Elmhurst Schools Make Up Lost Ground

ELMHURST, IL – Elmhurst School District 205's elementary and middle schools got good news Thursday with their results on a standardized test.

The state released data showing the district last school year more than made up an earlier drop in English language arts scores. However, the schools have yet to reach pre-pandemic levels in math.

The data involves the Illinois Assessment of Readiness, which is given to third through eighth graders.

Last school year, 54 percent of Elmhurst's students met or exceeded standards in the English language arts part of the test. That's up from 42 percent in 2021.

In 2019, 51 percent of students met the benchmark. In other words, the schools have seen a gain since before the pandemic.

In math, 48 percent of students met or exceeded standards in 2022. That's up from 42 percent in 2021, but down from 52 percent in 2019. The schools need to gain 4 percentage points to reach the pre-pandemic mark.

Statewide, 30 percent of third through eighth graders met or exceeded standards last school year in English language arts, the same percentage as in 2021. In 2019, the rate was 38 percent.

In math, 26 percent of students statewide met the benchmark in 2022, unchanged from a year earlier. In 2019, 32 percent of students met or exceeded standards.

Wealthy school districts such as Elmhurst's usually exceed state averages.

In another story, Patch reported about how York High School's SAT scores fell again in 2022, continuing a five-year trend.

District 205 issued a news release shortly after the state published the latest results Thursday morning.

In the release, the district noted where it saw gains, particularly in the Illinois Assessment of Readiness.

"It is important to take a moment and celebrate these results, but even with all of this success, we know that our journey continues ... We are not done educating, engaging and empowering all students," Superintendent Keisha Campbell said in the release.

She said school officials were using the opportunity to "drill down" into the results.

"Our school teams and administration have already begun to dig into the information as we are formulating and adjusting our school improvement plans and begin to implement and monitor our Strategic Plan priorities and objectives," she said.