Across grades three through eight in the Champaign Unit 4 School District, 70.7% of students did not meet state standards under a standardized assessment and “accountability measure” for students enrolled in a public school district. 

The Illinois Report Card website, run by the Illinois State Board of Education, details how school districts compare to state standards and averages, graduation rates, enrollment information and more.

When asked about testing scores, the school district’s chief communications officer declined to comment.

In a Dec. 9 Champaign Unit 4 School Board meeting, district-wide test scores were discussed. 

One school board official said, “one of the reasons why you can see, just in the 2024 data, why we’re not above that 50th percentile, is the state grew more than we grew. We are seeing steady growth but we’re not seeing the growth that’s similar to what the state saw.” Members could not be identified through the meeting video.

In the meeting, a board member clarified that, “there are certain places in Illinois and the interactive report card where data has been redacted.”

Members shared that any redacted data on the report card is due to not having a large enough student group of 20 or more. The state website, however, noted if a student group has fewer than 10 students, no information is displayed under the Illinois Assessment of Readiness, a standardized test for third through eighth graders.

According to a 2023 statement released by Unit 4 Superintendent Dr. Shelia Boozer, the district saw an increase in English and math on both the readiness assessment and the SAT.

Indeed, while recent scores in the district have yet to surpass benchmarks set in 2019, data showed an increase in recent English and math scores in the past few years. Since 2021, the district has seen an upward trend, with test scores rising almost six percentage points. 

In the past six years, state data for the readiness assessment shows the district had the highest English scores in 2019 with 58% of students testing below the standard. Also in 2019, the district had the highest math scores with 69.9% of students testing below standards. 

This year, only 72.3% of ninth grade students are on track to graduate in comparison to the state’s 88.2%. 

Boozer also addressed a main area of improvement moving forward. 

“Unit 4 also recognizes the urgency we have to continue to decrease the disparities in our academic outcomes,” she said in the 2023 statement.

The report card shows that 90% of Black students did not meet state standards.

Yet almost 50% of white students in the district did not meet state standards. 

School board officials also made it a point to mention the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic made on students.

“We just want to make sure that we’re remembering some of that history as we’re looking back at where we are and what are the trends that we’ve seen as we’re on our road, not only to recovery, but to continue to meet and exceed the state averages,” one member said in the meeting.

For both math and english, test scores have dropped since before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Readiness assessment scores show Garden Hills Elementary only had 10.3% of students who tested at or above the appropriate level for English and 6% of students for math.

Garden Hills Elementary had 357 students in the 2024 school year, per the report card. The school’s population is predominantly made up of Black and Hispanic students with about 90% of students identifying as minorities. 

“Garden Hills recently received grant funding to support implementation of instructional best practices relating to Math and Engineering Leadership. Our objective with this process is to ensure all students meet challenging academic standards and benefit from theme-related learning opportunities,” the school’s website said. 

Garden Hills Elementary was built in 1958 and was remodeled in 2011. It was expanded as a magnet school with a STEM program. The school is one of three gifted school programs in the community.

In 2023, Garden Hills Elementary received $55,000 in federal school improvement funds according to the Illinois Report Card. 

Comparatively, Carrie Busey Elementary school, another school in Unit 4’s school district, saw much higher scores on readiness assessment. 37% of students tested at or above the proficient level for English and 34% for math. 

“We’re not where we want to be, but I’m so glad to see that we’re making progress,” Boozer said in the meeting.