Bradley, Bourbonnais school admin talk state report cards

The responses among local school leaders to the 2024 Illinois Report Card results have been as varied as the outcomes themselves.

In Bradley and Bourbonnais, there has been some celebrating of positive feedback from the state’s annual designations as well as digging into chronic absenteeism and other areas in need of improvement.

Since 2018, Illinois has given annual summative designations, which weigh factors like chronic absenteeism, high school graduation rates and proficiency in reading, math and science.

The Illinois Assessment of Readiness is used to measure students’ academic proficiency and year-to-year growth starting in third grade.

The five summative designations, in order from best to worst performing, are exemplary, commendable, targeted, comprehensive and intensive.

The 2024 designations were announced at the end of October.

DESIGNATIONS

Bourbonnais Elementary District 53 had one school, Liberty Intermediate, designated as exemplary, meaning it performed in the top 10% of schools statewide and had no underperforming groups.

Its other schools — Shepard, Shabbona and LeVasseur elementaries and Bourbonnais Upper Grade Center — were commendable, meaning they had no underperforming student groups but fell short of performing in the top 10% of statewide schools.

Bradley Elementary District 61 received commendable designations for Bradley East Elementary and Bradley Central Middle School.

Bradley West Elementary was targeted, meaning one or more student groups — in this case, it was children with disabilities — performed at or below the level of students in the lowest-performing 5% of schools.

Another of the area’s commendable designations went to Bradley-Bourbonnais Community High School.

REACTIONS

BOURBONNAIS ELEMENTARY

Bourbonnais Superintendent Adam Ehrman said academic growth was seen across all grade levels, a testament to the “incredible progress” students and staff have achieved.

This was done by focusing on personalized interventions, data-driven instruction and fostering a growth mindset, he said.

“It’s a simple recipe to try to put together,” he said. “It’s easier said than done, though.”

The district saw improvements in attendance as well.

For 2024, the district-wide rate of chronic absenteeism — when a student misses 10% or more school days in a year, regardless of having an excuse — was down to 17.7%.

The state’s chronic absenteeism rate for 2024 was 26.3%.

District 53′s chronic absenteeism was as low as 7.3% in 2018, 14.9% in 2019 and 7.1% in 2020, but it spiked after COVID-19. The rates were 25.2% in 2021, 26.2% in 2022, and 19.4% in 2023.

Consistent communication with families, targeted support programs and a positive school culture have been key, Ehrman said.

“Addressing chronic absenteeism has been pivotal to our success,” he said.

Ehrman also said that, while the district will recognize its achievements, it will also remain focused on continued growth.

District 53 has consistently fared well in the state’s report card.

It also had one exemplary school last year, Shepard.

“We’re very proud of, not just Liberty being exemplary, but how awesome our other schools have done and how close to the brink of exemplary some of our other schools are,” he said.

BBCHS

BBCHS Principal Evan Tingley said the high school’s four-year graduation rate climbed back up to pre-COVID numbers.

For 2024, BBCHS increased the rate to 92.8%, exceeding the state’s average by about 5% points.

The Illinois State Board of Education lauded a new record for the highest-ever four-year graduation rate, with 87.7% of Illinois high school students graduating within four years.

At BBCHS, the four-year rate has fluctuated from 91.1% in 2023, 88.5% in 2022, 92.7% in 2021, 90.4% in 2020, and 91.9% in 2019.

The school’s overall index score was about 78.9 out of 100, up from about 72.8 last year.

“We saw big gains in graduation rates, and gains in freshmen on track [to graduate],” Tingley added. “We saw small gains in SAT achievement and science achievement.”

Tingley said 15% of BBCHS students take remedial college coursework, compared to the state average of almost 30%.

“If you hear kids aren’t ready for college at BB, that’s a good number for us to show kids that leave here are ready for college,” Tingley said.

However, one area BBCHS is lagging behind the state is chronic absenteeism.

BBCHS had a chronic absenteeism rate of 36.6% in 2024, about 10 percentage points more than the state’s rate of 26.3%.

Like Bourbonnais Elementary, BBCHS also saw an uptick in chronic absenteeism in the years following the pandemic.

Over the past few years, chronic absenteeism for BBCHS has reached: 33.9% in 2023, 41.5% in 2022, 38.2% in 2021, 21.3% in 2020, 26.5% in 2019, and 29.1% in 2018.

Superintendent Matt Vosberg noted BBCHS has been commendable for at least the past four years.

“It’s always good to have that annual report,” Vosberg said. “Our work continues in still trying to get better.”

BRADLEY ELEMENTARY

Bradley West Principal Trisha Anderson said the school received a letter from the state indicating that, because of its targeted designation, the school would need to begin a four-year process to improve.

The first year is a planning year, followed by three implementation years.

Last year, the district began the process when Bradley East, with preschool to second graders, received the same targeted designation.

Bradley West, with third through fifth graders, will be planning to specifically help children with disabilities meet the standards, as well as building-wide improvements in attendance, reading and math.

“We had already written a plan, but it will be more specific to what the state requirements are,” she said.

They are also looking more closely at the student academic growth rate.

“What the state told us is that we are growing, and that’s evident, but not at the rate of surrounding schools,” Anderson said.

Anderson said the designation was “a real bummer,” because she knows how hard her students and staff have been working.

“It’s just going to [require] having a lot of good conversations about what’s best practice, what explicit things we have to implement to help them meet and grow even more,” she said.

Bradley Superintendent Chris Hammond said the district will be working to address chronic absenteeism.

The district-wide rate of chronic absenteeism has been about 25% since 2022; in 2021, it jumped to 44% after being 5.8% in 2020, 13.6% in 2019 and 17.6% in 2018.

With Bradley East targeted for attendance last year, and Bradley West receiving the same feedback this year, the goal is to “stop the chain,” before it reaches Bradley Central, he said.

Schools are struggling to fill positions for counselors and social workers, who often work with families on issues that may be contributing to poor attendance.

“It’s not a good storm that we’re dealing with, but we’re trying to manage through the best we can,” Hammond said.

While improving test scores is also important, attendance is an issue that has a domino effect on other areas.

“I feel like, if we can get kids in seats, they’ll do better in class, and that will help move that needle on the test scores,” he said.

Administrators are beginning to have meetings analyzing each school’s attendance “down to the kid.”

“The parents we really want to talk to, aren’t coming to the parent-teacher conferences,” Hammond said. “So that means going to those homes and talking to them.”

The district’s goal is to reduce chronic absenteeism by 5% in the next year.

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