Dear Families and Staff:

The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) released the annual Illinois School Report Card this week, which shows how schools and districts across the State are progressing on a wide range of educational goals.
The Report Card offers a complete picture of student and school performance and provides the school community with an opportunity to reflect on last year’s strengths and discuss areas for continuous improvement.
This year’s Report Card is based on data from the 2022-2023 school year. Stakeholders can find their District/School report card by going to www.illinoisreportcard.com.
Over the last several years we have been intentional about keeping parents and staff updated on our progress on standardized assessments. The data from the Report Card reflects much of that information and sheds additional light on a variety of metrics, including academic progress, district environment, equity, students/teachers/administrators, etc.
We are excited to see that our schools have shown academic progress in core areas. The percentage of Waukegan Public Schools students showing proficiency in math, and English language arts have all increased on the Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR) for three consecutive years.
Additionally, data shows that our District has seen three straight years of increases in our graduation rate, and our Freshmen on Track rate, while also seeing an increase for three years in a row in our daily attendance rate. These should all be celebrated.
Gaps continue to exist, however, and we remain behind our pre-pandemic progress. As a District we continue to invest in academic programs to improve student performance, as well as resources to support our student’s social-emotional well being.
Along with the Illinois Report Card release, Districts statewide also received new school designations this week. Designations provide a detailed look at each school’s progress based on multiple indicators of academic and student success. Designations are designed to identify schools for additional support by placing them in school improvement status. A breakdown of Waukegan’s designations and relevant definitions can be found below.
Commendable – Commendable is the second-highest designation a school in Illinois can earn. A Commendable designation recognizes a school that has no underperforming student groups at or below the “all students” group of the lowest 5 percent of all schools and those whose student performance is not in the top 10 percent of schools statewide.
Commendable schools in Waukegan include: Cooke Magnet, Glen Flora, Glenwood, Greenwood, McCall, Hyde Park, Clark, Little Fort, North, Washington and Whittier.
Targeted – A Targeted designation is classified as one in which one or more student groups are performing at or below the “all students” group of the lowest 5 percent of all schools. Generally, a school that is classified as targeted will show overall academic performance comparable to a commendable school, however, they will have at least one underperforming student group.
Targeted Schools in Waukegan include: Clearview, Lyon, Edith Smith and Waukegan High School. Schools that receive Targeted designations will receive additional support per ESSA guidelines.
Comprehensive – The Comprehensive designation is characterized as the lowest-performing 5 percent of Title I schools in Illinois, based upon ESSA indicators. Schools that receive Comprehensive designations will receive additional support per ESSA guidelines. Comprehensive schools include: Carman-Buckner, Oakdale, Benny, Lewis, Juarez and Abbott.
Parents can expect additional information about their child’s school’s performance and designation from their principal.
In closing, we know we owe it to the students of this community to create the best possible learning opportunities for them. Some of our progress is encouraging, but we know there’s still much work to do, and positive strides must continue to be made in order to ensure all students are successful.
I want to thank our principals, teachers, staff, students, and of course, parents, for their tireless efforts and dedication to Waukegan Public Schools.

Sincerely,

Ms. Theresa Plascencia
Superintendent of Schools