State Report Cards
Every year the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) releases report cards that show how the state's public school districts and individual public schools have performed on a wide range of educational goals. This is done in compliance with Section 10-17a of the Illinois School Code.
The most recent Illinois state report cards for District 401 as a whole and its individual schools were released on Oct. 30, 2020. They cover the 2019-20 school year. Links to these report cards are located below (scroll down).
Please note that the suspension of in-person learning during the spring of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic caused a number of metrics, such as various state-required assessments, to be unavailable for the 2020 edition of state report cards.
Other data, such as information on chronic absenteeism and chronic truancy, was collected but may have been affected by the suspension of in-person learning. Because of this, please use caution when interpreting results and trends.
The lack of data led to ISBE making a number of adjustments when compiling the report cards. These adjustments included reissuing the summative designations that schools received in 2019. This was required by the ESSA Assessment and Accountability Waiver that Illinois received in March 2020. A new 2020 designation was not calculated, as most of the data used by the accountability system was not available.
As a result, all four of District 401's schools received a summative designation of "Commendable School" as part of their respective 2020 report cards:
- John Mills Elementary School (grades PK-5)
- Elmwood Elementary School (grades K-5)
- Elm Middle School (grades 6-8)
- Elmwood Park High School (grades 9-12)
A commendable school is one that has no underperforming student groups, has a graduation rate greater than 67 percent, and whose performance is not in the top 10 percent of schools statewide.
To examine trends and gain historical perspective on how District 401 has performed over the years, please see our archive of state report cards available here.
The website IllinoisReportCard.com is the state's official source for information about public schools across Illinois. The information there will help you act as an informed partner in the education of your children.
Families, researchers, policymakers and community members can use the site to find school data, including academic performance, school environment, student demographics and highlights provided by principals.
If you have questions about District 401's report card or the report cards for any of our schools, please contact Dr. Leah Gauthier, Superintendent of Schools.
She can be reached by phone at 708-583-5831 or by email at this address.
The state report card for a public school district or any of its individual schools can be found in three versions:
- CLASSIC REPORT CARD
Available at both IllinoisReportCard.com and ISBE's eReport Card Public Site, this is a static, printable PDF version of the official report card, presented in a multi-page comprehensive format. - ILLINOIS INTERACTIVE REPORT CARD (IIRC) Available at IllinoisReportCard.com, this version of the report card is web-based, intuitive and allows for users to view performance comparisons between schools and districts. Users may also review trend data and break data into subcategories.
- AT-A-GLANCE REPORT CARD
Also available at IllinoisReportCard.com, this is a two-page downloadable PDF document containing graphic-based summaries of key report card data elements.
The report cards are usually issued in late October and cover the previous school year.
The state report cards contain numbers and averages at the school, district and state levels for data such as student demographics, school environment and performance on state academic assessments.
The report cards also incorporate the following features:
- A summary dashboard for every school
- Each school's summative designation: Exemplary, Commendable, Targeted or Comprehensive
- Each district's distance to adequate funding
- Other data points, such as academic growth, chronic absenteeism, long-term English Learners, ACCESS scores, feeder school relationships, new entities, educator qualifications, educators with emergency credentials, and administrator tenure
More information about report-card metrics and data can be found in the Illinois Report Card section of ISBE's website.
Schools and districts may receive one of four summative designations: Exemplary, Commendable, Targeted or Comprehensive. Here is what each designation means.
A designation of "Exemplary" goes to a school that has no underperforming student groups at or below the "all students" group of the lowest 5 percent of all schools, a graduation rate of greater than 67 percent, and whose performance is in the top 10 percent of schools statewide. Schools that receive this designation may apply to serve in the IL-EMPOWER network of learning partners.
A designation of "Commendable" goes to a school that has no underperforming student groups at or below the "all students" group of the lowest 5 percent of all schools, a graduation rate greater than 67 percent, and whose performance is not in the top 10 percent of schools statewide. Schools that receive this designation may apply to serve in the IL-EMPOWER network of learning partners.
► TARGETED
A designation of "Targeted" goes to a school in which one or more student groups is performing at or below the "all students" group of the lowest-performing 5 percent of all schools. Groups must have at least 20 students in at least a majority of indicators as indicated below, including at least one school quality/student success indicator:
Student groups:
- Economically disadvantaged students
- Students with disabilities
- Students formerly with a disability
- English learners
- Former English Learners
Racial and ethnic groups:
- Hispanic or Latino
- American Indian or Alaska Native
- Asian
- Black or African American
- Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander
- White
- Two or more races
Schools that receive this designation will complete a work plan for school improvement and has access to targeted support through IL-EMPOWER.
A designation of "Comprehensive" goes to a school that is in the lowest-performing 5 percent of Title I eligible schools in Illinois. It also goes to any high schools with a graduation rate of 67 percent or less. Schools that receive this designation will complete a work plan for school improvement and will receive comprehensive support through IL-EMPOWER.
The three versions of District 401's most recent report card (covering 2019-20) are:
- Classic Report Card | PDF
- Illinois Interactive Report Card (IIRC) | Online
- At-a-Glance Report Card | PDF*
*Due to the lack of data resulting from the suspension of in-person learning, no at-a-glance report cards were issued for 2019-20.
The three versions of John Mills' most recent report card (covering 2019-20) are:
- Classic Report Card | PDF
- Illinois Interactive Report Card (IIRC) | Online
- At-a-Glance Report Card | PDF*
*Due to the lack of data resulting from the suspension of in-person learning, no at-a-glance report cards were issued for 2019-20.
The three versions of Elmwood's most recent report card (covering 2019-20) are:
- Classic Report Card | PDF
- Illinois Interactive Report Card (IIRC) | Online
- At-a-Glance Report Card | PDF*
*Due to the lack of data resulting from the suspension of in-person learning, no at-a-glance report cards were issued for 2019-20.
The three versions of Elm's most recent report card (covering 2019-20) are:
- Classic Report Card | PDF
- Illinois Interactive Report Card (IIRC) | Online
- At-a-Glance Report Card | PDF*
*Due to the lack of data resulting from the suspension of in-person learning, no at-a-glance report cards were issued for 2019-20.
The three versions of EPHS' most recent report card (covering 2019-20) are:
- Classic Report Card | PDF
- Illinois Interactive Report Card (IIRC) | Online
- At-a-Glance Report Card | PDF*
*Due to the lack of data resulting from the suspension of in-person learning, no at-a-glance report cards were issued for 2019-20.