Oct. 31--State school Superintendent Tony Smith on Friday touted increases in the percentage of 2015 high school graduates considered prepared for college classes, even as the state's own analysis reveals a sobering picture of college readiness.
Smith also cited a rise in graduation rates, saying, "We continue to increase the number of children who are graduating," though he acknowledge there's room for improvement.
The state superintendent spoke to reporters during a media call Friday -- the day the State Board of Education released the annual Illinois Report Card, which includes a broad set of data on everything from test scores to school finance to student demographics.
A key piece of data, reported by the Tribune on Friday, showed only 24.9 percent of 2015 public school graduates were considered prepared for college classes, based on ACT scores in four subjects. That percentage was up from 24.2 percent the year before.
In addition, most Illinois high schools are sending off the majority of their graduates unprepared for college, five years after Illinois launched an academic overhaul called Common Core to get students ready for higher education and work, the Tribune's analysis of state data found.
The state judges readiness for college freshman classes in two ways. One method looks at the percentage of high school graduates who get a 21 on the ACT, the national average. For 2015, that figure went down, to 45.6 percent, from 45.8 percent in 2014, according to the state's data.
The other, more challenging method looks at how students score in each subject area on the ACT -- English, math, reading and science.
The ACT company uses specific scores for college readiness for each of those subjects. For English, the figure is 18; math, 22; reading, 22; and science, 23. Students getting those scores have a decent to good chance of getting at least a B or C in freshman courses corresponding with the ACT subject, such as college algebra and English composition, according to ACT.
Attaining all four benchmark scores is difficult, and not all educators agree with ACT's approach.
The Tribune found that just 26 high schools in the state had 50 percent or more of their 2015 graduates reach all four college-ready scores. And those schools are the perennial high performers, including high-ranking selective-enrollment schools in Chicago and several affluent districts in Cook, Lake and DuPage counties.
Students across the state did make gains in individual subjects:
In English, 61.2 percent of graduates were considered ready for college classes in 2015, compared to 60.4 percent the year before. In math, 39.7 percent were considered ready, compared to 39.2 percent in 2014. In reading, it was 39.3 percent, compared to 39.2 percent in 2014; and in science, it was 35.3 percent, compared to 32.9 percent the year before.
Still, Smith said he recognized "there is still work to do," to ensure graduates are prepared to go on to higher education.
As for graduation rates, the figure for students graduating in four years dropped to 85.3 percent in 2015, compared to 86 percent the year before. The five-year rate inched up to 87.6 percent in 2015, from 87.5 percent the year before. In both cases, the rates were higher than three years ago.
Smith also spoke about the changing demographics in the public school system and the challenges for children who don't have the resources and opportunities that affluent districts provide.
He said Illinois has to do a better job in making sure all students have "common experiences."
drado@tribpub.com
