URBANA, Ill. (WAND) – The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) released the annual Illinois Report Card on Wednesday. This report shows academic achievement as well as information about students, teachers, and finances for the state, districts, and schools.
This year, Urbana School District 116 set improvement goals focused on teaching and learning in reading/language arts, mathematics, and reducing chronic absenteeism.
The District began the 2024-25 school year by focusing on chronic absenteeism with specific initiatives aimed at improving student attendance.
According to the 2024-2025 report card, data indicates a 5% decrease in the district's chronic absenteeism numbers, dropping from 49% to 44%.
The District says it's seen significant progress in its “Attendance Matters Campaign” this school year. The daily average attendance for September was 91%, and chronic absenteeism improved by 4.1% from September 2023 to September 2024.
The USD school community congratulates Urbana High School on raising its four-year graduation rate from 80% to 83%. Data released on Wednesday shows an increase in advanced coursework and Career and Technical Education (CTE) enrollment, with CTE concentrators’ graduation rate rising to 94.4%, up from 90.8%.
“Over the past year, UHS has focused on several school-wide initiatives such as AVID systems, high-yield instructional strategies, and social-emotional learning,” said UHS Principal, Jesse Guzman. “The implementation of Academy 9 and other programs has re-engaged students in learning and overall school engagement.”
Proficiency and Student Growth Data
Proficiency indicates whether students have mastered a standard. In contrast, student growth acknowledges progress toward and beyond the standard, regardless of where the student began.
According to the National Center for Education Statistics, Illinois' proficiency benchmark is set higher than that of 45 other states. Although the District's overall proficiency rates in both English Language Arts (ELA) and Math are below pre-pandemic levels, it is important to note that Illinois has some of the most rigorous proficiency standards in the nation.
The 2024 Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR) data shows that since 2022, the percentage of students proficient in ELA has continued to increase in the majority of our students, with their data trending upward.
All elementary buildings fall into the “low-risk” category, as their scores are above 70. This score is determined for students based on their years of enrollment in school.
The Student Growth Percentile (SGP) measures a student's academic growth relative to their peers, regardless of their starting point. It helps identify students needing support and those who are excelling, providing insight into their performance and areas for improvement.
In 2024-2025, the overall cohort growth percentile is projected to reach 41.4%, a slight increase from the 2023-2024 level of 40.5%, indicating fewer students are falling below the performance standards.
Annual Summative Designations
The School Report Card includes an annual summative designation that measures how well our schools meet all students' needs.
The District is committed to enhancing student outcomes with new math curricula adopted in 2023 and an evidence-based English Language Arts curriculum set to launch in August 2024. A new support model for grades K-8 will also be introduced.
The District states, "While our school improvement efforts did not produce all the results we hoped for in the prescribed timeline, we have much to be proud of."
Leal Elementary has received the Targeted designation, indicating that while the school overall is commendable, one or more student groups are performing at or below the lowest-performing 5% of all schools.
Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary and Thomas Paine Elementary received new designations of Comprehensive, and Urbana Middle School continues its designation cycle as Comprehensive.
Dr. Preston L. Williams Jr. Elementary has been designated Intensive and remains Intensive. All designated schools will receive technical assistance and funding for improvement planning.
Due to the redistricting and reorganization of our Spanish and French Dual Language Programs to create the new Yankee Ridge Multilingual School, the state has recognized the program as a new school entity; therefore, they have no designation and limited school report card data.
“While we are happy to celebrate our successes this year, we know there is room for us to grow, and we are committed to engaging in continuous school improvement,” said Superintendent Dr. Ivory-Tatum. “One of the most notable improvements among the designated schools was the amount of Math growth that almost all K-8 schools demonstrated after adopting the first year of our core math curriculum. We have increased rigor to accelerate student growth. We will continue using our grants and funding to provide more professional learning opportunities and resources to expand our ability to take a more holistic and targeted approach to improving our core instruction at all levels, especially at the early elementary levels in K-2 and 3-5.”
View the complete Illinois Report Card data at www.illinoisreportcard.com.
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