Dupage Policy Journal

Nearly six in ten DuPage County public high school students aren't at grade level in English.

That's according to a DuPage Policy Journal analysis of 2022 test score data compiled by the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE).

ISBE reports that last year, 57 percent of DuPage County's 47,266 public high school students failed the English and language arts portion of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) and have "minimal (or) incomplete... understanding of the knowledge and skills relative to Illinois Learning Standards."

Of 23 DuPage County high schools, only six-- Hinsdale Central, Neuqua Valley, Naperville North, Naperville Central, Metea Valley and York-- had more students pass the test than fail it, posting failure rates of less than 50 percent.

Addison Trail (86 percent), West Chicago (81 percent), Fenton (79 percent), Willowbrook (72 percent), Glenbard East (72 percent) and Glenbard North (72 percent) had the highest failure rates. Hinsdale Central (29 percent) and Neuqua Valley (31 percent) had the lowest.

County-wide, English test failure rates rose from 50 percent in 2019 to 57 percent in 2022. That's a percentage increase of 15 percent, or about 3,250 more students.

Failure rates rose the most at York (36 percent increase), Willowbrook (24 percent) Naperville North (22 percent), Lake Park (21 percent) and Westmont (18 percent).

Glenbard South was the only DuPage County high school to see English scores improve between 2019 and 2022, as its failure rate fell by five percent.

Chicago Public Schools had an English exam failure rate of 79 percent in 2022, up from 74 percent in 2019, according to ISBE.

Statewide, 70 percent of Illinois students failed the 2022 state English exam, up from 64 percent in 2019. 

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."

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DuPage County Public High School English Failure Rates

Nearly six in ten DuPage County public high school students failed the statewide English exam in 2022.

		Failure Rates				2019-22
High School	Students	2019	2021	2022		% CHG
Addison Trail	1,906	79%	71%	86%		9%
West Chicago	1,982	73%	79%	81%		10%
Fenton	1.397	73%	73%	79%		9%
Willowbrook	1,870	58%	58%	72%		24%
Glenbard East	2,222	65%	69%	72%		11%
Glenbard North	2,175	60%	67%	71%		17%
Downers Grove South	2,682	58%	58%	66%		14%
Lake Park	2,527	51%	57%	62%		21%
Hinsdale South	1,331	56%	52%	61%		9%
Lisle	389	51%	61%	58%		14%
Wheaton-Warrenville South	1,824	51%	50%	57%		11%
Westmont	380	45%	44%	53%		18%
Wheaton North	1,914	44%	48%	51%		17%
Glenbard West	2,297	45%	44%	51%		13%
Downers Grove North	2,126	44%	48%	50%		14%
Waubonsie Valley	2,447	45%	47%	50%		12%
Glenbard South	1,094	53%	54%	50%		-5%
York	2,743	35%	43%	48%		36%
Metea Valley	2,935	41%	43%	48%		16%
Naperville North	2,635	35%	37%	43%		22%
Naperville Central	2,576	33%	39%	38%		14%
Neuqua Valley	3,324	27%	31%	31%		12%
Hinsdale Central	2,490	25%	27%	29%		16%
Totals	47,266	50%	52%	57%		15%

Source: Illinois State Board of Education