Coal City Intermediate and High Schools were both labeled exemplary on the Illinois State Report Cards earlier this month.

“We wish to congratulate all five Coal City Schools for another year of successful designations,” said Jennifer Kinney, Coal City Community Unit School District #1 Director of Curriculum and Instruction in a news release.

According to the news release, the information comes from the 2025 Illinois Report Card, which takes a formulated look at how students are performing in the classroom compared to their peers across the state.

Coal City Intermediate School and Coal City High School both achieved the highest rating, ranking among the top 10% of schools in the state.

“To be in the top 10 percent of schools across the state is pretty impressive and we are very proud of the students, faculty and staff,” said Superintendent Chris Spencer.

Coal City Early Childhood Center, Elementary School and Middle School were designated as commendable. According to the news release, the schools were just points away from earning exemplary status.

According to the news release, the summative designations describe how well a school is doing in meeting students’ needs.

The Intermediate School’s overall summative designation score was 84.64. The state exemplary threshold for elementary and middle schools was 81.99. Exemplary schools are those that have no underperforming student groups at or below the “all students” group of the lowest performing 5 percent of schools. And, for high schools they must have a graduation rate of 67 percent.

Coal City High School’s designation was based on a score of 93.24. The exemplary threshold for ninth-twelfth grade schools was 93.02.

High school academic indicators total 75 percent including ELA, math and science proficiency, graduate rate, and English learner progress to proficiency. The remaining 25 percent are school quality and student success indicators that include chronic absenteeism, climate survey and ninth graders on track to graduate.

The district’s commendable schools all posted scores just below the exemplary threshold. The Early Childhood Center scored 79.30 (2.69 points from exemplary), Elementary School was 79.16 (2.83 points from exemplary) and the middle school came in at 79.05 (2.94 points from exemplary).

The district’s report card, as well as those for each academic building, can be viewed at www.illinoisreportcard.com/. For the scores of more Grundy County Schools, visit https://www.shawlocal.com/morris-herald-news/2025/10/30/how-did-my-grundy-county-school-do-on-the-2025-illinois-school-report-card/.