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District 155 presents ACT‑era report card showing higher proficiency and graduation rates
Summary
District 155 officials said all high schools were labeled 'commendable' on the 2025 state report card after switching from the SAT to the ACT; the presentation highlighted higher-than-state proficiency rates, a 93.9% graduation rate, improvements in chronic absenteeism and strong ninth‑grade on‑track results.
Community High School District 155 officials on Monday presented the district’s 2025 school report-card data, saying all district high schools were designated “commendable” after a transition this year from the SAT to the ACT and changes in state proficiency benchmarks.
The director of teaching and learning told the board the district’s ACT-derived index scores improved across all four high schools. “Each of our schools’ index scores was higher this year than last year,” the presenter said, and noted the district’s ACT metric averages as roughly 19.8 for English language arts, 20.0 for math and 20.6 for science.
The presentation compared district proficiency rates with statewide figures: about 65% of District 155 students met ELA proficiency versus 52% statewide, 49% met math proficiency versus 38% statewide, and 61% met science proficiency versus 45% statewide. The superintendent and presenter emphasized that the state also adjusted proficiency cutoffs this year, lowering the threshold for some ELA and math measures and raising it for science, which complicates year‑to‑year comparisons.
Board members heard that the district’s graduation rate was 93.9% (statewide 89%), and that ninth‑grade on‑track — a leading indicator of future graduation — reached near 96%, the highest level the district could identify since 2019. The presenter said English‑learner progress to proficiency remains a challenging metric for high schools and that District 155 has a substantial population of long‑term multilingual learners.
Officials also highlighted nonacademic measures: chronic absenteeism improved from about 23% in 2023 to 17.7% last year, while participation in the state climate survey remained strong. The presenter framed the gains as the result of staff efforts and cautioned that proposed statewide reporting changes could alter metric composition in future years.
The board thanked staff for the work and asked for continued attention to areas needing improvement; no formal action was required after the presentation.
