Today, the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) released its annual School Report Card. This report card gives families a clear window into academic achievement, student growth, attendance, and school learning environments.
We are celebrating quite the milestone here in District 64. All of our schools have been awarded the state’s highest summative designation...Exemplary! Carpenter, Field, Franklin, Roosevelt, Washington, Emerson, and Lincoln all earned that top tier. Congratulations to all of our schools on this great accomplishment.
"Having every single one of our schools recognized as Exemplary for the very first time is a proud moment for our district,” said Superintendent Dr. Ben Collins. “It reflects the dedication of our incredible teachers and the hard work of our students. We are thrilled to celebrate this success and continue our momentum forward!”
D64 outpaced state proficiency averages by wide margins across every tested subject. Proficiency reflects the percentage of students who met or exceeded Illinois grade-level learning standards. Some highlights include:
- ELA: 81% of D64 students met or exceeded standards (State average: 55%).
- Mathematics: 68% met or exceeded standards, outperforming the state average of 39% by nearly 30 percentage points.
- Science: 78% met or exceeded standards (State average: 49%).
A standout highlight in this year's report card is the exceptional progress of our English Learners (EL). On the state's accountability scorecards, D64’s elementary English Learner progress earned an Exemplary (94.06) rating.
“Watching our ELA proficiency grow as much as it has over the past three years is a major celebration for our students and teachers,” said Assistant Superintendent for Student Learning Dr. Samantha Alaimo. We are proud of all the work we have done in this area and thank our teachers for being so purposeful with their instruction!”
The state introduced a redesigned accountability system for this year's report cards, featuring five distinct performance tiers: Exemplary, Approaching Exemplary, Commendable, Developing, and Comprehensive. This revamped model provides clearer differentiation across categories while evaluating diverse metrics, such as academic progress, growth metrics, support for English learners, regular attendance, and the overall learning environment. The attendance evaluation factors in students maintaining a minimum 90% attendance rate throughout the year.
Families can view individual school profiles and learn more about state accountability metrics by visiting illinoisreportcard.com.