State: More RPS 205 Freshmen on Track for Success

The number of freshmen on track to be successful in high school and graduate on time continues to rise in Rockford Public Schools, according to the annual Illinois Report Card published today.

That data point for RPS 205 students – called 9th Grade On Track – has continued to grow and bucks the state trend, despite challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic and school shutdown:

RPS 205 9th Grade On Track

That metric is an early indicator for increasing graduation rates and high school success. The 2022 state average is back at the 2018-2019 school year level.

School districts across the state and country finally have a look at student achievement and performance post-COVID-19 shutdown based on state standardized tests from the 2021-22 school year. Standardized test results across the country have taken a hit following the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown and disruption of regular school routines.

According to a Reuters story published Monday, “U.S. students have suffered historic learning setbacks with math and reading scores falling to their lowest levels since before the COVID-19 pandemic.” Education Week also published a story Monday about the results, where experts called the first pre-pandemic results as "catastrophic," "heart-wrenching," and "scary."

In Rockford Public Schools, however, the backslide following the school shutdown isn’t as drastic compared to the state average. (A state vs. RPS 205 comparison chart is linked here, highlighting data from the 2018-19 school year, 2020-21 school year and 2021-22 school year.

“This is not a typical narrative, celebrating the fact that our students didn’t backslide as far as students in other districts, in many cases,” said Superintendent Ehren Jarrett. “But it does show that some of the steps our staff, families and students took to stay connected during the shutdown paid off. We are seeing growth and movement in the right direction. This is my opportunity to thank our teachers, staff and families for staying flexible and working with us to support students and prioritize teaching and learning during the health crisis and pandemic. I sincerely believe the reason our story is different is because everyone worked so hard to give families a choice to keep students connected to in-person learning and instruction.”

While the RPS 205 data show regression, it’s not as severe as the state average. For example, in English/language arts for grades 3-8, the state average dropped nearly 8 percentage points from 2018-19 (37.8%) to 2021-22 (30.2%). RPS 205 dropped 2 percentage points (18.7% to 16.4%). In math for grades 3-8, the state dropped 6 percentage points from 2018-19 (31.8%) to 2021-22 (25.5%). RPS 205 dropped 3 percentage points (14.2% to 10.8%).

District and school leaders are focused on supporting students and focusing on the RPS 205 universal goals:

1. Show annual improvement in third grade literacy & grow 5 percentage points by 2024.
2. Show annual improvement in third grade math & grow 5 percentage points by 2024.
3. Show annual improvement in middle school on-track & grow 5 percentage points by 2024.
4. Increase the district graduation rate & freshman on-track rate to 75% by 2024.

What the IAR scores mean: The Illinois Assessment of Readiness is given to students in third through eighth grades each spring. It estimates a student’s levels of academic skill, knowledge, and their ability to apply that learning to new academic tasks. In both English/language arts and mathematics, higher scores normally reflect a stronger range of language arts/literacy or mathematics knowledge and greater ability to apply that knowledge to more complex academic tasks and problems. High quality education, plus student effort and engagement help shape a student’s performance.