Seven of 11 schools earn exemplary ranking for being in top 10 percent in Illinois
Students in District 181 and District 86 performed well in math, English and science according to assessment results in the 2024 Illinois Report Cards, released late last week. (file photo)
The 2024 Illinois Report Cards were released last week, and administrators already are examining the data and considering how to use it to help students.
Community Consolidated Ele-mentary District 181 and Hinsdale High School District 86 continue to perform well, according to standards set by the Illinois State Board of Education, which issues the report cards. Six District 181 schools and Hinsdale Central were ranked as exemplary for performing in the top 10 percent of schools statewide.
"There are a lot of great celebrations that we continue to have with both our elementary and our middle schools," said Kristin Reingruber, director of assessment, instruction and evaluation in District 181. "We're continuing to see a very high level of student achievement, and that number is only continuing to go up."
In addition to academic indicators, the designation is based on "school quality and student success" indicators, including chronic absenteeism.
"We also had really great increases in the points we received for chronic absenteeism that is part of the summative designation," Reingruber said. "We saw a big gain at every single building across the district."
Chronic absenteeism districtwide dropped from 11.5 percent on the 2023 report card to 6.8 percent on the 2024 report card, whose data is from the 2023-24 school year.
The report cards also show District 181 students are continuing to grow at a faster rate than their peers - 54 percent in math and 51 percent in ELA.
"If you're over 50 percent, that shows that you are outgrowing other students across the state," Reingruber said. "The growth piece is something that we're always keeping our eye on and just making sure that we're not looking at how do we get kids to meet this high expectation, this achievement piece, but how are these students continuing to grow over time."
Reingruber presented the data to the school board's Academic Success Committee this morning (presentation available on Board Docs at http://www.d181.org) and will review it at the full board meeting on Nov. 18. She also will present fall MAP data at both meetings. She noted that the district uses a variety of metrics to gauge its performance.
"The report card data is just one aspect of that," she said. "There are a lot of data pieces that are internal to the school report card that we already look at as part of a bigger picture."
District 86
District 86 also had reason to celebrate the 2024 report cards, especially in the area of the Illinois Science Assessment. Eighty-five percent of students districtwide met or exceeded state standards.
"We continue to see our scores grow, which is hard when you're at the top of the scores in the state," said Jason Markey, assistant superintendent for academics.
Nearly all indicators used in setting the exemplary and commended designations went up at both schools, Markey said. Like District 181, the district saw an improvement in the percentage of students who are chronically absent.
"That went down a nice percentage at both schools," he said. "It's still an area of concern nationally since the pandemic."
District SAT scores did drop slightly in math (67.9 percent meeting or exceeding state standards from 70.1 on 2023 report cards) and English/language arts (71.6 percent from 75.5 percent).
"We're taking the opportunity to dig into those and see what that reveals," Markey said, nothing that some student subgroups did see increased scores.
Report card data will be used as the district looks at professional development for teachers, the use of instructional coaches, internal formative and summative assessments and student interventions and support.
The district also is focused on the change in the state-mandated assessment from the SAT to the ACT.
"It's not a major change as far as what the actual content is, but there are some specific skills that are highlighted more on the ACT than the SAT," he said.
One shortcoming of the report cards is that they include results for the junior class each year rather than following a cohort of students through their high school careers.
"I have a feeling that's something the state will continue to evaluate with the switch to the ACT," Markey said.
A link to the D86 report cards can be found on the district's website at http://www.d86.org. Report cards for both districts also can be found at http://www.illinoisreportcard.com.
