Illinois students less white, more Hispanic, report card shows
What kind of student attended public school in Illinois last school year?
And how did the Class of 2015 do on its ACT college-entrance examination?
Data released Thursday by the Illinois State Board of Education show that, statewide:
• For a 14th year, the percentage of white students declined, to 49.3 percent.
• Hispanic students numbers continued a 14-year increase, reaching 25.1 percent.
• More than 54 percent of children came from low-income households.
• Students with limited proficiency in English accounted for 10.3 percent of enrollment.
• More than 14 percent of the students had an individualized education plan.
• Homeless enrollment was 2.3 percent.
• Schools averaged a 2.3 percent dropout rate.
• Chronic truancy averaged 8.7 percent.
• For at least 95 percent of students, a teacher had personal contact with their parents or guardians.
• About 12 percent of students had moved.
The report also contained information about average class sizes, by grade; the race, ethnicity and sex of teachers; salaries of educators and administrators; per-pupil spending; teachers' experience; and more.
ACT
The statewide average composite score was 20.5, out of a possible 36 points. Scores rose 0.1 point in science and English.
More than 45 percent of the Class of 2015 had a composite ACT score of 21 or higher, which state officials believe indicates they are ready for college courses. More than 61 percent of students met or exceeded expectations for their English skills. But percentages were in the 30s for mathematics, science and reading.
The data includes individual schools' and district's average scores for each subject area, as well as how many met or exceeded expectations for the subjects.
Stevenson High School spokesman Jim Conrey said officials at the Lincolnshire school were pleased to see students' ACT scores remain well above the state average.
"Of the 904 students in the Class of 2016 who took the state ACT, only 47 of them failed to meet the college readiness benchmark standards in the four areas of English, reading, math and science," Conrey said. "That's an indication of the good work going on inside our school."
Daily Herald School Checker
Visit the <a href="http://reportcards.dailyherald.com/">Daily Herald School Checker</a> to see all the latest data from the Illinois Report Cards.