly reported in Wednesday’s Tribune that no south suburban school surpassed the state average of 21.3.11

The Tribune also published a correction, which read, in part, “In a story Wednesday about ACT scores for public high schools in Will County and south and southwest Cook County last spring, it was incorrectly reported that none of the schools met the statewide average.”12