Lockport Township High School District 205 students scored well above state average on math and reading last year, but the district wants to see even more improvement on language arts skills.

The Illinois State Board of Education released its annual school report cards in October, revealing how each school performed in critical metrics including standardized testing, graduation rate, college readiness, and attendance rates overall and across different student demographics.

In addition to raw data, the school report cards give each school a ranking from comprehensive to exemplary.

Schools scoring in the top 10% of schools statewide receive an exemplary ranking, while schools in the bottom 5 percent receive a comprehensive ranking.

Schools that largely perform well but have one or more demographic group slip into the bottom five percent are listed as targeted.

The majority of schools receive a ranking of commendable, which means all student groups are performing above the bottom 5 percent statewide.

District 205 received a commendable ranking in 2025, the same ranking it has received in recent years.

Math and reading scores

State report cards measure student proficiency in three subject areas: English Language Arts (ELA), Math, and Science based on student standardized test results like the ACT.

Lockport students were scored at 57.4% ELA proficiency, compared to a state average of 52.4%.

District 205 students also were ranked at 51.4% proficient in math, significantly higher than the state average of 38.4% proficiency.

Finally, Lockport students scored 57.1% proficient in science, once again outpacing the state average of 44.6%.

Superintendent Dr. Robert McBride said the district was pleased to see growth in the proficiency rates of all three subjects.

“We had what the state deems average growth in ELA, and above average growth in math,” said McBride. “We’re pleased with the results, but there’s always work to do.”

ELA scores improved by 20% over 2024, while math increased by 13%.

“It’s impressive because our low income student population has grown in the last year, and typically, when you see an increase in students who may have less access to resources. You can see your gains slow down, but ours have moved up,” McBride noted.

Approximately 33% of the district’s 3,638 students are considered low income according to the state data.

One area of improvement McBride said the district plans to focus on is “complex reading proficiency.”

“We have a lot of ACT data that shows our students need work on drawing inferences and conclusions from complex reading material,” McBride said. “We can see it in the lower ELA proficiency, which is much closer to the state average, that that’s clearly an area where we can improve.”

Changes to academic schedule

District 205 believes its plan to move East Campus to an eight-period school day starting in the 2026-27 year will help address the potential reading gap by offering students the opportunity to take more classes.

Instead of a seven-period day in which students take five 50-minute classes alongside lunch and physical education, the new schedule will have eight 45-minutes periods allowing students to take a sixth academic class.

McBride said that one of the offerings being introduced with the new schedule is a semester long ACT prep class which will be available to sophomores and juniors. This class will focus on test-taking skills, and potentially save students the expense of taking private prep classes outside of school.

McBride noted that they will also be encouraging students to take courses which involve more non-fiction reading.

“At this point we aren’t introducing any new graduation requirements with the increased classes, but that might be coming in the future,” he said. “Additionally, we’re working with our teachers and students to make sure our instruction on how to unpack complex reading material across the curriculum.”

Graduation rate, post-high school

Beyond test scores, the state report card records data on graduation rates, student preparedness, and attendance.

Lockport High School has a very high graduation rate of 97%, which far exceeds the state rate of 89%, something McBride called a “point of pride.”

Additionally, data compiled by District 205 noted that 69% of the graduating students had GPAs of 2.8 or higher, and of the students who did not graduate, 70% returned to the school the next year to take part in the district’s Career and Community Connections program or immediately enrolled in a GED program.

The high graduation rate is reflected in the rate of ninth graders deemed “on track” for graduation at the end of their freshman year, which in 2025 was listed as 98.2%, determined by the students’ completion of required credits.

LTHS also presented strong results in the area of career and college readiness, with the most recent available data showing that within 16 months of graduation, 67.8% of students had enrolled in some form of post-secondary education, slightly ahead of the state average of 65.6%.

These numbers are likely supplemented by the district’s increased focus in recent years on Advanced Placement, Dual Credit, and Career and Technical Education programs.

The district increased its participation in AP classes by 800 students in 2024-25, with 80% of students passing at least one exam, a 10% increase over the previous year, according to McBride.

Passing grades on AP exams can earn students credit hours at most colleges.

Additionally, McBride said the district currently has the most students of any feeder district earning dual credit at Joliet Junior College through their dual credit partnership program.

Finally, an issue which the state has focused on more since the COVID-19 pandemic, chronic absenteeism is listed at 21.8%, lower than the state average of 25.4%.

McBride said this issue should be looked at more critically, though.

“I’ll never say I’m not concerned about absenteeism, but I think the state needs to look at what it calls ‘chronically absent,’” he said, noting that the only criteria is that a student is absent from class for 10% of school days.

It does not matter if absences are excused, or if they are related to school activities.

“Many of our best students are listed as chronically absent,” McBride said. “They get marked absent for things like college campus visits, leadership seminars, and sports trips to state, generally things we want them to being doing. I think the state needs to evaluate those standards and take the reason for absences into consideration.”

McBride also noted that students are also entitled under state law to take five mental health days per year, but those days still count against them for chronic absenteeism metrics.

“I think most fair-minded people would agree calling these student chronically absent is silly,” he said.