Copyright Chicago Tribune
More students at area high schools were classified as proficient in English and math this year on the Illinois School Report Card issued by the Illinois State Board of Education. But that wasn’t necessarily because students scored better on state mandated tests. Rather, ISBE lowered proficiency benchmarks in English Language Arts and math while raising them in science and also switched to the ACT exam from the SAT exam as the test required of juniors in public high schools. State school superintendent Tony Sanders said that the change was made because the previous proficiency benchmarks were among the highest in the nation and resulted in many high performing students being labeled as not proficient. “This shift did not lower our standards,” Sanders said during a conference call with reporters last month. “We simply right sized our performance benchmarks, how we label our students.” Hinsdale Central High School received the coveted Exemplary rating from the state, meaning that, according to a complicated formula based on eight factors, it ranked in the top 10% of public high schools in the state. Oak Park and River Forest High School, Lyons Township High School, East Leyden High School, and Elmwood Park High School all received the Commendable designation, which covers the vast majority of high schools in the state. OPRF’s cumulative score was 91.79, more than a point higher than last year, but about 1.3 points short of the score needed for an Exemplary ranking. The average ACT score at Hinsdale Central was 24.3 for English Language Arts and 26.4 for math. At OPRF the average ACT score was 23 for English and 22.6 for math. At Lyons Township, the average ACT score was 21.3 for ELA and 22.7 for math. At East Leyden, the average ACT score was 17 for English and 17.5 for math. At Elmwood Park the average ACT was 18.4 for English and 18 for math. Chronic absenteeism, which the state defines as missing 10% or more of the school days in an academic year for any reason, has been a problem both statewide and among area schools. The chronic absenteeism for Illinois public high school students was 25.4% last year. Hinsdale Central’s rate of chronic absenteeism was 15% compared to 19% at OPRF, 24% at Lyons Township, 35% at East Leyden and 34% at Elmwood Park. Family income and wealth seemed to play a big role in the differences in test scores although the differences varied among schools. At OPRF only 21.7% of low income students met or exceeded the state benchmark in math compared to 64.1% of their better off peers. In ELA 43.5% of low income OPRF students met or exceeded the state proficiency standard compared to 78.9% of their better off classmates. At Hinsdale Central, the highest performing school in the area, only nine percent of the students are classified as low income while 55% of the students at East Leyden and 60% of the students at Elmwood Park are classified as low income. Overall 78.9% of OPRF students met or exceeded the state’s proficiency benchmark in English. In math 64.1% of OPRF students met or exceeded the state benchmark. At Lyons Township, 72.5% of students tested met or exceeded the state’s English proficiency benchmark. In math 62.3% of students met or exceeded the state’s proficiency benchmark. At East Leyden 45.4% of students met or exceeded the state benchmark in English. In math 33.4% of students met or exceeded the state standard. At Elmwood Park the numbers were similar. Overall 54% of Elmwood Park High School students met or exceeded the state standard in English. In math, 35% of Elmwood Park students met or exceeded the state standard. The Report Card also provided a snapshot of disparities in test results broken down along racial lines. At Oak Park and River Forest High School, the gap between the performance of white and Black students has started to shrink. Students tested last year as juniors were the first class of students to go through the revised Honors for All freshman curriculum, in which approximately 85% of freshmen take Honors classes in core subjects other than math. The gap between white and Black students in English Language Arts dropped to 43.7 points this year from 52 points last year, to reach the lowest level at OPRF since at least 2018. But the gap rose in math to 57.5 points this year from 51 points in 2024. “It’s good to note that we have the smallest gap (in ELA) between our Black and white students since 2018,” said OPRF District 200 Superintendent Greg Johnson. “However, we still have work to do. We have a lot of work to do as a district to continue to make sure that as many of our students as possible are as successful as they possibly can be on tests like this but also school overall.” Bob Skolnik is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
