* NBC Chicago…

The Illinois State Board of Education on Monday released the 2023 Illinois Report Card, offering a new look at how schools and districts across the state are performing. […]

This year’s report noted schools across the state showed “strong progress in students’ recovery from the pandemic – with increased proficiency rates and the highest graduation rate in 13 years.”

“Gains for Black students, who were disproportionately impacted by the pandemic, led the significant improvement in many indicators,” the board wrote in a release. […]

One of the largest success stories comes as the state saw record-breaking high school graduation rates, with 87.6% of students graduating, a number the report says was driven largely by gains for Black and Hispanic students.

The report also found teacher retention levels had reached “an all-time high,” exceeding 90% for the 2022-23 school year, though it highlights “severe teacher shortages still exist.”

* WBEZ…

A continued area of concern is chronic absenteeism — students who missed 10 days of school or more last year. State officials say this is an important figure because studies show a high correlation between performance and time in school.

Chronic absenteeism has shot up dramatically since before the pandemic in 2019. It affects 28.3% of students, up from 17.5% in 2019. State officials say this is “alarmingly high” and that “more work must be done to ensure full academic and social-emotional recovery from the pandemic.” […]

The state superintendent stressed that gaps in proficiency are because Black students historically attend schools with fewer resources.

“We educate Black students disproportionately in underfunded school districts with more teacher vacancies, higher teacher and principal turnover, higher chronic absenteeism,” he said.

* Tribune…

Statewide, both English and math proficiency rates increased but are still less than what they were before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Proficiency rates can show the percentage of students who have hit the given target, according to the ISBE, but growth is the way to show “progress toward and even past the target.” On average, students grew more in the last school year than before the pandemic, according to the report card.

Black students had the greatest accelerated rate of growth in both English and math compared to the 2018-2019 school year, but their growth and proficiency rates overall are still behind other students. […]

There were more English language learners and Hispanic, Asian and multiracial students enrolled in the 2022-2023 school year than the school year before, suggesting more diversity in Illinois schools, according to the report card.

* Daily Herald…

The annual measure of academic performance shows a second straight year of gains after two years of slippage due to COVID-19 pandemic disruptions. But while student proficiency levels inched up, they remain below pre-pandemic levels. […]

This year’s results show a 16% change statewide year-over-year in English language arts from 29.9% to 34.6%, meaning an additional 39,000 students have mastered grade-level standards. Black students posted the largest gain with a 33% change in proficiency rates, according to report card data. […]

Schools across the suburbs attributed academic gains to a variety of measures, such as increased instructional coaching, reading or math interventionists, school improvement plans and an increased focus on social-emotional supports. In Round Lake Community Unit District 116, post-pandemic daily tutoring has continued with an evening session available for students. The district also launched a summer activity bus program offering art, science, math and Project Lead the Way learning opportunities for students during the summer months.

* More…

* Capitol News Illinois | Latest state school report card shows proficiency gains, persistent gaps on racial lines: Robin Steans, president of the education advocacy group Advance Illinois, agreed that the report was positive overall, but said it also contains some cautionary information, especially regarding racial achievement gaps and attendance rates. “I think there is some legitimately encouraging news in the new state report card,” she said in a separate interview. “I think there’s also a lot of information that reminds us we’ve a lot of work to do still.”

* Chalkbeat | Illinois student test scores closer to pre-pandemic proficiency levels, but absenteeism remains high: The latest report card offers some good news for Illinois districts that are still working to help students recover from pandemic-related disruptions. To address learning gaps, they have focused on hiring more staff, creating after-school programs, and hosting summer learning opportunities. Some of those efforts were funded with the $7 billion in federal COVID relief funding the state received. However, the state’s public schools will have to figure out how to continue these programs as federal relief funding will expire at the end of September 2024.

* Journal Courier | Jacksonville’s school report card sees mixed results: Jacksonville High School was listed as a targeted school, which means one or more student groups is performing at or below the level of the “all students” group in the lowest performing 5% of schools. Achievement is lacking in the areas of children with disabilities and low income, the report card said.

* WAND | Decatur Public Schools breaks down 2023 Illinois Report Card results: Attendance rate hits a 3-year high = 86.1%, up from 83.4% last year and 76.5% in 2021. Chronic absenteeism rate hits a 3-year low = 50.5%, down from 56.0% last year and 58.9% in 2021.

* Shaw Local | State report cards give central Kane schools good grades: All central Kane County districts – St. Charles, Batavia, Geneva and Kaneland – were listed as either exemplary, which means they performed in the top 10% of schools statewide, or commendable, which means they are not in the top 10%, but none of those schools have underperforming student groups.

* WTVO | Illinois Report Card: Rockford schools show improvements, but have work to do: The 2023 snapshot of academic progress shows the Rockford Public School District with a 69% graduation rate, versus the state average of 87.6%. Students showed a 32% proficiency in science (state average: 51%), 24% passing 8th-grade Algebra, and 75% of 9th-grade students “on track.”[…] The state’s results also showed nearly 50% chronic absenteeism across the 44 Rockford schools, below the state average of 28.3%. But, that’s lower than the 60.8% reported during the 2022 Covid recovery era.

* Shaw Local | Local schools get mixed grades on Illinois School Report Card: Rock Falls boasts an Exemplary school, Sterling’s all Commendable, two Dixon schools’ ratings point to need for improvement support.