McLean County Times

Nearly 8 in 10 Livingston 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 McLean County Times of test scores compiled by the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE).

ISBE reports that in the 2023-24 school year, 74.8% of Livingston County's 425 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.

Flanagan-Cornell High School (80.8%), Woodland High School (78%) and Pontiac High School (76.4%) had the highest failure rates in Livingston County in the 2023-24 school year. Meanwhile, Dwight High School (72.2%) and Prairie Central High School (71.4%) had the lowest.

Countywide, English test failure rates fell from 77.4% in the 2022-23 school year to 74.8% in the 2023-24 school year.

The failure rate rose in one Livingston County high school in the 2023-24 school year, with the most significant increase happening at Tri-Point High School, where the failure rate rose by 7.4%, reaching 74% 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%.

Flanagan-Cornell High School, Woodland High School, Pontiac High School, Dwight High School, and Prairie Central High School were the Livingston County high schools to see 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."

High School	Student Count	Failure Rate in 2022-23 School Year	Failure Rate in 2023-24 School Year
Flanagan-Cornell High School	26	90.9%	80.8%
Woodland High School	41	88.6%	78%
Pontiac High School	165	76.9%	76.4%
Tri-Point High School	27	66.6%	74%
Dwight High School	54	81.3%	72.2%
Prairie Central High School	112	74.5%	71.4%