Kankakee Times

Results are in and 78.7% of Kankakee County students failed the mathematics 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 mathematics assessment in Kankakee County rose by 4.6% compared to the previous school year.

In comparison, schools in Alexander County fared the worst among all Illinois counties, with 97.5% 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 46.8% of its students passing the mathematics 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
Taft Primary School	100%	27
Lorenzo R. Smith Elementary School	99%	103
Edison Primary School	95.7%	93
Kankakee Junior High School	93.8%	534
King Middle Grade School	91.9%	346
Je-Neir Elementary School	91.4%	128
John Kennedy Middle Grade School	90.8%	488
Bradley Central Middle School	90%	401
Steuben Elementary School	88.4%	52
Lincoln Cltrl Center-Montessori Elementary School	83.2%	245
Bourbonnais Upper Grade Center	81.9%	485
Bradley West Elementary School	81.3%	358
Mark Twain Primary School	81%	21
Momence Junior High School	80.1%	257
St. Anne Elementary School	79.2%	168
Alan B. Shepard Elementary School	77.2%	110
Grant Park Elementary School	73.1%	178
Manteno Middle School	71.9%	536
St. George Elementary School	67.2%	238
Limestone Middle School	66.2%	488
Shabbona Elementary School	65.5%	55
Liberty Intermediate School	64.6%	682
Manteno Elementary School	62.6%	243
Herscher Intermediate School	61.4%	228
Noel Levasseur Elementary School	58.6%	70