Analysis: 86.7% of students in Cass County schools failed English exam in 2023-24 school year

Beardstown Junior/Senior High School Principal Mr. Josh Sorrells (2023) | Beardstown Junior/Senior High School

By West Central Reporter

Dec 18, 2024

Nearly 9 in 10 Cass County public students aren't at grade level based on their performance in the English portion of the 2023-24 SAT.

That's according to an analysis from West Central Reporter of test scores compiled by the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE).

ISBE reports that in the 2023-24 school year, 86.7% of Cass County's 158 public high school students failed the ELA 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.

Of three Cass County schools, Beardstown Junior/Senior High School (90.1%) had the highest failure rate in the county. Meanwhile, Virginia Junior and Senior High School (73.7%) had the lowest.

Countywide, English test failure rates fell from 87.3% in the 2022-23 school year to 86.7% in the 2023-24 school year.

The failure rate increased at two Cass County high schools in the 2023-24 school year, with the most significant increase happening at Virginia Junior and Senior High School, where the failure rate increased by 7.1%, reaching 73.7% overall.

Data shows that the largest growth in failure rates occurred in Vermilion County, which increased by 20.8% to 89.7%; Clark County, which grew by 22% to 89.3%; Kendall County, which increased by 24.1% to 89.4%; Fayette County, which grew by 24.6% to 91.2%; and Shelby County, which increased by 27.3% to 92.3%.

Beardstown Junior/Senior High School was the only high school in the county improvements between the 2022-23 and 2023-24 school years.

Statewide, 67.7% of Illinois students failed the 2023-24 school year state English exam, down from 68.4% 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."

ELA Failure Rates in Cass County High Schools in the 2023-24 School Year