Waukegan High School Principal Ms. Avelira Rodriguez Gonzalez (2023) | Waukegan High School
Waukegan High School Principal Ms. Avelira Rodriguez Gonzalez (2023) | Waukegan High School
That's according to an analysis from Lake County Gazette of test scores compiled by the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE).
ISBE reports that in the 2023-24 school year, 61% of Lake County's 9,472 public high school students—approximately 5,777 students—failed the math portion of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) and have “minimal (or) incomplete understanding of the knowledge and skills relative to Illinois Learning Standards.”
Students can achieve four proficiencies in their subjects: partially met, approaching, meets, and exceeds standards. This report concludes students who partially met or approached the standards have failed in the subject.
North Chicago Community High School (96.8%), Waukegan High School (93.5%), and Zion-Benton Township High School (92.5%) had the highest failure rate in Lake County, and Deerfield High School (29.4%) and Adlai E. Stevenson High School (26.1%) had the lowest.
Out of the 19 high schools in Lake County, only seven schools had a passing rate above 50%.
Countywide, math test failure rates rose from 60.7% in the 2022-23 school year to 61% in the 2023-24 school year.
Failure rates increased at eight Lake County high schools in the 2023-24 school year, with the most significant increase happening at Grant Community High School, where the rate jumped from 73.5% to 79%.
Statewide, failure rates were highest in Bureau County, Christian County, Gallatin County, Schuyler County, and Hamilton County, where the percentage of students who failed the math exam were 82.4%, 91.6%, 93.4%, 93.6%, and 95.2%, respectively.
Lakes Community High School and Grayslake Central High School were the only Lake County high schools that saw math scores improve between the 2022-23 school year and the 2023-24 school year.
Data shows that 73.7% of Illinois students failed the 2023-24 school year state math exam, up from 73% in the 2022-23 school year.
The SAT test is administered to Illinois high school sophomores “to fulfill the requirement that students take an assessment for college and career readiness in order to receive a regular high school diploma.”
| High School | Student Count | Failure Rate in 2022-23 | Failure Rate in 2023-24 |
|---|---|---|---|
| North Chicago Community High School | 220 | 98.9% | 96.8% |
| Waukegan High School | 989 | 95.4% | 93.5% |
| Zion-Benton Township High School | 555 | 93.9% | 92.5% |
| Grant Community High School | 427 | 73.5% | 79% |
| Wauconda High School | 353 | 74.1% | 78.2% |
| Warren Township High School | 903 | 71% | 75.8% |
| Mundelein Consolidated High School | 543 | 72.3% | 73.1% |
| Antioch Community High School | 346 | 67.7% | 70% |
| Grayslake Central High School | 340 | 70.6% | 66.4% |
| Grayslake North High School | 294 | 68.2% | 66% |
| Lakes Community High School | 339 | 64.9% | 58.7% |
| Highland Park High School | 424 | 50.2% | 52.1% |
| Barrington High School | 668 | 43.8% | 47.4% |
| Lake Zurich High School | 445 | 44.3% | 44.5% |
| Libertyville High School | 479 | 42% | 39.9% |
| Vernon Hills High School | 342 | 38.2% | 38.9% |
| Lake Forest High School | 334 | 38.1% | 34.5% |
| Deerfield High School | 344 | 33.3% | 29.4% |
| Adlai E. Stevenson High School | 1,127 | 27% | 26.1% |
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