Pekin Community High School Principal Mr. Joel Schmieg (2023) | Pekin Community High School
Pekin Community High School Principal Mr. Joel Schmieg (2023) | Pekin Community 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, 71.3% of Tazewell County's 1,300 public high school students—approximately 926 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.
East Peoria High School (85.4%), Delavan High School (83.4%), and Pekin Community High School (83.2%) had the highest failure rate in Tazewell County, and Morton High School (60.6%) and Washington Community High School (56.8%) had the lowest.
No high school in Tazewell County had a student passing rate exceeding 50%.
Countywide, math test failure rates rose from 68.7% in the 2022-23 school year to 71.3% in the 2023-24 school year.
Failure rates increased at five Tazewell County high schools in the 2023-24 school year, with the most significant increase happening at Morton High School, where the rate jumped from 51.6% to 60.6%.
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.
Tremont High School and East Peoria High School were the only Tazewell 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| East Peoria High School | 164 | 88% | 85.4% |
| Delavan High School | 42 | 80% | 83.4% |
| Pekin Community High School | 374 | 80.5% | 83.2% |
| Dee-Mack High School | 64 | 73.4% | 82.8% |
| Tremont High School | 70 | 70% | 64.3% |
| Morton High School | 259 | 51.6% | 60.6% |
| Washington Community High School | 327 | 53% | 56.8% |
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