Exterior of Brook Park Elementary School with red-brick walls, an American flag, landscaped grounds, and a playground.
Brook Park Elementary School (Todd Bannor)

Brook Park Elementary School earned Exemplary status from the Illinois State Board of Education on its annual 2025-26 Illinois Report Card released Friday morning, while S.E. Gross Middle School was designated Approaching Exemplary. Exemplary indicates the state’s highest level of performance, while Approaching Exemplary is the second highest. 

Both schools were listed as Commendable a year ago, but that was under the Illinois Report Card’s prior format. The new format puts in place Profiles of Performance, consisting of three parts: Core academic indicators, which recognizes school strengths on student outcomes like proficiency, growth and graduation rate; elevating indicators, such as consistent attendance and English Learner progress; and student group performance, which looks at the performance of specific student groups where additional support may be needed. 

Brook Park earned a mathematics growth score of 67.4, well above the state benchmark of 50, and a more than 10-percentage-point increase over last year. English language arts proficiency also improved by nearly five percentage points. 

Over at S.E. Gross, more than 84% of eighth-grade students demonstrated proficiency in English language arts, with students meeting or exceeding the state’s academic expectations. 

D95 had 1,391 students enrolled in 2025-26, with 57% white and 33% Hispanic. Chronic absenteeism stood at 14.1%, basically even with the prior year. District-wide, English language arts proficiency stood at 71.2%, with math proficiency at 48.6%. Over 48% of eighth graders also passed Algebra I. 

Superintendent Ryan Evans said higher school scores are becoming the norm for D95. 

“It’s a reflection of that hard work and it’s about the community supporting us, and the support from our board to expand services,” Evans said.Â