That's according to a Illinois Valley Times analysis of 2022 test score data compiled by the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE).
ISBE reports that last year, 83 percent of LaSalle County's 989 public high school 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.
Leland High School (100 percent), Serena High School (86.3 percent), and Streator Township High School (86.1 percent) had the highest failure rates in LaSalle County. Seneca High School (78.2 percent) and Mendota Township High School (77 percent) had the lowest.
No LaSalle County high schools had a passing rate of more than 50 percent of students.
County-wide, Math test failure rates rose from 74.4 percent in 2019 to 83 percent in 2022.
The failure rate increased at seven LaSalle County high schools in 2022, with the most significant increase happening at Leland High School (100 percent).
Failure rates rose the most in Coles County (82.7 percent), Mercer County (83.5 percent), Pope County (89.8 percent), Union County (91.3 percent), and Henderson County (92.2 percent).
Serena High School were the only LaSalle County high schools to see Math scores improve between 2019 and 2022.
Statewide, 70 percent of Illinois students failed the 2022 state Math exam, up from 64 percent in 2019.
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 | # of Students | Failing % in 2019 | Failing % in 2021 | Failing % in 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leland High School | 10 | 84% | 84.7% | 100% |
| Serena High School | 44 | 87.5% | 90.2% | 86.3% |
| Streator Township High School | 173 | 80.8% | 88.1% | 86.1% |
| La Salle-Peru Township High School | 253 | 74% | 84.7% | 84.2% |
| Ottawa Township High School | 262 | 74.5% | 81.4% | 83.5% |
| Earlville Junior/Senior High School | 25 | 66.6% | 78.3% | 80% |
| Seneca High School | 96 | 66.7% | 69.4% | 78.2% |
| Mendota Township High School | 126 | 66.4% | 75.7% | 77% |
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