Illinois reading scores top pre-pandemic levels, but results lag in math and for high schoolers

The Illinois state report card released on Wednesday morning shows impressive progress in English Language Arts among elementary school students, but discouraging news in math.

And, while graduation rates continue to inch up, high school students are still missing a lot of class and are struggling to gain academic ground after the pandemic. In fact, average high school test scores among public school students in 2024 declined from the previous year.

Illinois State Superintendent Tony Sanders credited the gains in English Language Arts with a heavy focus on literacy, including passage of a state literacy plan in June to improve the way students are taught to read. The percentage of elementary students meeting or exceeding the state’s English Language Arts proficiency standard reached its highest level since 2019, when students started taking the current version of the exams, he said. This is the first year the rate has surpassed pre-pandemic levels.

About 41.2% of elementary school students are considered proficient on the Illinois Assessment of Readiness, or IAR. That’s up nearly 6 percentage points since last year. Black students saw the largest one-year gain in the percent of students considered proficient, but they still are the lowest performing students, with only 20% hitting that benchmark.

Sanders stressed that English Language Arts proficiency means a lot more than just being able to read at grade level. The test looks at a host of skills, including critical thinking and writing. A national study found Illinois’ proficiency standard is much higher than most other states, he said.

Sanders added that the U.S. Department of Education has identified Illinois as one of the only states that is spending all federal COVID relief money allocated to it, and that Illinois has significant gains to show for it.

“Our teachers, students and school and district leaders should be incredibly proud of the work they've done this year at the state level," he said.

The story is not so encouraging in math. In 2019, 32% of Illinois students were considered proficient in math. The percentage of students proficient in math increased from last year, but only 27.9% were proficient this year.

As in English Language Arts, students are growing their knowledge in math, Sanders said, just not as fast.

Gaps in performance continue among all racial and ethnic groups, though with math scores gaps have narrowed some over the past three years. Asian students are outperforming every group significantly in reading and math. The gap between Black students considered proficient and white students is about 30 percentage points for reading and math. That gap is the same as it was in 2019.

Among high schoolers, performance on the state test was lackluster. The average composite score on the SAT college entrance exam was 950.3 out of a possible 1,600, down from 960.9 in 2023 and 994.5 in 2019.

Since the pandemic, many colleges have made standardized tests optional, which may lead some students not to take the state-mandated exam seriously. However, some top universities are reverting back to requiring college entrance exams. Illinois has been using the SAT, but will start offering the ACT as the state exam next year.

Another factor that may be impacting test scores is high chronic absenteeism rates among high schoolers. That’s defined as missing 10 days or more in an academic year. Before the pandemic, the chronic absenteeism rate for all students was about 11%. It went up to nearly 30% in 2022 and is now down to 26.3%.

High school students are elevating these rates, with about 35% chronically absent, compared to 21% of elementary school students. White and Asian students have seen the biggest decrease in chronic absenteeism over time, while it remains significantly higher for Black students.

Sanders said Illinois is doing better than many other states, but the state is still looking for interventions to continue to drive reductions.

“Attendance is important because students who miss more school than their peers consistently perform lower, and this result holds true at every grade, in every demographic group,” Sanders said. “Chronically absent students are missing out on vital instruction and exposure to post-pandemic interventions.”

Still, about 88.7% of high school students graduated, up slightly since last year and up 1.5 percentage points since 2019.

Sanders thinks graduation rates continue to rise because the state has invested in summer school, mentorship programs and credit recovery. More students also are taking rigorous classes, including advanced placement, international baccalaureate and college credit classes. He said these courses keep students engaged and help get them past the finish line.

Also, schools are incentivized to focus on graduation because those rates weigh heavily into the state’s accountability ratings system.

Sarah Karp covers education for WBEZ. Follow her on X @WBEZeducation and @sskedreporter.