Copyright Chicago Tribune
Nowhere in the Illinois State Board of Education’s 2025 Illinois Report Card is student and community engagement measured, but it can play a key role in helping administrators increase the number of freshmen who are on track to graduate in four years or improve a school’s overall rating. Waukegan High School improved its graduation rate from 79% two years ago to 84% for the past school year, while the percentage of freshmen on track to graduate, although improved, was 15 points lower. Eduardo Cesario, Waukegan Community Unit School District 60’s deputy superintendent of academic supports and programs, said a good way to figure out the reason behind certain statistics is going to the source. “Sometimes the best way you can find out is talking to the kids,” Cesario said. “We’re going to do that in the next few weeks.” Of the 27 schools in Lake County to earn an exemplary summative rating — the top 10% of the state’s schools — six are part of the Lake Forest school system. Matthew Montgomery, the superintendent of both the elementary and high school districts there, credits community engagement. “We brought the community into the conversation, and it was very helpful,” Montgomery said. “They are a key component. School is only 6½ hours a day. Parents know what’s going on out of school. We need partnership with them.” The ISBE released its 2025 School Report Card on Thursday, giving detailed statistics on the performance of schools throughout the state, from the overall summative rating to granular statistics like the percentage of English learners in each school within a district. Along with the five-point increase in its graduation rate — the statewide increase was 6.2%, according to a press release from the ISBE — Amanda Milewski, District 60’s assistant superintendent for strategy and accountability, said there were other improvements this year. Milewski said chronic absenteeism — the percentage of students missing school more than 10% of the time — continues to decline, falling from 39% to 35%. There are fewer and fewer English learners in a district where both Spanish and English are spoken in the home. Along with an exemplary designation for the top 10%, a school can receive a rating of “commendable,” “targeted,” or “comprehensive.” Commendable schools have no underperforming groups while targeted schools have at least one and comprehensive means the bottom 5%. While Waukegan High School is commendable, of the district’s 15 elementary schools, none were exemplary this year; 10 were commendable, three targeted and two comprehensive. Of the five middle schools, three were targeted and two were comprehensive. For the past few years, Waukegan’s middle schools have been rated behind the elementary and high schools. Milewski said a new schedule was implemented at John Lewis Middle School two years ago and went district-wide last year. It gives students more time for core subjects and fewer interruptions during the day. “We built in time for small group instruction as part of the school day,” she said. “We minimized transition time for middle schoolers so they didn’t have to change classes every 40 minutes.” A closer look at the implementation of the middle school curriculum is also underway. Milewski said in some cases, teachers were completing some parts of the curriculum in classes like English language arts and math, but not all of it. Coaches are now working with instructors to help them include it all. “When they take the state test, they are tested on the whole curriculum,” Milewski said. “They are not doing as well on the state test. Last year was a challenge. Now we’re trying out some new techniques to teach it all.” Putting all elementary, middle and high schools in one system in the exemplary group, as Lake Forest did, is rare. The ISBE was unsure how often it happens. The city has one district for its high school, Lake Forest Community School District 115, and another, Lake Forest School District 67, for its middle and elementary schools. Montgomery is the superintendent of both. Over the past five years, Montgomery said Lake Forest’s schools have made strides toward more and more achievements. It is a community effort that has fueled the “journey of academic excellence.” “The students are energized into a strong learning environment,” Montgomery said. “We brought our community into the conversation, and they have helped. There is academic achievement, and the community really helps a good learning attitude.” Earning the exemplary designation in Lake Forest are Lake Forest Community High School, Deer Path East Middle School, Deer Path West Middle School, Cherokee Elementary School, Sheridan Elementary School and Everett Elementary School. North Chicago School District 187 continues to make gains in some areas and needs to do more work in others. Superintendent John Price said in an email that there is a strong focus on climate and culture in each school, and it shows in the report card responses. “This affirms that we are building positive learning spaces for students and working environments for adults, a precursor to school growth,” Price said. “We are seeing strong growth for our students, and this affirms our focus on supporting all learners, with special focus on those not yet at grade level.” With the graduation rate at North Chicago Community High School improving from 85% a year ago to 86% for the Class of 2025, Price said it should get even better with the freshmen on track to graduate, going from 91% to 96%. Recovery from the pandemic is still an issue, particularly in reading and math. Price said daily instruction for the students in these areas is given. Among Lake County’s high schools, Deerfield, Lake Forest, Lake Zurich, Libertyville and Vernon Hills were the only ones designated exemplary. Vernon Hills and Libertyville comprise Libertyville Community High School District 128. Other exemplary schools in Lake County include three elementary schools in Barrington Community Unit School District 220 — Arnett Lines, North Barrington and Roslyn Road. In Deerfield Public Schools District 109, Kipling and South Park elementary schools were rated exemplary, as was North Shore School District 112’s Braeside Elementary School. Meadowview Elementary School in Grayslake, as well as Hawthorn North and Hawthorn South middle schools in Vernon Hills, are exemplary. Other exemplary schools are Kildeer Countryside Elementary School in Long Grove, Lake Bluff Elementary School, Adler Park Elementary School in Libertyville, and Butterfield Elementary School, also in Libertyville. Along with Lake Zurich High School, four other schools in Lake Zurich Community Unit School District 95 earned the distinction. They are Isaac Fox Elementary School, Lake Zurich Middle School South, May Whitney Elementary School, and Seth Paine Elementary School.
