Sauk Valley schools get mixed grades on Illinois School Report Card

DIXON – The Illinois State Board of Education released the 2023 Illinois Report Card on Monday, showing strong progress in students’ recovery from the pandemic – with increased proficiency rates and the highest graduation rate in 13 years. Gains for Black students, who were disproportionately impacted by the pandemic, led the significant improvement in many indicators.

The annual Illinois Report Card provides a snapshot of academic achievement; student and teacher information; and financial data at the state, district, and school levels. The data released also shows record-high teacher retention, continued growth in the number of students participating in advanced coursework and Career and Technical Education, and a promising decrease in chronic absenteeism.

However, proficiency rates remain below pre-pandemic levels and chronic absenteeism remains alarmingly high, indicating more work must be done to ensure full academic and social-emotional recovery from the pandemic, according to an ISBE news release. Federal pandemic relief funds are available to school districts for one more year through Sept. 30, 2024.

“We are moving fast toward recovery, but we still have a significant distance to travel,” said State Superintendent of Education Dr. Tony Sanders. “Even once we exceed pre-pandemic achievement, we are not done until we have a system that graduates each and every student ready for success. Educators and families should be proud of the remarkable progress we see on the 2023 Illinois Report Card, while remaining focused on understanding and meeting students’ needs at this phase of recovery.”

Report card takeaways

The Illinois School Report Card points to several key points of growth, according to the ISBE. They include:

• A major increase in English language arts proficiency and minor increase in math proficiency bring Illinois close to pre-pandemic levels. Data from spring 2023 assessments shows a major increase in the English language arts proficiency rate. The ELA proficiency rate increased nearly 16% year-over-year from 29.9% to 34.6%, which translates to more than 39,000 additional students mastering grade-level standards on the Illinois Assessment of Readiness, SAT, or Dynamic Learning Maps Alternate Assessment. Black students notched the biggest gains in ELA with a 33% increase in the proficiency rate. Data also shows an encouraging but comparatively smaller increase in the math proficiency rate, which increased by 4.3% from 25.8% in 2022 to 26.9% in 2023. The overall proficiency rates in both ELA and math remain below pre-pandemic levels. However, Illinois has some of the most rigorous standards for proficiency in the nation. Illinois’ benchmark for proficiency is higher than that of 45 other states, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
• The highest graduation rate in 13 years. The Class of 2023 achieved the highest high school graduation rate in 13 years at 87.6%, driven by gains for Black and Hispanic students, whose four-year graduation rate increased by 4.7% and 4%, respectively.
• Schools maintained accelerated growth in math. Whereas proficiency rates show what percentage of students have hit the target, growth recognizes progress toward and even past the target. Students on average grew more in the 2022-23 school year than they did pre-pandemic. Students’ gains in proficiency reflect this accelerated rate of growth. In ELA, students grew even more than they did in the 2021-22 school year, achieving growth in the 57th percentile, compared to the 2018-19 school year’s baseline 50th percentile. In math, students maintained the accelerated rate of growth seen in the 2021-22 school year, achieving growth in the 53rd percentile.
• Teacher retention was the highest ever on record. Teacher retention reached an all-time high in the 2022-23 school year, with a retention rate exceeding 90%. The retention rate for Black and Hispanic teachers improved the most, by 4.8% and 5.9%, respectively. The retention rate for Black teachers still lags behind the overall rate at 85.3%.
• The rate of ninth graders on track to graduate exceeds pre-pandemic level. Illinois’ rate of ninth graders on track to graduate, as measured by the percentage of students who have earned at least five full-year course credits and no more than one semester F in a core course, continues to climb and now exceeds pre-pandemic levels at 87.4%.
• Chronic absenteeism improved but is still higher than pre-pandemic level. Chronic absenteeism, which skyrocketed during the pandemic, improved modestly in the 2022-23 school year, dropping from 29.8% to 28.3%. Black students, who saw the greatest increase in chronic absenteeism during the pandemic due to having disproportionately less access to in-person instruction, saw the greatest year-over-year improvement.
• Students participating in advanced coursework and Career and Technical Education has continued to grow. The number of students participating in Career and Technical Education and in advanced coursework, including dual credit, Advance Placement, International Baccalaureate, and honors, increased in 2023.

Summative designations

The report card lists each district’s summative designation. The annual summative designation is based on the school’s overall data, and the data for each student group, for all of the accountability indicators. The Illinois State Board of Education categorizes schools in one of five groups: Exemplary, Commendable, Targeted, Comprehensive and Intensive Support.

• Exemplary schools are among the highest performing top 10%.
• Commendable schools are not in the in the top 10% of all schools, but they have no underperforming student groups at or below the “all students” group of the lowest-performing 5% percent of schools.
• Targeted Support schools have one or more student groups performing at or below the “all students” group of the lowest-performing 5% of schools. A Targeted Support designation initiates targeted school improvement status and the school begins a four-year cycle of school improvement.
• Comprehensive Support schools have an overall performance in the bottom 5% of Title I-eligible schools statewide. They are schools that have completed a full Targeted Support school improvement cycle, where the performance of one or more of the originally Targeted student groups remains at or below the level of the “all students” group in the lowest-performing 5% of Title I-eligible schools at the end of the four-year improvement cycle. A Comprehensive Support designation initiates Comprehensive school improvement status and the school begins a four-year cycle of school improvement.
• A school designated as needing Intensive Support has completed a full Comprehensive Support school improvement cycle, but its performance remains in the lowest-performing 5% of Title I-eligible schools statewide or is a high school with a graduation rate of 67% or below at the end of the four-year improvement cycle. An Intensive Support designation initiates intensive school improvement status and the school begins a four-year cycle of school improvement.

What it means locally: Snapshots of local districts

Dixon Schools Snapshot:

Number of schools: 5

Enrollment: 2,382

Graduation rate: 88.1%

Student mobility: 9%

Summary Designation: 3 Commendable schools (Dixon High School, Reagan Middle School and Washington Elementary School) 2 Comprehensive schools (Madison Elementary School and Jefferson Elementary School).

Chronic absenteeism: 30.9%

Teacher retention: 87.2%

Students on Individual Education Plans: 16.2%

Takeaways: 85.8% of ninth-graders on track to graduate; 59.2% of graduates enrolled in postsecondary education within a year.

Sterling Schools Snapshot:

Number of schools: 6

Student enrollment: 3,184

Graduation rate: 90.1%

Student mobility: 13.4%

Summary Designation: Six Commendable schools (Sterling High School, Challand Middle, Franklin Elementary, Jefferson Elementary, Lincoln Elementary, Washington Elementary)

Chronic absenteeism: 19.6%

Teacher retention: 92.2%

Students on Individual Education Plans: 18.5%

Takeaways: 83% of ninth-graders on track to graduate; 60.5% of graduates enrolled in postsecondary education within a year.

Rock Falls Schools Snapshots:

Rock Falls High School

Number of schools: 1

Enrollment: 547

Graduation rate: 94.4%

Student mobility: 12.1%

Summary Designation: 1 Commendable school

Chronic absenteeism: 19.8%

Teacher retention: 91.2%

Students on Individual Education Plans: 13.2%

Takeaways: 85.9% of ninth graders on track to graduate, 54.4% of graduates enrolled in postsecondary education within a year.

Rock Falls ESD 13

Number of schools: 4

Enrollment: 837

Graduation rate: Not applicable

Student mobility: 11.5%

Summary Designation: Dillon and Merrill elementary schools received the commendable designation. Rock Falls Middle School earned an Exemplary designation. That designation places its overall performance in the top 10 percent of all schools.

Chronic absenteeism: 21.7%

Teacher retention: 90.8%

Students on Individual Education Plans: 18.5%

East Coloma Nelson CESD 20

Number of schools: 1

Enrollment: 212

Graduation rate: Not applicable

Student mobility: 8.1%

Summary Designation: 1 Commendable school

Chronic absenteeism: 16.7%

Teacher retention: 89.3%

Students on Individual Education Plans: 17.5%

Montmorency CCSD 145

Enrollment: 202

Number of schools: 1

Graduation rate: Not applicable

Student mobility: 4.7%

Summary Designation: 1 Commendable school

Chronic absenteeism: 6.2%

Teacher retention: 94.5%

Students on Individual Education Plans: 18.3%

All Amboy, Ashton-Franklin Center, Morrison, Fulton, Erie and Polo schools are listed as Commendable. Prophetstown-Lyndon-Tampico’s High School, and two elementary schools are Commendable schools, while the middle school earned an Exemplary designation.