Triad schools receive ‘commendable’ designation on state report card

By Pat Pratt

ppratt@timestribunenews.com

Despite learning disruptions related to the pandemic, all six schools in the Triad CUSD No. 2 district received an annual summative designation of “commendable” on the 2022 Illinois Report Card.

The Illinois State Board of Education on Thursday released the data for the most recent school year, which shows academic progress and other metrics for all schools in the state. It was the first report in two years, as federal waivers to the data reporting requirements were given for the 2019-2020 academic year due to the pandemic. 

The annual summative designation is based on the school’s overall data for all of the accountability indicators, as well as the data for individual student groups, according to the state board of education. 

The designation of commendable which Triad received, shows no underperforming student groups at or below the “all students” group of the lowest-performing 5% of schools. Districts designated as commendable must also have a graduation rate higher than 67%. 

District Superintendent Dr. Jason Henderson in a release Thursday recognized the teachers and staff for their efforts in the face of “serious challenges over the past few years.” 

“Our teachers and staff are incredibly hardworking and we are proud of their efforts in preparing our students and helping them continue to make progress,” Henderson stated in the release. “Even though we have faced serious challenges over the past few years, we are continuing to stay well above the state averages in all grade levels and our continued growth is a testament to the students, staff, and families of the Triad District.”  

Designations also include exemplary, indicating the top 10% of all schools in overall performance, to targeted or comprehensive support. Targeted and comprehensive support designations reflect one or all, respectively, student groups falling at or below the lowest performing 5% of schools. 

Highlights of Triad’s designation include a 96% graduation rate. That exceeded the state average of 87% even with the disruptions of the pandemic. Triad students also showed a postsecondary enrollment rate of 73%, based on 2020 graduates enrolling within a year of graduation, also above the state average of 64%. 

Postsecondary enrollment at Triad, however, has seen a downward trend in recent years, mirroring a trend statewide. The class of 2016 saw 87% of seniors at Triad and 75% statewide enrolling within one year. 

According to the report, “proficiency” is used to describe students demonstrating or not demonstrating that they are “well advanced in a subject.” An “All Test Proficiency” measure, which reflects results from multiple assessment tests, is included in the report for subjects English/language arts, math and science. 

In the science category, 68% of Triad students were shown to meet the proficient level, which is 18% over the state average. The category of English/language arts showed 40.6% of students at Triad proficient, compared with a state average of 29.9%. Math proficiency showed similar numbers, with 40.8% proficiency at Triad and 25.8% percent statewide. 

Average daily attendance at Triad on the 2022 report was 93.5%, above the state average of 90.8%. However, chronic absenteeism, which is defined as the percentage of students who miss 10% or more of school days per year either with or without a valid excuse, was at a three-year high. The absences do not include pandemic related remote instruction.  

In the 2019 report, the chronic absenteeism rate at Triad was 7.3%. While it fell to just over 4% on the 2020 report, the rate jumped in 2022 to 16.5 percent in 2021 and to 18.1 percent in 2022. Throughout all those years the rate at Triad remained below state average, which was 29.8% in 2022. The district in its release on the report noted chronic absenteeism is a focus area for improvement. 

Another area for improvement included participation in the 5-Essentials climate survey participation, which was 57.8% at the high school and a Dynamic Learning Maps proficiency performance level of 13.6% for students with cognitive disabilities. School officials also hope to see growth improvement on the Illinois Assessment of Readiness in grade 3-8 math from 46%, as well as English and math targets for 11th grade on the SAT. 

Dr. Rodney Winslow, Associate Superintendent, stated in the district release it is important that all students succeed. 

“Ultimately, this designation gives us the opportunity to reflect on our strengths and areas for growth and to further strengthen instruction and support for our entire student community,” Winslow said. “It is important to us that all our students succeed. We welcome this opportunity to dive into our data and to talk about additional improvements and investments we can make to support every student in reaching their fullest potential.”