Neither Riverside-Brookfield High School nor Lyons Township High School ranked in the top 10 percent of public high schools in Illinois on the latest Illinois School Report card released last month by the Illinois State Board of Education. 

Both schools missed out on the coveted “exemplary” rating that goes to the top 10 percent of schools as measured by the ISBE, but they earned the next highest ranking, the “commendable” rating. About 80 percent of public high schools in Illinois received the commendable rating.

“There’s a lot to be proud of but there are also areas of improvement that I’m working on with my team,” RBHS Principal Hector Freytas said at the Nov. 15 meeting of the RBHS District 208 Board of Education.

Twenty-eight percent of LTHS students and 19 percent of RBHS students were considered chronically absent last year, a high number likely influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the school report card, 48.9 percent of RBHS met or exceeded state standards in English Language Arts (ELA) based on their performance on the state mandated SAT exam last spring. 

That’s a slight improvement from last year when just 45.5 percent met or exceeded the state ELA standard. This past school year 2.2 percent fewer RBHS students exceeded the ELA standard (17.4 percent in 2021 compared to 15.2 in 2022), but 5.6 percent more RBHS students met the standard this year. 

Students need an SAT reading and writing score of 580 or higher to meet the state standard. This year 15.2 percent of RBHS students exceeded that ELA standard, while 33.7 percent met the standard, 38 percent approached the standard and 13.1 percent partially met (the lowest category) the ELA standard. 

ELA performance has markedly worsened since 2017, when 57.8 percent of RBHS juniors met or exceeded the state standard.

Math was an area of improvement at RBHS this past year. Fifty-two percent of RBHS students met (40.9 percent) or exceeded (11.1 percent) the math standard (also a 540 SAT score) this year compared to just 43.5 percent in 2021. 

In addition, 22.4 percent of RBHS students scored in the lowest category in math this year compared to 27.4 percent last year.

Once again there was a large gap in the performance of Black and white students at RBHS and a smaller but still significant difference in the performance of white and Hispanic students. 

White RBHS students scored, on average, 45 points higher than Black students in ELA and 54 points higher in math, according to the school report card. White students scored, on average, 26 points higher than Hispanic students in math. White students scored 28 points higher than Hispanic students in ELA.

RBHS students from low-income families scored, on average, 25 points lower in ELA than their better off peers in ELA and 24 points lower in math.

Some 62 percent of white RBHS demonstrated proficiency in ELA compared to 34 percent of Hispanic students and just 15.4 percent of Black students. Just 28.6 percent of low-income RBHS students demonstrated proficiency in ELA. 

In math 65.7 percent of white RBHS students demonstrated proficiency in math compared to 38.5 percent of their Hispanic classmates and just 10.5 percent of Black students. 

According to the state record card 49.9 percent of RBHS students last year were white, 39.3 percent Hispanic, 5.4 percent Black, 3.1 percent mixed race, and 2 percent were Asian.

At LTHS 49 percent of students met or exceeded state standards in ELA and 53 percent did so in math.

There were also wide performance gaps between different student subgroups at LTHS. Fifty-nine percent of white students at LTHS met or exceeded state standards in ELA compared to 26.7 percent of Hispanic LTHS and only 6.1 percent of Black students. 

In math 63.5 percent of white LTHS students met or exceeded the state standards compared to 28.4 percent of Hispanic students and 12.1 percent of Black students. In addition, 69.6 of Asian students met or exceeded the state standard in math at LTHS.

White LTHS students scored, on average, 54 points higher than their Black classmates in ELA and 33 points higher than Hispanic LTHS students. In math white LTHS students scored, on average, 52 points higher than their Black classmates and 35 points higher than their Hispanic classmates.

According to the school report card, 67.6 percent of LTHS students last year were white, 23.8 percent Hispanic, 3.2 percent Black, 2.9 percent mixed race and 2.3 percent Asian.

LTHS students from low-income families scored, on average, 44 points lower than their wealthier classmates in math and 42 points lower in ELA.