Rock Falls schools outpace Sterling, Dixon in new state report card data

DIXON – As students across Illinois are starting to bounce back from pandemic disruptions in 2020, Rock Falls’ elementary and secondary school districts are standing out, with students showing the highest increase in English language arts proficiency and a graduation rate that exceeds the state average, according to 2023-24 school report card data released Wednesday.

The report card is released annually by the Illinois State Board of Education and provides information about the performance of public schools across the state. Its results are based on testing data and graduation rates from the 2023-24 school year.

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Statewide, the data was led by noteworthy increases in English language arts proficiency for students in grades three through eight.

Between the public schools in Rock Falls, Dixon and Sterling, Rock Falls Middle School, grades six to eight, took the lead with 59.1% proficiency in ELA. That’s higher than the Illinois average of 40.9%, and is a 3.9% improvement from the 55.2% that students in the same grades tested at in 2019, according to the data.

Students in grades three to five at Merrill Elementary School in Rock Falls also showed an improvement from pre-pandemic scores with 29.5% ELA proficiency, a 4.4% improvement from 25.1% in 2019, the data shows.

Rock Falls Elementary School District 13, which includes students in preschool up to grade eight, recently implemented a new ELA curriculum for grades kindergarten to five and grades six to eight that administration said may be the reason behind the increased performance, Superintendent Dan Arickx said in an interview with Shaw Local.

For the kindergarten through fifth-grade classrooms, the new curriculum – Wonders by McGraw Hill – was piloted in 2021 before being fully implemented in 2022. The next year, in 2023, the middle school began teaching the new AmplifyELA curriculum, Arickx said.

Typically, “you see a delay,” Arickx said. Usually, it takes time for a new curriculum to become effective for students, “so I’m kind of surprised that we’re seeing it that quickly,” he said.

Arickx pointed out another possible cause. In the years following the pandemic, the district has provided its staff with a lot of professional development opportunities that focus not only on curriculum, “but on understanding students and students’ needs,” he said.

“Honestly, I really attribute those results to the hard work of our staff and the students themselves,” Arickx said.

Merrill Elementary SchoolbPrincipal Brody Rude attributed the results to his teachers, who are “meeting the kids where they’re at” then working from that, and the “kids are really receptive to that.”

Specifically with the new curriculum, it gives teachers a foundation to work from, but they adapt it to fit the needs of each individual student, Rude said.

Although students in Rock Falls had the highest rate of ELA proficiency, the students at Reagan Middle School in Dixon, grades six to eight, showed the most improvement.

According to the data, RMS’ rate of 39% was an 18% improvement from its rate of 21% in 2019. Students at Madison School, grades four to five, improved from 2023 with 36.2% proficiency, but that’s still lower than its rate in 2019.

In Sterling, students in the same grades performed about the same as those in Dixon.

Sterling’s Challand Middle School, grades six to eight, had 32.8% proficiency, a 4.4% improvement from 2019, but Lincoln Elementary School, grades three to five, had 30.3%, an improvement from 2023 but still lower than 2019, the data shows.

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Students in grades three to eight also showed improvement in their math scores, but at a slower rate than ELA.

Merrill Elementary students improved the most with 23.7% math proficiency, a 4.2% increase from 19.5% in 2019. But Rock Falls Middle School students still fell behind their scores in 2019 with a 27.6% proficiency, which is an increase from 2023.

Lincoln Elementary had the highest proficiency with 26.3%, a 1.6% improvement from 24.7% in 2019. Challand students also improved from 2019 with a rate of 19%, but that number decreased from 20.6% in 2023.

Madison School in Dixon came in at 19.2% proficiency, which is an improvement from 2023. Reagan Middle School students performed similarly with 19.5%, which is an improvement from 2019.

The math proficiency rate for grades three to eight is improving across Illinois, with an average rate of 28.3%, a 5.2% increase from 2023, but still lower than the 31.6% average rate in 2019.

At the high school level, scores across the state for math and ELA decreased from 2023, with 26% in math and 31% in ELA.

Rock Falls Township High School was the only school where students performed better in math proficiency than those in the same grades in 2019, but its 17% proficiency was lower than 2023. In ELA proficiency, its rate of 19.3% was a significant decrease from 33.3% in 2023.

At Dixon High School, students’ math scores improved with 18.8% proficiency, which is up 7% from 2023 but still lower than 2019. In ELA, however, proficiency decreased from 2023.

Sterling High School scored the lowest in both subjects with a 15.8% math proficiency and 8.9% ELA proficiency. In an update from Sterling Superintendent Tad Everett, he said, “our focus moving forward is to further raise our math and ELA proficiency rates on our standardized tests.”

Graduation rates, chronic absenteeism rise

Where high school students did excel was in graduation rates. Statewide, the 2024 graduation rate was 87.7%, surpassing 2023′s rate of 87.6% and 2019′s rate of 86.2%. Even higher was Rock Falls, with a 91.2% 2024 graduation rate.

Rock Falls High School Principal Mike Berentes said that high rate could be attributed to the additional resources the school began implementing a few years ago to help the students who are struggling and have fallen behind.

One of those resources is the credit recovery program, where students who are missing the credits they need to graduate have the opportunity to earn them back. Teachers will work with students to get them caught up during study hall as well as before and/or after school, Berentes said in an interview with Shaw Local.

“Our teachers and staff have been doing a really good job at identifying students early,” he said.

Usually, they are incoming freshmen who fell behind during middle school.

While that program is great, “the results are because of the hard work of the students, teachers and staff,” Berentes said.

The 2024 graduation rate at Sterling High School of 86.2% is only slightly under the state average and is just above the school’s pre-pandemic rate of 85.7%. At Dixon High School, its 2024 rate of 82.1% is still below its rate in 2019.

Although all three schools had relatively high graduation rates, they have dropped from 2023. Dixon’s rate decreased by 6%, Sterling’s by 4.3% and Rock Falls’ by 3.2%.

Although those rates are going down, the number of chronically absent students, who miss at least 10% of school days with either excused or unexcused absences, is going up.

That data showed Dixon High School in the lead with close to half of its students – 42.2% – considered chronically absent, which is almost double its pre-pandemic rate of 22.6%. It is slightly down from its high point in 2022, but it has increased by 2.8% from 2023.

Rock Falls High School had the lowest number of chronically absent students with a rate of 19.9%, but that number has increased by 8.8% since 2022. Sterling High School had a rate of 21.6%, which has increased from 2023, but it’s about the same as in 2019.

However, across Sterling’s whole school district, its chronic absenteeism rate improved by 3%. Of the increase, Everett said, “this is a big deal to us because we have been prioritizing strategies that will assist our students in getting to school.”

Across Illinois, chronic absenteeism has continued to be a problem, particularly at the high school level, but the 2024 state average of 26.3% is a slight improvement from 28.3% in 2023. However its rate is still significantly higher than it was before the pandemic.

Increased interest in specialty classes

More positively, statewide data showed increasing student participation in advanced coursework and career and technical education classes.

Those classes include Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, dual-credit and honors classes, as well as programs tailored to prepare students directly for careers or trade school, including auto mechanics, cosmetology, construction, culinary arts, medical assisting, law enforcement and various computer technology courses.

Across the state, enrollment in honors classes increased by 2.5% and AP classes by 5.62%. Enrollment in dual-credit courses, where high schools share course credits with local colleges, increased by 7.16%, and IB classes increased by 9.93%, although IB’s enrollment numbers remain the lowest of the four levels statewide.

Students at Sterling High School followed that trend with enrollment in honors classes increasing by 17.61% and AP by 11.71%. Dual-credit courses showed the largest increase with an additional 61 students enrolling in the classes from 2023 to 2024, the data shows.

At Dixon and Rock Falls, the data was mixed. Both schools showed an increase in enrollment for AP classes, a decrease for honors classes, and enrollment in dual-credit courses that mostly remained the same as it was in 2023.

What is increasing at the two schools is student participation in CTE programs. The number of students enrolled has been steadily growing since 2022. At Sterling, participation increased between 2022 and 2023 but has slightly decreased for 2024.

The highest enrollment numbers were at Dixon High School, with 624 students considered either CTE participants or concentrators.

The CTE wing at the high school is busy this year after completing a $2 million renovation project in August that updated classroom and shop areas as well as created an additional classroom to host its new agriculture program.

The data shows an overall CTE participation increase of 2.58%, representing more than 285,000 students across the state.

School designations

Overall, each of the schools within the Rock Falls, Sterling and Dixon school districts performed about the same as a majority of public schools across Illinois.

In the report card, each school receives a score based on math, ELA and science proficiency rates; ninth graders on track to graduate in four years and the school’s graduation rate; chronic absenteeism; and the school’s climate survey.

That number is then labeled as comprehensive, intensive, targeted, commendable or exemplary, which is known as its “summative designation.”

The top 10% of Illinois schools are labeled exemplary, while the bottom 5% are comprehensive. The majority of schools are designated as commendable unless one or more of its student groups are performing in the bottom 5%. Then, they’re considered targeted.

Dixon Public Schools improved the most in 2024. Madison School was ranked as commendable, an improvement from its comprehensive designation in 2023.

Jefferson Elementary School, grades two to three, also improved. The school was designated as comprehensive in 2023 and received $55,000 in federal school improvement funding. The school is now considered targeted to support children with disabilities, according to the report.

All other schools in Dixon’s district received the commendable designation.

Every school in Rock Falls elementary and secondary school districts were designated as commendable. However, for Rock Falls Middle School, the designation was a downgrade from its 2023 ranking of exemplary, which the school also received in 2020 and 2019.

For Sterling Public Schools, all six in the district also were designated as commendable, which is the same ranking they received in 2023.

“While these designations are primarily highlighting our academic performance through testing, I believe that our schools are about so much more than just test results ... but more so on creating a safe and secure environment that is dedicated to nurturing the whole child,” Everett said in a superintendents update from his office.