The latest Illinois State Report card found English-language arts (ELA) proficiency improved during the 2023-24 school year, while math continues to lag behind.
The results were not much different for Greater Peoria schools.
Peoria Public Schools Superintendent Sharon Desmoulin-Kherat said district officials are encouraged by improving proficiency, but there's a lot to be done; 17% of students were proficient in ELA in this year’s report card, an improvement from 14.8% in the previous report, while 11.2% were proficient in math, a slight improvement from 10.6% the previous year.
State Superintendent Tony Sander stressed that being proficient does not mean simply being at grade level, but looks at other criteria. For English-language arts, for example, they assess students' critical thinking, analysis, logic, writing and reading.
Kherat said the district hired consultants from The New Teacher Project, a nonprofit focused on helping low-income and minority students, to help guide math instruction.
“They're coaching teachers during classrooms,” Kherat said. “They are providing quite a bit of support once a month district wide, to all of the middle schools.”
Kherat said she's had administrators spend more time in classrooms to observe how teaching is happening and where students may be stumbling.
One thing they're seeing is "productive struggle." That's where students do the heavy lifting to work through a problem. But she said students feel frustrated if they're not reaching an answer soon enough, adding that'll be one area they look to address this year.
Pekin District 108, which has elementary and junior high schools, is using a data-driven approach to improve proficiency. The report card shows 32.4% of students were proficient in ELA, compared to 25.8% in the previous report card; 14.7% were proficient in math, compared with 14.4%.
A.J. Schroff is the coordinator of assessment and technology at the district.
“We've targeted a lot of our professional development over the years on ELA, and so we've partnered with some different groups who have come in and coached us, if you will, on how to improve our teaching and learning when it comes to ELA” he said. “And so I think in the next few years, you'll probably see a similar approach with math.”
Shcroff said the district looks at years of data to find what specific areas may be hurting student proficiency.
“We're trying to see where there's a trend and whether students might not be doing so well with fractions, for example, in math, or just basic number sense concepts, or working with decimals, things like that. So just trying to target those areas where we see opportunity,” he said.
Chronic absenteeism
This year marked the second decrease in chronic absenteeism since Illinois reached a high in 2022, but the statewide average remains elevated at 26%.
Sanders said high schoolers have the highest rate of chronic absenteeism. In Peoria, Kherat said high schools are seeing improvements this year.
Kherat said Richwoods High School in September of this school year had a rate of 22%, compared with 29% in September last year. Manual High School dropped from 54% to 38% and Peoria High School dropped from 41% to 36%.
She credits engagement initiatives, including two volunteers who meet with students one-on-one.
“I would say, with the adults, because we have hired individuals to sort of reach out to them and find out, you know specifically what's going on, and reconnecting with them and helping to remove the barriers, I would say that has helped,” she said.
Schroff said Pekin students are feeling less engaged than in the past — a sentiment also echoed by Sanders.
“I don't think that everyone's always aware that they have chronically absent students, because the threshold is is only 10% of days missed for any reason, and so that kind of comes up on you quickly, if you have a minor illness or just an extended absence of any kind, all of a sudden you're in that category,” he said.
Schroff said the district also is looking at ways to incentivize students to show up regularly.
Kherat said the Peoria district engages with students and parents throughout the year to let them know when they're veering toward chronic absenteeism. They tell students that means missing just two days a month.
She added she's encouraged by numbers, but they're constantly looking for new ways to engage with students.
If they don't see a 3% improvement by the end of the school year, they'll plan a new approach to lowering that rate.
Teacher retention
Teacher retention also remains a top priority for Illinois schools. Overall retention is at 89.6%.
Pekin Public Schools had a rate of 91%, but coordinator of assessment and technology Schroff said they're still aiming higher.
“So, I think we're doing everything we can to try to recruit teachers in our district and make Pekin 108 the place to be if you're a new teacher,” he said. “And so hopefully that will pay off in the next few years, and we'll be able to retain and attract teachers the way we'd like.”
Kherat said she's working with union leadership to identify ways to support teachers, adding the district just did a survey to identify three areas where the district could improve.
“Recognition is one of them, more recognition and workflow is another” she said. “Some of them we can impact, some of them not as much, but we'll try.”
The third was PLC's, or professional learning communities. Kherat said the next step is creating strategies to address these areas, adding the district's retention bonus also helps.
