Morrison High School Principal Mr. Cory Bielema (2023) | Morrison High School
Morrison High School Principal Mr. Cory Bielema (2023) | Morrison High School
That's according to an analysis from NW Illinois News of test scores compiled by the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE).
ISBE reports that in the 2023-24 school year, 82.8% of Whiteside County's 430 public high school students—approximately 356 students—failed the math portion of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) and have “minimal (or) incomplete understanding of the knowledge and skills relative to Illinois Learning Standards.”
Students can achieve four proficiencies in their subjects: partially met, approaching, meets, and exceeds standards. This report concludes students who partially met or approached the standards have failed in the subject.
Fulton High School had the highest failure rate in Whiteside County (89.3%) and Prophetstown High School (87%), and Morrison High School (79.4%) and Erie High School (70.8%) had the lowest.
No high school in Whiteside County had a student passing rate exceeding 50%.
Countywide, math test failure rates rose from 79.1% in the 2022-23 school year to 82.8% in the 2023-24 school year.
Failure rates increased at three Whiteside County high schools in the 2023-24 school year, with the most significant increase happening at Fulton High School, where the rate jumped from 75.3% to 89.3%.
Statewide, failure rates were highest in Bureau County, Christian County, Gallatin County, Schuyler County, and Hamilton County, where the percentage of students who failed the math exam were 82.4%, 91.6%, 93.4%, 93.6%, and 95.2%, respectively.
Prophetstown High School and Erie High School were the only Whiteside County high schools that saw math scores improve between the 2022-23 school year and the 2023-24 school year.
Data shows that 73.7% of Illinois students failed the 2023-24 school year state math exam, up from 73% in the 2022-23 school year.
The SAT test is administered to Illinois high school sophomores “to fulfill the requirement that students take an assessment for college and career readiness in order to receive a regular high school diploma.”
| High School | Student Count | Failure Rate in 2022-23 | Failure Rate in 2023-24 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fulton High School | 56 | 75.3% | 89.3% |
| Prophetstown High School | 46 | 91.8% | 87% |
| Sterling High School | 217 | 80.5% | 83.9% |
| Morrison High School | 63 | 71.2% | 79.4% |
| Erie High School | 48 | 75% | 70.8% |
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