Illinois students posted their best-ever English language arts scores on the state's standardized test this year, even as math scores continued climbing back from a pandemic-era slump that still hasn't fully closed. The newly released 2026 Illinois School Report Card data cover students in grades 3 through 8 across Lake County and the rest of the state, who were tested in English language arts and math last year using the Illinois Assessment of Readiness.
Statewide English language arts proficiency climbed to 55.4%, the highest mark recorded since the test was introduced, according to a report from Shaw Local. The outlet also found that while the state posted growth in math, that growth remains below pre-pandemic levels for most student groups — a gap that has defined Illinois school performance data since the Illinois Assessment of Readiness rolled out in 2019.
Proficiency Numbers Move Up, But Not Evenly
Separately, the Daily Herald reported that statewide English language arts proficiency rose from 52.4% in 2025 to 55.4% in 2026, while math proficiency ticked up from 38.4% to 39.2% over the same period. The same report found science proficiency jumped from 44.6% to 48.7%, and Illinois recorded a four-year graduation rate of 89.8%, a record high. Chalkbeat Chicago offered slightly different statewide figures, reporting that roughly 56% of students were considered proficient in English language arts and almost 40% in math in 2026, up from 53% and 38.5% respectively the year before. Whichever figures are used, the publications agree on the underlying trend: reading scores are up, math is improving more slowly, and math proficiency among students in grades 3 through 8 statewide sits more than 15 percentage points below English language arts proficiency, per Chalkbeat.
Chronic absenteeism also declined statewide, falling from 29.8% in 2022 to 23.5% in 2026, the Daily Herald reported. Among student groups, Black students saw the largest English language arts improvement, rising from 31.1% to 34.1% proficient, according to the same report.
Why the Numbers Are Harder to Compare Year Over Year
Part of what's complicating comparisons to past years is a 2025 change to how Illinois defines proficiency itself. The state lowered the cutoff scores used to determine whether a student is deemed proficient on the Illinois Assessment of Readiness for grades 3 through 8, according to the Evanston RoundTable. Those adjustments applied across every grade level for both English language arts and math, according to Progress Learning, which tracks the shift in cut scores.
The Illinois State Board of Education has pushed back on any suggestion that the changes loosened academic expectations. Fox 32 Chicago reported that the board maintained its learning standards and assessments have not changed, even as the proficiency bar itself moved.
New Ratings Judge Schools Against Fixed Standards
The shake-up extends beyond test scores to how schools themselves get rated. Illinois school ratings are now based mainly on proficiency and growth, with graduation rate factored in for high schools, Shaw Local reported in a separate piece examining how individual schools fared. Crucially, the state no longer ranks schools against each other — the Illinois State Board of Education now judges each school against fixed statewide criteria, per that report.
One structural rule limits how high a school can climb: a school where any student group is rated comprehensive can be rated no higher than commendable, according to Shaw Local. Statewide, 28.3% of Illinois public schools were classified as Exemplary under the new system, the Daily Herald reported.
How Nearby Districts Fared
The ratings shift has already produced a mix of outcomes elsewhere in the region. In Evanston/Skokie School District 65, six elementary schools — Dawes, Dewey, Orrington, Walker, Washington and Willard — received exemplary status on the 2025-26 report card, the Evanston RoundTable reported. Chute, Haven and Nichols middle schools landed an approaching exemplary rating, while King, Lincoln, Lincolnwood and Oakton received commendable ratings, according to the same report. At Dawes Elementary specifically, 33.1% of students did not meet English language arts proficiency standards and 48.1% fell short in math, the RoundTable noted.
Naperville District 203 saw science proficiency climb as well, with fifth-grade scores rising from 74% in 2025 to 76% in 2026 and eighth-grade scores climbing from 75% to 79%, according to the Daily Herald. And in last year's report card cycle, Lake Forest and Lake Bluff schools posted some of the region's strongest marks: all Lake Forest schools earned exemplary ratings in 2025, the Chicago Tribune reported, with Lake Forest District 67 posting 84.3% ELA proficiency and 79.8% math proficiency, and Lake Forest High School notching an overall summative score of 93.49%. Lake Bluff Elementary also earned exemplary status, while Lake Bluff Middle School was rated commendable.
For Lake County families trying to make sense of where their own schools stand this year, the full report-card breakdown by subject and building is laid out in Shaw Local's companion piece on how individual Lake County schools performed under the new rating system.
