East Central Reporter

Nearly 8 in 10 Crawford 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, 77.1% of Crawford County's 170 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.

Oblong High School had the highest failure rates in Crawford County in the 2023-24 school year (82.1%). Meanwhile, Palestine High School had the lowest (68.8%).

Countywide, English test failure rates rose from 76.5% in the 2022-23 school year to 77.1% in the 2023-24 school year.

The failure rate rose in two Crawford County high schools in the 2023-24 school year, with the most significant increase happening at Oblong High School, where the failure rate rose by 9.4%, reaching 82.1% 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%.

Hutsonville High School and Palestine High School were the Crawford 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
Oblong High School	39	72.7%	82.1%
Hutsonville High School	21	88.8%	81%
Robinson High School	94	74.4%	75.5%
Palestine High School	16	78.6%	68.8%