In the words of the Coal City Community Unit School District 1 Director of Curriculum and Instruction, “We are proud of the results, but we are not done.”
The comment from Jennifer Kenney came during a presentation on the 2024 Illinois Report Card, a document that takes a formulated look at how students are performing in the classroom compared to their peers across the state. The local school data was published by the Illinois State Board of Education [ISBE] this fall.
Two Unit 1 schools received the highest ranking and were designated exemplary—Coal City Elementary School and Coal City Intermediate School. These academic centers rank among the top 10 percent of all elementary schools in
the state.
“Congratulations to our elementary and intermediate schools on achieving an exemplary designation. To be in the top 10 percent of schools across the state is impressive and we are very proud of the students, faculty and staff,”
Superintendent Christopher Spencer said.
Coal City Early Childhood Center, Coal City Middle School and Coal City High Schools were designated as commendable. According to Kenney, the early childhood center was one point away from earning an exemplary designation, and the high school was roughly four points away.
According to ISBE, the summative designation describes how well a school is doing in meeting the needs of its students. There are several indicators that go into calculating a school’s level of performance.
Kenney reports the elementary and middle school academic indicators total 75 percent including growth in both English/language arts [ELA] and math. Proficiency in ELA, math, and science, and English learners progress to proficiency. The remaining 25 percent is based on school quality and student success indicators that consist of a climate survey and chronic absenteeism that accounts for 20 percent.
The intermediate school, Kenney said, “blew it out of the water,” with an overall summative designation score of 91.31. It was the highest score achieved by a district academic center for the 2023-2024 school year. The fourth and fifth grade students were proficient in all areas compared to the state proficiency target.
The results of the state exam show significant growth among fourth graders in the ELA. Kenney reports there was a 21 percent increase in the number of students who met or exceeded state standards between the 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 school years. As for fifth grade, increases were noticed in both ELA and math.
Results of the state test, taken last spring, show 54 percent of fourth graders met or exceeded standards in ELA, and 38 percent in math. Coal City’s fifth graders posted the highest percentage of area schools with 68 percent meeting or exceeding state ELA standards and in math it was 50 percent.
“Overall, a great job by the fourth grade, and fifth grade always does a great job,” Kenney said.
Coal City Elementary School posted a score of 84.56. In her report to the Board of Education, Kenney noted significant achievement by the school’s third graders.
State testing scores show 43 percent of the students met or exceeded standards in ELA, that is the highest percentage of third graders since 2019, and the highest among area grade schools.
“We are extremely proud of third grade,” said Kenney, who noted it was a grade level that struggled post-COVID. “Now 43 percent is still not where we want to be, we have a lot of work to do, yet we have definitely improved from the 20 percent in 2022, which is pretty low.”
Kenney shared improvements are taking place at the elementary school, and pointed to the work being done by reading specialist Katie Ludes who has been working extensively with the schools second and third grade teachers.
Kenney said ELA has taken a big shift at the lower grade levels into the science of reading, and as a result the school district is seeing the effects of that with improved student achievement.
Third grade posted higher scores in math than the prior year with 42 percent in the meets/exceeds category. The scores, although considerably higher than the state average, are lower than what they want to see.
“Math is an area across every district in the state that is suffering,” Kenney said, adding the district has plans in place to help boost student proficiency in the subject area.
In presenting the scores, Kenney shared that sixth grade ELA was at its highest with 77 percent of students meeting or exceeding standards, an increase of 12 percentage points from the prior year.
“Looking specifically at our middle school data, the kids that are not in that meets or exceeds category are extremely close. One, two or three questions away from being considered proficient,” Kenney said.
As for sixth grade math, 48 percent met or exceeded the standard—well above the state average.
Seventh grade math ranked first among area districts with 49 percent of students having met or exceeded state standards. As for eighth grade 45 percent were in the meets/exceeds category placing them third among area schools including Saratoga, Channahon, Wilmington, Reed-Custer, Manteno, Minooka, Herscher/Limestone and
Shabbona.
Middle school ELA scores show 76 percent of seventh graders and 83 percent of eighth graders meet or exceed the standards. The state requirement is 34 percent meeting, so Coal City’s middle schoolers are well above what the state requires.
The middle school’s summative designation score was 76.64.
As noted, the early childhood center came very close to meeting the cut score with an 83.04. Students at the early childhood center do not take state tests, the summative designation at that level is calculated on various factors including the growth of students from third to fourth grade.
In 2025, pre-kindergarten to second grade will have grades included noting how many students earn a letter mark of A, B or C in ELA and math, it will be the same for third to eighth grades. Additionally, fine arts is becoming a component in designations and will look at the number of teachers qualified to teach that subject and the number of students in each academic center enrolled in a fine arts course such as art and music.
“We are in really good shape in that subject area,” Kenney said.
The indicators determining a high school’s designation are heavily based on the graduation rate. Again, academic indicators total 75 percent with graduation rates accounting for 50 percent. The remainder of that percentage is based on ELA, math and science proficiency, and English learner progress to proficiency. The remaining 25 percent of the pie is determined by absenteeism, participation in the climate survey and the percentage of ninth graders on track to graduate.
The high school score came in at 87.5 percent, placing it among the top 15 percent of Illinois high schools. Kenney indicated the high school was roughly four points away from earning an exemplary rating.
Testing at the high school is focused on the junior class and last year 32 percent of those students met or exceeded standards in math.
“Overall, among their local peers they ranked first, up from sixth the year before when just 20 percent hit the state benchmark for proficiency,” Kenney reported.
In ELA, Coal City saw progress with 35 percent of its students meeting or exceeding state standards compared to 22 percent the prior year. It’s the largest percentage of student success since before COVID when the students tested in 2019 posted a 40 percent meet or exceed.
Overall, the Coalers ranked first in math and second in ELA among their peers at Herscher, Morris, Minooka, Manteno, Wilmington, Reed-Custer and Peotone high schools.
The state is moving from the SAT to ACT test this coming spring. Kenney reported students took a pre-ACT test in the fall and recorded scores in the 45-60 percent proficiency range, “so I am excited to see how they do in April,” she said.
Having reviewed the data, areas targeted for improvement are growth in proficiency levels in both math and ELA, a reduction in absenteeism, data analysis, a thorough review of local assessments and increased participation in the climate survey.
“Articulation of curriculum between buildings is one thing we are going to attempt, starting at the top and working our way backwards to the lower grades,” Kenney said. The concept is to work with Joliet Junior College on what their requirements are for credit-bearing math and ELA courses to ensure students are learning what is needed, and along the way closing any gaps as students move through the curriculum.
Overall, the report cards for each of the district’s academic buildings show full points for proficiency levels and ELA growth. And, when it comes to comparisons with area district’s Coal City’s third to eighth graders scored first in nine out of 14 different categories.
“Great things are happening, and I know our teachers are ready to make improvements, and do new things with our data analysis,” Kenney said.
The district’s report card, as well as those of each academic building, can be viewed at https://www.illinoisreportcard.com/
“It’s a great website with great information,” Spencer said.