Sangamon Sun

Test results show 37.5% of Sangamon County students passed the ELA portion of the Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR) in the 2023-24 school year, according to the Illinois State Board of Education.

The number of Sangamon County students who succeeded rose by 21.1% compared to the previous school year.

Woodford County had the highest success rate across the state, with 60.7% of its students passing the ELA portion of the IAR. Schools in Alexander County, on the other hand, performed the worst, with 87.3% of students failing to meet test requirements.

The Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR) measures how well students in grades 3-8 are progressing toward state standards in English language arts and mathematics.

Recent IAR data shows that while Illinois students improved slightly in the test, math performance remains below pre-pandemic levels. In 2024, 28.4% of students met math benchmarks, compared to 31.8% in 2019. 

However, data also indicates a significant achievement gap based on race and ethnicity. The disparities were even more pronounced in math. White students achieved a proficiency rate of 38.7%, while Black students achieved 9.1% and Hispanic students 15.6%. Asian students achieved the highest proficiency rates in both subjects, hitting 68.2% in ELA and 61.4% in math.

Illinois allocated $8.6 billion to K-12 education in its 2025 budget—a $350 million increase over FY 2024, meeting the minimum required under the state’s school funding formula.

School	Students who met standards (%)	Students who exceed standards (%)	Total enrollment
Iles Elementary School	63.1%	12.5%	406
New Berlin Junior High School	55.2%	14.5%	163
Lincoln Magnet School	54.6%	15.7%	300
Pleasant Plains Middle School	53.6%	7.3%	381
Cantrall Intermediate School	53.2%	6%	209
Williamsville Junior High School	52.8%	10.9%	441
Sherman Elementary School	50.8%	10.1%	536
Auburn Junior High At Divernon	50.6%	10.5%	236
Tri-City Elementary School	48%	5.9%	275
Chatham Elementary School	47.7%	1.5%	486
Tri-City Junior High School	46.4%	4%	123
Cantrall Elementary School	46%	1.6%	355
Ball Elementary School	45.3%	4%	597
Farmingdale Elementary School	44.7%	3.2%	478
Glenwood Intermediate School	43.5%	3.7%	681
New Berlin Elementary School	42.1%	2.4%	438
Pawnee Grade School	41.8%	8.2%	303
Glenwood Middle School	41.3%	7.6%	775
Sandburg Elementary School	39.2%	9.2%	278
Glenwood Elementary School	38.7%	5.5%	607
Owen Marsh Elementary School	37.7%	10.9%	292
Rochester Intermediate School	37.5%	3.4%	413
Pawnee Junior/Senior High School	36.7%	0%	251
Sangamon Valley Intermediate School	34.8%	3%	124
Lindsay School	31.6%	4.7%	458
Butler Elementary School	29%	6.2%	350
Sangamon Valley Middle School	28.6%	0%	132
Springfield Ball Charter School	28.1%	2.3%	394
Benjamin Franklin Middle School	27%	6.9%	693
Rochester Elementary 2-3	24.2%	2.4%	257
Auburn Middle School	23%	0%	200
Wilcox Elementary School	22.4%	0.9%	256
Enos Elementary School	22.2%	2.8%	241
Black Hawk Elementary School	20.4%	0%	261
Hazel Dell Elementary School	19.1%	0%	113
Riverton Elementary School	18.3%	1.2%	500
Southern View Elementary School	17.7%	0%	154
Laketown Elementary School	16.7%	2.1%	124
U.S. Grant Middle School	16.2%	0.6%	515
Fairview Elementary School	13.8%	0%	294
Elizabeth Graham Elementary School	13.6%	1.8%	248
Jefferson Middle School	12.9%	0.6%	483
Jane Addams Elementary School	12.2%	0%	259
Dubois Elementary School	11.3%	0%	436
McClernand Elementary School	10.6%	0%	193
Ridgely Elementary School	9.5%	0.9%	297
Edwin A. Lee Elementary School	8.9%	0%	189
Washington Middle School	8.9%	0.2%	512
Harvard Park Elementary School	8.6%	0%	349
Feitshans Elementary School	2.1%	0%	273
Matheny-Withrow Elementary School	2%	0%	212

Information in this story was obtained from the Illinois State Board of Education. The source data can be found here.