Minooka Community High posts strong gains on Illinois school report card, falls just short of exemplary

Speaker 1 (school presenter) told the board that the Illinois School Report Card for Minooka Community High School showed an overall index increase from 83.74 in 2024 to 88.9 in 2025, putting the district 1.1 points short of the state's "exemplary" threshold. "We believe we're an exemplary school," Speaker 1 said, while noting that the district fell just below the exemplary cutoff.

The presentation highlighted several strengths: a 96.6% graduation rate, well above the state average of 89%; 96% of freshmen were on-track to graduate last year; and career and technical education concentrators who completed two or more CTE courses graduated at a 99% rate. Speaker 1 also said that MCHS met state proficiency benchmarks under the updated ACT for math (over 50% meeting or exceeding) and ELA (60% meeting or exceeding).

Board members and administrators identified two main areas for growth. The district's chronic absenteeism rate was discussed as having risen from earlier figures and was reported in the presentation as currently about 14% (Speaker 1), with prior-year concerns noted near 19.8%. Speaker 1 described ongoing targeted interventions and said counselors and special-education staff coordinate responses; the board asked whether feeder-school absenteeism rates could be analyzed to detect earlier onset, and Speaker 1 said the district could access feeder report cards and would pursue that analysis in January articulation meetings.

Science proficiency was another targeted area after the state added a separate science measure to the ACT this year; Speaker 1 said several science teachers attended ACT-specific preparation training and are adapting instruction to the new test format.

Speaker 1 described steps to support English learners, noting the EL population at MCHS rose from about 1.2% in 2016 to 3.8% in 2025 (roughly from about 30 to about 100 students) and that the district has hired two full-time EL teachers, adopted a software platform called Elevation to track student needs and is working with the world-language chair to improve testing conditions and supports for the annual ACCESS test.

The board received the presentation and asked questions about staff participation in the 5Essentials climate survey; Speaker 1 said the survey window runs from late January through March and that department meetings are used to provide time for staff to complete the survey. Administration said they will emphasize the survey's anonymity and encourage higher participation.

The presentation closed with administration reiterating the district's goal to be recognized as exemplary on publicly posted report cards and describing the immediate next steps: targeted attendance interventions, science-instruction adjustments, increased EL supports and faculty engagement during January professional learning time.