So few students at Austin College and Career Academy High School met proficiency standards in reading and math that their scores don’t register on the state’s annual report card.

This year’s snapshot showed that “0%” of students met the state’s benchmark for proficiency in English Language Arts and in math. In ELA, that’s a drop from 9.4% in 2022. In math, that’s down from 3.8%.

Some students, of course, may have met the standards. But there were not enough statistically to be counted in the score.

Education advocates met the news with a mix of frustration and resignation.

“It’s par for the course,” said Dwayne Truss, a former Chicago Board of Education member and community activist.

Neighborhood schools are complicated, he and others explained. Selective enrollment and charter schools all have ways of choosing the “best” students. Neighborhood high schools accept all students whose applications did not make the cut, who do not have the resources to navigate the CPS system or who need remediation other schools may not be able to give.

“These kids, they’re 30 yards behind the starting line,” Truss said. “The question is can we design education to focus on a support system to create a different culture for where these kids are coming from?”

Such a system would offer intensive social-emotional counseling and resources to help families with what they need, whether it’s help paying bills or mental-health therapy.

It’s not a “magic pixie dust” fix, he said. But Chicago has stopped offering such support even though evidence showed it helped.

“It’s worked in other places, too.”

CPS representatives did not respond to requests for comment by deadline.

After the pandemic

Each year, the state releases its Illinois Report Card to offer a look at students/ academic achievement at the state, district, and school levels. It also offers student and teacher information, as well financial data, at each level.

The Illinois State Board of Education reported that in 2023, schools statewide proficiency rates rose and hit the highest graduation rate in 13 years. Academic gains for Black students, who were disproportionately impacted by the pandemic, improved significantly in many areas.

Despite the strides, officials said proficiency rates across the board remained below pre-pandemic levels.

Across the state, proficiency rates in both ELA and math remain below pre-pandemic levels. State officials, however, pointed out that Illinois has some of the most rigorous standards for proficiency in the nation, and its benchmark for proficiency is higher than that of 45 other states, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

However, the statewide averages of Black students’ growth and proficiency rates still lag behind other students. This, officials said, is a result of being served disproportionately in underfunded schools.

Chronic absenteeism remained “alarmingly” high, they said, while pointing out that more work was needed to ensure students are able to recover from the social, emotional and academic impacts of the pandemic. 

Learning gains, or the growth a student makes in a year, however, has been strong in the state, education officials said, and they have accelerated faster than they have in pre-pandemic years.

Austin College and Career Academy High School

The overview focuses on Austin College and Career Academy High School. We’ll look at Frederick Douglass Academy, Orr Academy, Manley Career Academy and Collins Academy in coming days. You can find out more about your local schools at https://www.illinoisreportcard.com/.

The high school enrolled 172 students in 2023 – a small school by any measure — nearly all of them Black and low-income. More than a quarter have IEPs, or a legal document developed for each public-school child in the country who needs special education.

English language arts and math

Austin scored shockingly low in ELA and math, in contrast to state averages: a 34.6% proficiency rate. That’s up from 29.9% — or a 16% increase year over year. Black students saw the highest gains here, with a 33% increase in the ELA proficiency rate. 

Statewide, math on-level rates crawled to 26.9% in 2023, from 25.8% the year before. In Austin, that figure was 0.

Science, however, was a bright spot for Austin, with 12% of those tested meeting the state’s benchmarks.

Absenteeism

Chronic absenteeism skyrocketed during the pandemic, but attendance has not bounced back in the state. The average rate dropped to 28.3% from 29.8% the year before. However, Black students’ rates increased dramatically. That’s because, state board officials said, they had disproportionately had less access to in-person instruction during the COVID-29 period and are now better able to attend classes.

Austin’s remained steady at 83.6%

Graduation rates

Austin’s four-year graduation rate remained flat at 54.9%, while the state’s average graduation topped 87.6%, the highest in 13 years, officials said.