Two metro-east schools join top 10% in Illinois. How does your school rate?

Two metro-east public schools rank among the top 10% of highest-performing schools in the state, according to the new 2024-25 Illinois Report Card released Thursday.

Illini Elementary in Fairview Heights, part of Grant Community Consolidated School District No. 110, and Collinsville District 10’s Webster Elementary received “exemplary” summative designations—the highest designation a school can achieve.

“The efforts and the work that we’re putting forth is showing,” said Illini Principal Carla Lasley.

Summative designations assess a variety of factors, including student academic growth and chronic absenteeism. They also analyze data from various student groups, according to the Illinois State Board of Education. As such, summative designations indicate how well schools are serving all students.

That means a true team effort—work from teachers, noncertified staff, administration and building leadership, students, families and more—is required to reach the coveted classification, Lasley and Collinsville Community Unit School District 10 Superintendent Brad Skertich said.

Both Webster Elementary and Illini Elementary serve students in prekindergarten through fourth grade. Skertich said this provides a unique opportunity to see student progress from the very beginning of their school journey through the late elementary years, all in one building.

“The foundation of every student’s educational career begins with kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade,” Skertich said. “And then our 3rd and 4th grade teachers do a great job of making sure they cover the standards to help (the students) grow academically, but also do interventions and supplemental instruction to close any gaps that may be there.”

How did other Metro East schools perform on the Illinois Report Card?

The majority of Belleville- and Swansea-area schools received a “commendable” designation, which is the second-highest of the five summative designations. All O’Fallon schools received this designation, as well. Wolf Branch Elementary maintained its exemplary status from the previous year.

Schools that receive one of the remaining three designations—targeted support, comprehensive support, or intensive support—enter a four-year improvement cycle and receive additional funding for improvement.

If a school was participating in a four-year improvement cycle from a previous year’s support designation but receives a lower designation on the 2024-25 report card, it will begin a new four-year improvement cycle with a greater level of support, Illinois State Board of Education Press Secretary Lindsay Record confirmed.

The only Belleville- or Swansea-area schools to receive one of these three designations were Belleville 118’s Abraham Lincoln Elementary, Belleville 118’s Franklin Elementary, High Mount Elementary School and Whiteside Middle School, all of which were designated as targeted schools.

Collinsville Middle School was the only school in its district to receive a designation below commendable. Skertich said its targeted designation was due to underperformance in two student groups.

East St. Louis School District 189’s Lincoln Middle School received an intensive designation. Dr. Katie Harper-Wright Elementary School, Mason-Clark Middle School and Wyvetter Younge School of Excellence received comprehensive designations. Other schools that received summative designations received commendable designations.

Although these schools’ designations do not meet the district’s goals, there are still reasons to celebrate within the variety of data the Illinois Report Card presents, according to a statement from District 189. The district specifically cited graduation rate improvements and an increase in the percentage of freshmen considered “on track.” It also noted that the majority of its schools received a commendable designation.

“While we recognize that we are not yet where we aspire to be, School District 189 views this as an opportunity to learn and grow,” the statement reads. “The data behind these designations confirms what we already know—our greatest challenges lie in areas such as chronic absenteeism and academic growth—and it reinforces our commitment to strengthening programs that directly address these needs.”

Explore your school’s data, as well as their summative designation, at www.illinoisreportcard.com.

What data is considered in ISBE summative designations?

Summative designations depend on a variety of data points from both a school’s overall population and specific student groups.

There are student groups based on race and ethnicity, as well as groups for students with disabilities, economically disadvantaged students, English learners and former English learners, according to an explainer from ISBE. These classifications help schools pinpoint which students are in need of the most support, and which are excelling.

The state calls the various academic and student success measures it uses in summative designation calculations “accountability indicators,” and each indicator carries a different weight.

Examples of accountability indicators include the percentage of students meeting proficiency criteria on state tests (the test scores used to determine this have been updated), the percentage of chronically absent students, and measures of English language learners’ progress.

Elementary schools use student growth percentiles as accountability indicators, while high schools use the percentage of ninth graders deemed “on track” and high school graduation rates to help calculate designation.

For a detailed breakdown of each accountability indicator, as well as the calculations used to determine a school’s summative designation, visit www.isbe.net. Most, if not all, of each school’s accountability indicator data should be found on the report card.

What does it take for my school to get an “exemplary” designation?

Here’s what a school needs to achieve each designation, as outlined on an online factsheet from ISBE:

Exemplary

• Top 10% of all schools for overall performance
•  No underperforming student groups. Underperforming in this article refers to being at or below the the lowest-performing 5 percent of schools’ “all students” group
• High schools: graduation rate above 67%

Commendable

• Schools aren’t in the top 10% of all schools for overall performance, but they still have no underperforming student groups and, if applicable, high schools must have a graduation rate above 67%

Targeted Support

• One or more underperforming student groups
• ISBE specifies “groups must have at least 20 students in at least five of eight indicators, one of which must be non-academic”

Comprehensive Support

• Overall performance is in the bottom 5% of Illinois’ Title I-eligible schools
• All high schools’ graduation rate is 67% or below 
• Schools that completed a Targeted Support improvement cycle, but at least one or more of the originally Targeted student groups is “at or below the ‘all students’ group in the lowest-performing 5% of Title I-eligible schools”

Intensive Support

• Schools that completed a Comprehensive Support improvement cycle but remain in Illinois’ lowest-performing 5% of schools 
• Or, its high school graduation rate is 67% or below at the end of the cycle

This story was originally published October 30, 2025 at 9:02 AM.