83.1% of Clay County students failed their 2023-24 English exam

Steven Isoye State Board of Education Chairperson | linkedin.com

By East Central Reporter Reports

Dec 17, 2024

More than 8 in 10 Clay 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 East Central Reporter of test scores compiled by the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE).

ISBE reports that in the 2023-24 school year, 83.1% of Clay County's 136 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.

Of three Clay County schools, Clay City High School (93.8%) had the highest failure rate in the county. Meanwhile, Flora High School (78.7%) had the lowest.

Countywide, English test failure rates rose from 79.5% in the 2022-23 school year to 83.1% in the 2023-24 school year.

The failure rate increased at three Clay County high schools in the 2023-24 school year, with the most significant increase happening at Clay City High School, where the failure rate increased by 9.6%, reaching 93.8% 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%.

No high schools in the county saw 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."

ELA Failure Rates in Clay County High Schools in the 2023-24 School Year