Pawnee Junior/Senior High School Principal Nicole Goodall (2023) | Pawnee Junior/Senior High School
Pawnee Junior/Senior High School Principal Nicole Goodall (2023) | Pawnee Junior/Senior High School
That's according to an analysis from Sangamon Sun of test scores compiled by the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE).
ISBE reports that in the 2023-24 school year, 80% of Sangamon County's 1,693 public high school students—approximately 1,354 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.
Lanphier High School (95.2%), Auburn High School (92.2%), and Springfield Southeast High School (89.7%) had the highest failure rate in Sangamon County, and Springfield High School had the lowest (73.2%) and Glenwood High School (67%).
No high school in Sangamon County had a student passing rate exceeding 50%.
Countywide, math test failure rates rose from 76% in the 2022-23 school year to 80% in the 2023-24 school year.
Failure rates increased at seven Sangamon County high schools in the 2023-24 school year, with the most significant increase happening at Auburn High School, where the rate jumped from 79.5% to 92.2%.
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.
Springfield Southeast High School were the only Sangamon 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lanphier High School | 205 | 89% | 95.2% |
| Auburn High School | 90 | 79.5% | 92.2% |
| Springfield Southeast High School | 261 | 95.6% | 89.7% |
| Riverton High School | 74 | 83.7% | 89.2% |
| Pawnee Junior/Senior High School | 35 | 86.2% | 85.7% |
| Tri-City High School | 41 | 85.1% | 85.4% |
| Rochester High School | 185 | 70.3% | 76.3% |
| Williamsville High School | 118 | 71.3% | 75.4% |
| New Berlin High School | 52 | 75.5% | 75% |
| Springfield High School | 295 | 69.1% | 73.2% |
| Glenwood High School | 337 | 62.2% | 67% |
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