SPRINGFIELD (WGEM) – The Illinois report card for the 2021-2022 faculty 12 months reveals the best highschool commencement fee in over a decade. Gov. JB Pritzker celebrated the accomplishment with college students at Morton West Excessive College in Berwyn, a near-west suburb of Chicago.

The Illinois State Board of Schooling says faculty and profession readiness rebounded final 12 months with an 87.3% commencement fee. Illinois faculties have traditionally seen decrease charges of commencement for black and Hispanic college students, however the 2022 knowledge present their commencement charges have grown every year since 2018.

The speed of freshmen on monitor to graduate in 2022 additionally rebounded to pre-pandemic ranges at 86.6%. Pritzker mentioned college students have proven resilience all through the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It hasn’t been simple, however you’ve executed it,” Pritzker mentioned within the packed gymnasium. “So when robust moments come later in your lives, keep in mind what you’ve managed by way of already and do not forget that your state is rooting for you. We’re actually cheering you on.”

There’s nonetheless concern over power absenteeism throughout the state. 30% of Illinois college students missed 10% or extra of the final faculty 12 months. ISBE mentioned 48% of black college students and 36% of Hispanic college students had been chronically absent from faculty. The Pritzker administration hopes a brand new $12 million grant will assist fight power absenteeism.

State Superintendent of Schooling Dr. Carmen Ayala famous that this report card displays a time period when black and brown communities had been most impacted by households with important employees and digital studying points. Ayala mentioned the Basic Meeting allotted the $12 million to handle power truancy throughout the state. She mentioned there are a number of completely different ways in which faculty districts can use the funding to assist college students.

“There could be people that might go to the house to do house visits and discover out why the kid just isn’t attending faculty,” Ayala mentioned. “There are additionally trauma companies. We all know that many college students had been traumatized all through the pandemic. They’re grieving. They misplaced members of the family and family members. So these companies are being offered. It’s truancy from the whole-child perspective and lots of instances the whole-family perspective.”

Dr. Ayala mentioned each neighborhood is exclusive and faculties throughout the state are the perfect choices to make use of the grant funds to maintain their college students at school studying. ISBE reported that 20% fewer college students met or exceeded the grade-level requirements for studying and math in 2022 in comparison with pre-pandemic charges.

Pritzker harassed that college students throughout the nation are nonetheless recovering from studying loss attributable to COVID-19. The governor mentioned everybody was centered on ensuring college students and employees had been secure whereas studying.

“Now, we’ve seen an upward trajectory in a method that frankly different states haven’t seen as a lot of,” Pritzker mentioned. “We did one thing that many different states didn’t do. We married federal and state {dollars} which might be out there for pandemic restoration with an precise plan for faculties. We gave it to them on the identical time. The P-20 studying restoration information is one thing that helped quite a lot of faculties that weren’t certain how are we going to do that as a result of it’s a really uncommon circumstance.”

You possibly can see check scores on your faculty and evaluate them with a snapshot of scores for the whole state by clicking right here.

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