Kendall County Times

Nearly 7 in 10 Kendall County public students aren't at grade level based on their performance in the English portion of the 2023-24 SAT.

That's according to an analysis from Kendall County Times of test scores compiled by the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE).

ISBE reports that in the 2023-24 school year, 67.5% of Kendall County's 2,765 public high school students failed the ELA portion of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) and have "minimal (or) incomplete understanding of the knowledge and skills relative to Illinois Learning Standards."

Students can achieve four proficiencies in their subjects: partially met, approaching, meets, and exceeds standards. This report concludes students who partially met or approached the standards have failed in the subject.

Newark Community High School (89.4%), Oswego High School (74.3%) and Plano High School (70.9%) had the highest failure rates in Kendall County in the 2023-24 school year. Meanwhile, Yorkville High School (62.3%) and Oswego East High School (60.5%) had the lowest.

Countywide, English test failure rates rose from 66.5% in the 2022-23 school year to 67.5% in the 2023-24 school year.

The failure rate rose in four Kendall County high schools in the 2023-24 school year, with the most significant increase happening at Newark Community High School, where the failure rate rose by 24.1%, reaching 89.4% overall.

Data shows that the largest growth in failure rates occurred in Vermilion County, which increased by 20.8% to 89.7%; Clark County, which grew by 22% to 89.3%; Kendall County, which increased by 24.1% to 89.4%; Fayette County, which grew by 24.6% to 91.2%; and Shelby County, which increased by 27.3% to 92.3%.

Plano High School and Plainfield South High School were the Kendall County high schools to see improvements between the 2022-23 and 2023-24 school years.

Statewide, 67.7% of Illinois students failed the 2023-24 school year state English exam, down from 68.4% in the 2022-23 school year.

The SAT test is administered to Illinois high school sophomores "to fulfill the requirement that students take an assessment for college and career readiness in order to receive a regular high school diploma."

High School	Student Count	Failure Rate in 2022-23 School Year	Failure Rate in 2023-24 School Year
Newark Community High School	38	65.3%	89.4%
Oswego High School	709	68.8%	74.3%
Plano High School	210	83.5%	70.9%
Plainfield South High School	593	75%	69.5%
Yorkville High School	533	59.8%	62.3%
Oswego East High School	682	57.3%	60.5%