Rockford Sun

Results are in and 77% of Boone County students failed the ELA portion of the Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR) test in the 2022-23 school year, according to the Illinois State Board of Education.

The number of students who failed their ELA assessment in Boone County rose by 7% compared to the previous school year.

In comparison, schools in Alexander County fared the worst among all Illinois counties, with 95.7% of students failing to meet test requirements.

At the other end of the spectrum, Woodford County had the highest success rate across the state, with 59.4% of its students passing the ELA portion of the IAR.

The IAR measures how well students in grades 3-8 are progressing in meeting the English Language Arts and Mathematics standards set by the state.

According to recent IAR data, the average ELA proficiency rate for Illinois students was 35.4% in 2023, while the math proficiency rate stood at 27.1%. However, data also indicates a significant achievement gap based on race and ethnicity.

White students demonstrated higher proficiency rates in both ELA and math compared to Black and Hispanic students. The ELA proficiency rate for white students was 45.6%, around twice higher than that of Black students (17%) and Hispanic students (23.3%).

The gap was even worse in math, with white students achieving a 37% proficiency rate, nearly five times higher than Black students (7.9%) and over twice higher than Hispanic students (14.4%).

School	Students who did not meet standards (%)	Total students tested
Washington Academy	93.1%	302
Perry Elementary School	87.2%	117
Lincoln Elementary School	86.3%	248
Meehan Elementary School	83%	322
Belvidere South Middle School	79.2%	760
Capron Elementary School	76.5%	51
Belvidere Central Middle School	76.2%	872
North Boone Upper Elementary School	70.5%	217
Caledonia Elementary School	68.9%	193
Seth Whitman Elementary School	67.4%	304
North Boone Middle School	65.6%	233
Manchester Elementary School	61.3%	57
Poplar Grove Elementary School	52.9%	70