NW Illinois News

Students in Whiteside County districts had a truancy rate of 4.8% in the 2021-22 school year, according to the Illinois State Board of Education. This was a decrease from the previous school year's rate of 13%.

There were 8,253 students enrolled in Whiteside County districts in the 2021-22 school year, of which 398 students were absent throughout the year.

The districts located in the county had a dropout rate 5.4%, which was 1.9% higher than the year before.

Across the county, Sterling Community Unit School District 5 suffered the most truancy issues (6.5%) in the 2021-22 school year. Meanwhile, River Bend Community Unit School District 2 successfully recorded the lowest truancy rate in the region (2.7%).

Students are generally considered chronically truant if they miss 5% or more of the total number of school days in a year without acceptable excuses.

The main offices of all districts mentioned in the story are located in cities associated with Whiteside County.

In 2022, Illinois had 1,925,415 students enrolled in a total of 3,977 schools. There were 130,467 teachers in the public schools, or roughly one teacher for every 15 students, compared to the national average of 1:16.

K-12 enrollment has been declining in Illinois for many years, reflecting demographic changes. Combined public and private K-12 enrollment dropped 3% between the 2019–2020 and 2020–2021 school years (60,900 students), far more than the typical 0.5% to 1.5% annual enrollment declines in Illinois over the last five years.

District	No. of students enrolled	Chronic truancy rates
Sterling Community Unit School District 5	3,161	6.5%
Erie Community Unit School District 1	618	6.5%
Morrison Community Unit School District 6	935	6.1%
Rock Falls Township High School District 301	558	5.8%
Prophetstown-Lyndon-Tampico Community Unit School District 3	754	5.6%
Rock Falls Elementary School District 13	855	3.3%
River Bend Community Unit School District 2	918	2.7%