What You Should Know About the New Illinois Report Card Data

Another round of new public school data has been released as part of the annual Illinois Report Card, including student and teacher demographics, ACT scores and financial information.

While the objective of the statewide education report card is to provide parents, teachers, administrators and the public with more insights on how Illinois’ schoolchildren are performing academically, some key data has yet to be published — namely the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Career (PARCC) scores from last spring — and those results won’t be released until at least late November.

Illinois is one of 11 states now administering the PARCC exam, which is based on more rigorous Common Core standards. The exam replaced both the ISAT and PSAE tests and may be used to phase out the ACT test as a determinant of college readiness, writes the Daily Herald’s Susan Sarkauskas.

The new report card data shows a dismal 46 percent of high school graduates were “ready for college,” meaning more than half failed to score at least a 21 on the ACT. Statewide, the average score was 20.5.

Here are some other fast facts you should know about student demographics, ACT scores and financials at the state’s public schools.

Like what you see here from Reboot Illinois? Then sign up for our daily email to get more great content right to your email inbox.