ISBE Report Card Data Show Area High Schools Close In Graduation Rate, Disparities Elsewhere
The Illinois State Board of Education has released its annual report card for schools in the state. Illinois State Board of Education
The Illinois State Board of Education this week released its annual report card for school performance.
Although public high schools in Champaign County all have four-year graduation rates of 84.9% or higher, there are wide disparities elsewhere.
Champaign Unit 4 Schools reported the lowest graduation rate in the county, but the district's 84.9% result is within about two percent of the statewide average. Fisher High School had the highest four-year graduation rate at 97.1%
The 2016-17 school year was the first time that Illinois high schools used the SAT as the standardized test for high school juniors. Area high schools had a wide range of results in meeting or exceeding Illinois standards, ranging from a low of just 13.5% of Rantoul High Hchool students meeting or achieving the goal in math, to a high of 65.4% of juniors hitting that mark in math at Mahomet-Seymour High School.
Statewide, 39.8% of high school juniors met or exceeded the standards in English and Language Arts (ELA), and 36.4% met that goal in math. The minimum score to meet the Illinois standard for the SAT in 2016-17 is 540 in both ELA and math.
In addition to testing data, the ISBE report card also looks at demographics. There's a wide disparity among Champaign County districts in the percentage of low income students, ranging from just 6.4% at St. Joseph-Ogden High School, to 70.8% at Urbana District 116.
There's also a wide disparity in funding per student, and in the sources of that funding. Mahomet-Seymour spends just $4123.21 in local property taxes per student, while that number is $9353.73 per student at Champaign Unit 4. Urbana District 116 spends the most overall per student in the county at $13,820, while Tolono Unity spends just $8988 per student.
The average teacher salary at districts in Champaign County ranges from $43,021 at St. Joseph-Ogden High School to $53,087 at Urbana District 116. All districts in Champaign County are well below the statewide average teacher salary of $64,516.
Data for all public schools in Illinois is available at illinoisreportcard.com.