Student Achievement
We are pleased to share the D64 Academic Performance Report 2025-2026, which details strong student achievement and sustained growth across District 64 from preschool through 8th grade. Moving forward, we will use this streamlined, accessible format for our annual academic updates, officially called the Academic Performance Report.
Our youngest learners demonstrated excellent progress this year. In our early childhood programs, preschool student performance reached 87% in listening skills, 93% in story retelling, 88% in counting, and 96% in pattern recognition. This foundational success continued into the early elementary years, where 84% of kindergartners and 83% of first graders stayed on track in math, both exceeding our 80% district goal. Early reading benchmarks were met by 70% of kindergartners and 75% of first graders.
For students in grades 2 through 8, the Spring Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) assessments showed robust achievement, with a district average of 93% performing at or above grade level in math and 89% in reading. Regarding individualized growth, grades 2 through 7 successfully met our target of 60% or more students achieving their growth goals in both subjects, though 8th grade fell slightly short. On state testing, our students exceeded district expectations, with an average of 81% meeting state standards in English Language Arts, 68% in math, and strong proficiency in science with 78% of 5th graders and 86% of 8th graders meeting standards.
These performance results actively guide our Strategic Plan 2030 initiatives. To build on this academic momentum, our next steps include developing a comprehensive Instructional Framework, using data to quickly identify and support students, and creating a Portrait of a Learner to define the exact skills every student should have upon leaving District 64.
Assistant Superintendent of Student Learning, Dr. Samantha Alaimo, provided a student achievement update at the September 18, 2025, regular Board Meeting and shared a snapshot of early childhood data through 8th grade.
Student Achievement Update Resources:
Our District student achievement goals for 2025-2026 are:
- Kindergarten and grade 1 Early Reading and Math Assessments: 80% or more of students will reach proficiency (above the 40th percentile) with skills.
- MAP Achievement: Goals are an average of three years of pre-pandemic spring data.
- MAP Growth: A growth rate at the 50th percentile is expected. A growth rate above the 50th percentile is above average.
- 50% of middle school students will meet growth targets in the area of Reading.
- 60% of grades 2-8 students will meet growth targets in the area of Reading.
When looking specifically at the MAP Math achievement and growth, Dr. Alaimo said, “One thing I want to celebrate is that 88% to 95% of our students at District 64 are at the 40th percentile and above. That is just phenomenal. I’m so proud of our teachers and our kids for showing that type of success and progress. I anticipate that it’s only going to move up as we really start targeting some instruction through our strategic planning.”
Presentation of the 2024-25 Illinois School Report Card
Assistant Superintendent for Student Learning Dr. Samantha Alaimo presented an overview of the 2024-25 Illinois Report Card data. The most recent report cards for the District and each school are available on our website.
We are proud to announce that Field, Franklin, and Lincoln earned the “Exemplary” designation, ranking in the top 10% of schools statewide. The remaining schools, Carpenter, Emerson, Roosevelt, and Washington, earned a “Commendable” designation. Commendable schools have no underperforming subgroups but are not in the top 10% of schools statewide. Jefferson Early Childhood Center does not receive a rating.
“We have so much to celebrate,” said Dr. Alaimo. “We have three schools that fall into the exemplary category, which we have never had in my 10 years here in District 64, and Roosevelt was only one point away from meeting Exemplary. It just shows how wonderful we are doing.”
Other key highlights from the district-wide data include:
- IAR Proficiency: District 64 met its goal of having 60% or more students meet proficiency. In English Language Arts, 79% of students met proficiency, and in Math, 69% met proficiency.
- Chronic Absenteeism: Rates of chronic absenteeism have been reduced, particularly at schools where numbers had been elevated in previous years.
You can view the full presentation deck here and read more about the report card designations.
Assistant Superintendent for Student Learning Dr. Samantha Alaimo gave an in-depth breakdown in her presentation on how D64 did in the recently published 2023-2024 Illinois School Report Cards.
The report card components are the following: Performance on the Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR), Performance on the Illinois Science Assessment (ISA), Progress to Proficiency (PtP) for our English Learner (EL) population, Chronic Absenteeism, Performance on the ISBE Equity Journey Continuum, and Performance on the Illinois 5Essentials Survey.
“We continue to see high and improved proficiency data on IAR, meaning students are meeting that grade level basis that we would like, which is amazing,” said Dr. Alaimo. “We should be really proud of those.”
Field Elementary School demonstrated exceptional IAR growth percentiles and ranked in the top 10% of schools and earned an exemplary rating. The remaining six schools in our District earned a commendable rating. Franklin Elementary School was less than 1 point away from earning an exemplary rating.
- Exemplary schools have no underperforming subgroups and perform in the top 10% of schools statewide.
- Commendable schools have no underperforming subgroups but are not in the top 10% of schools statewide.
You can listen to/watch Dr. Alaimo’s presentation to the Board here. Additionally, Dr. Alaimo’s written memo can further explain the report card data and factors.
A review of student achievement during the 2022-2023 school year was presented at the Board of Education's November 16, 2023 Board of Education, meeting. The annual Student Achievement Update shares information about student performance and provides an overview of the 2023 Illinois School Report Card.
In addition to the video, other ways to access information include:
- Written report from Assistant Superintendent for Student Learning Dr. Samantha Alaimo
- Dr. Alaimo's presentation slides to the Board may be seen below:
A review of student achievement during the 2021-22 school year was presented at the Board of Education’s November 17, 2022, meeting. The annual Student Achievement Update shares information about student performance and provides an overview of the 2022 Illinois School Report Card.
In addition to the video, other ways to access information include:
- Written report from Assistant Superintendent for Student Learning Dr. Lori Lopez
- Dr. Lopez’s presentation slides to the Board may be seen below:
A review of student achievement during the 2020-21 school year was presented at the Board of Education’s June 24, 2021, meeting. The annual Student Achievement Update shares information about student performance and provides an overview of the 2021 Illinois School Report Card.
In addition to the video, other ways to access information include:
- Written report from Assistant Superintendent for Student Learning Dr. Lori Lopez
- Dr. Lopez’s presentation slides to the Board may be seen below:
A review of student achievement during the 2019-20 school year was presented to the Board of Education's December 10, 2020 meeting (view video here). The annual Student Achievement Update shares information about student performance and provides an overview of the 2020 Illinois School Report Card.
In addition to the video, other ways to access information include:
- Written report from Assistant Superintendent for Student Learning Lori Lopez
- Dr. Lopez's presentation slides to the Board may be seen here:
A review of student achievement during the 2018-19 school year was presented to the Board of Education at the November 11, 2019 meeting (view video here). The presentation included the MAP Growth assessments in reading and math, the spring 2019 Illinois Science Assessment, the spring 2019 IAR assessments of Illinois Learning Standards in English language arts (ELA) and math, and data from the 2019 Illinois School Report Card.
In addition to the video, other ways to access information include:
- Written report from Assistant Superintendent for Student Learning Lori Lopez
- Dr. Lopez's presentation slides to the Board may be seen here:
Student performance on MAP and PARCC as reported at the November 12, 2018 Board of Education meeting by Assistant Superintendent for Student Learning Lori Lopez:
Students met ambitious growth targets in MAP
More District 64 students in grades 3-8 reached their projected growth targets for learning in 2016-17, and are meeting or surpassing the ambitious goals set for student growth District-wide by the 2020 Vision Strategic Plan, as reported by Assistant Superintendent for Student Learning Lori Lopez at the June 26, 2017 Board of Education meeting (view video).
District 64 monitored student growth by comparing performance from fall 2016 to spring 2017 on the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) assessments. The District has established an overall target for the year 2020 of having 70% of students meet their projected growth in reading and 75% in math.
As a stepping-stone, the District established an intermediate goal in 2017 of having 55% of students meet their growth targets in reading. Students in grades 3-8 met or surpassed that goal; fifth graders had the highest percentage of students meeting their reading growth targets at 65%.
Similarly in math, the District had established an intermediate goal in 2017 of having 58% of students meet their growth targets. Students in all grades 3-8 with the exception of fifth grade surpassed that goal; eighth graders had the highest percentage of students meeting their math growth target at 71%. This is the first year that students in grade 2 took the fall MAP; their results are considered a baseline.
See Dr. Lopez's complete presentation here.
PARCC assessments indicate student achievement remains steady
Reporting on the spring 2017 Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College & Careers (PARCC) assessments required by the Illinois State Board of Education, Assistant Superintendent for Student Learning Lori Lopez at the November 13, 2017 Board of Education meeting reported that 58% of students met or exceeded expectations in English Language Arts while 57% did so in Math, as reported on the 2017 State Report Cards. View her full presentation here.
More information on how to interpret your child's PARCC test scores in each grade may be found here.
State science assessments for 2016 and 2017 show high levels of D64 students are "proficient"
Due to delays in scoring by the state, D64 received results in early 2018 for both the 2016 and 2017 IL Science Assessment taken each spring by students in grades 5 and 8. The online statewide assessment is aligned with the IL Learning Standards for Science, which reflect the Next Generation Science Standards. The assessment includes items related to physical science, life science, earth/space science, and engineering, Students are scored either as "proficient" or "not proficient." From about 72% to 80% of D64 students across the two years and grades were scored as "proficient," substantially above the state results. The reports were presented as a Memo of Information to the Board of Education at the February 26, 2018 meeting.
An in-depth review of student achievement during the 2015-16 school year was presented to the Board of Education at the August 8, 2016 Committee-of-the-Whole meeting (view video here). The presentation included both the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) assessments in reading and math given in fall 2015 and spring 2016, and the spring 2016 PARCC assessments of Illinois Learning Standards in English Language Arts (ELA) and math.
In addition to the video, other ways to access information include:
- Written report from Assistant Superintendent for Student Learning Lori Lopez
- Dr. Lopez's presentation slides to the Board may be seen here:
This site provides information using PDF, visit this link to download the Adobe Acrobat Reader DC software.