Student Performance Dropped Due To Lack Of In-Person Class: D202

PLAINFIELD, IL — The State Board of Education released its first round of academic achievement data for the 2020-2021 school year. For Plainfield School District 202, current numbers are showing performance has dipped, partly as a result of remote learning, officials said Tuesday.

Current Illinois Report Card data, released Dec. 2, includes the results from this spring's Illinois Assessment of Readiness and the SAT, which test students' mastery of grade-level standards in math and English language arts (ELA). All third- through eighth-grade students take the IAR, while high school juniors take the SAT.

When it comes to the Illinois Assessment of Readiness results, District 202 students showed a 15.5 percent drop in ELA and 16 percent drop in math compared to 2019 numbers, district officials said. High schoolers showed a 6.7 percent drop in ELA and a 10 percent drop in math on the SAT, officials said.

The results trend with statewide data, which show 16.6 percent fewer students met grade-level standards in ELA and 17.8 percent fewer students met grade-level standards in math in 2021 compared to 2019.

Other numbers include a 6.5 percent drop in the rate of District 202 ninth-graders on track to graduate, which reflects an increase in students receiving failing grades. The district low-income percentage also rose to 32.2 percent from 2020, officials said.

"The data illustrate the significant impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and lack of access to in-person learning as student achievement data reveal lower rates of ninth graders on track to graduate and declines in students across grade levels attaining proficiency in math and English language arts," director of community relations Tom Hernandez wrote in a news release.

The data isn't fleshed out yet — more detailed information from last spring's state testing is expected to be released next April. Results from tests administered this fall by 10 percent of school districts will also be released in April.

Currently, some data, including students' growth percentile, is currently unavailable on the district's report card. A summative designation for each District 202 school, which shows the measure of process in academic performance and student success, is also not calculated as of Tuesday.

The state's report card includes district- and state-level assessment data for 90 percent of districts in Illinois — including District 202 — that chose to give accountability tests in spring 2021, Hernandez said.

"Comparing year to year or school to school data is difficult in the current environment," the release reads. "ISBE does not recommend comparing 2021 rates of graduation, chronic truism or ninth graders on track to graduate to 2020 rates. However, District 202 does use statewide data to focus areas for improvement and celebrate successes."