Greater Peoria schools followed statewide trends during the 2023-24 school year, according to the latest Illinois State Report Card.
English-language arts proficiency improved to pre-pandemic levels in Illinois, with State Superintendent Tony Sanders crediting the recovery to work to implementing new teaching standards and providing professional development for teachers.
Overall proficiency is at 39.4%, compared with 37.4% in 2019.
“Proficient does not mean that the student is reading on grade level,” said Sanders. “It's much more than that. We should never equate those two. Our students cover a depth and breadth of higher order language arts, from writing to logic to critical thinking and analysis.”
Sanders said he hopes a new literacy plan adopted in January will further improve proficiency in the state. It is not mandated for districts to adopt, but provides guidance on how districts can improve literacy rates.
In the Peoria area, most districts saw similar growth in English-language arts. Peoria Public Schools District 150 saw a slight increase in proficiency. Pekin District 108, East Peoria District 86, Washington District 52 and Morton District 709 saw larger increases in proficiency.
Pekin District 303, East Peoria 309, Peoria Heights District 325 and Washington District 308 saw slight decreases in proficiency.
Math proficiency continues to lag behind across the state, but there were slight increases statewide from the prior year. Overall proficiency was at 27.9%, compared with 32% pre-pandemic.
Sanders said the Illinois State Board of Education is launching a comprehensive math and numeracy plan modeled off the literacy plan, with the goal of seeing math proficiency improve.
“This will be the first-of-its-kind effort here in the state of Illinois, as a state, we adopted new learning standards for math in 2010, but there's never been a concerted statewide effort to provide support to educators in understanding and implementing these shifts in instruction,” he said.
Sanders said the state board will be seeking input from educators in the field on the plan.
Peoria area schools followed similar trends, with math proficiency remaining relatively steady or growing slightly.
Pekin District 303 decreased from 19.7% in 2022-23 to 17% in 2023-24. Washington District 308 also saw a slight decrease, but remains above the state average at 42.4% in the 2023-24 school year.
Chronic absenteeism
Chronic absenteeism remains high across the country. In Illinois, the rate decreased from 28.3% in 2023 to 26.3% in 2024. That’s the second straight decrease after rates reached a record high in 2022.
To be considered chronically absent, students have to miss 10% or more of the school year. That’s 18 days.
Sanders said officials are happy to see rates decrease across almost all student groups.
“We see the greatest year-over-year reduction among white and Asian students; while it is decreasing, chronic absenteeism is still highest for our black students by a significant margin,” he said.
Chronic absenteeism among high schoolers has been the slowest to improve.
“Understanding these different trends in chronic absenteeism can help us implement more effective intervention strategies, and can add context to our understanding of the other data on the report card, especially the lagging recovery in high school proficiency,” Sanders said.
Peoria area high schools match that trend, with Peoria District 150, Pekin District 303 and East Peoria District 325 all having a chronic absentee rate around 40%.
Teacher retention remains a priority
Sanders said teacher recruitment and retention remains a top priority.
“The number of teachers in Illinois has grown every year since the state enacted the evidence-based funding formula, and as I've said earlier, the state has since invested more than $2 million in the state's highest need schools,” he said. “But while we have more teachers than ever before, supply has not kept pace with this demand, and we have shortages, particularly in special education, like legal education and in rural and urban areas.”
Peoria-area schools all had a teacher retention rate of between 86% and 93%.
Student enrollment has been decreasing since 2015, which Sanders said is a result of people having fewer kids, but it is flattening out. Sanders said schools in Illinois continue to see a growing number of students escaping conflict around the globe.
Sanders said as COVID-19 financial aid winds down, some interventions that were put in place during the pandemic have stopped. He said he predicts some challenges for districts as they decide what programs to continue, but said the evidence-based funding formula will continue to provide funding for districts.
