Illinois Reaches New Heights in High School Graduation Rate

SPRINGFIELD - The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) today published the 2025 Illinois Report Card, which showed Illinois' high school graduation rate reached new heights, hitting its highest point in 15 years. The data also showed that gaps in the graduation rate between student groups narrowed, with the strongest gains among Black and Hispanic students and students with disabilities. Student growth in both English Language Arts (ELA) and math continues to outpace pre-pandemic levels, with the most significant gains in ELA. Additionally, the 2024-25 school year saw students' chronic absenteeism decline for the third year in a row and Illinois continuing to attract new teachers to the teaching profession in record numbers, among many other indicators of strong educational success.

"Illinois students and educators continue to impress and achieve new milestones in academic success - from reaching a 15-year high in the graduation rate, to narrowing gaps between student groups, to increasing enrollment in college and career preparation coursework," said State Superintendent of Education Dr. Tony Sanders. "The academic achievement data from the 2024-25 school year shows that Illinois has some of the best schools in the country and stands as a testament to the hard work and ambition of our students, the skill and dedication of our educators, and the support and partnership of parents and families across the state. These historic gains show that a focus on equity and evidence-based practices and strong investment in public schools yields positive outcomes for all students and communities. Illinois schools are not only preparing students to graduate but also to thrive in college, career, and life."

Graduation Rate Climbs to 15-Year High

The 4-year graduation rate reached a 15-year high at 89%, a 6.2% increase from 2024. Gaps also narrowed between student groups with students of two or more races, Black students and students with IEPs charting the largest gains, at 3.5%, 2.7%, and 4.3% respectively. ISBE has prioritized a focus on equity through both the school accountability system, which identifies and targets supports toward schools with underperforming student groups, and the Equity Journey Continuum dashboard, which provides each school district with an in-depth look at gaps between student groups across a variety of metrics measuring students' academic access and success.

The measure of ninth graders on track to graduate, defined as students having earned at least five full-year course credits and no more than one semester F in a core course at the end of ninth grade, offers the best predictor of future graduate rates. In 2025, 89.3% of Illinois' ninth graders finished the school year on track to graduate, a 1.3% increase over 2024 and an 8.6% increase since 2021. The rate of ninth graders on track to graduate improved among all student groups, with the largest year-over-year gains among English Learners (3.5% increase), Black students (2.3% increase), and Hispanic students (1.8% increase).

Illinois Students Continue to Outpace Pre-Pandemic Growth

​Student growth remains strong, continuing to exceed pre-pandemic rates. On average, Illinois students grew at a faster rate in the 2024-25 school year than in 2018-19. In ELA, growth remains 8 percentile points higher than the 2018-19 baseline of 50. ISBE credits this continued momentum to educators implementing best practices in literacy through the Illinois Comprehensive Literacy Plan.

This accelerated rate of growth holds true for all student groups in both ELA and math, demonstrating steady academic progress statewide.

Math growth also continues to exceed pre-pandemic levels, though to a smaller extent than in ELA, with the statewide mean student growth percentile at 52. Building on the success of the Comprehensive Literacy Plan, ISBE is collaborating with educators and partners to develop a Comprehensive Statewide Numeracy Plan to provide evidence-based guidance for strengthening math instruction and closing gaps in student learning.

Chronic Absenteeism Improves for Third Consecutive Year Since Pandemic Peak

Chronic absenteeism among students, defined as missing 10% or more of the school year due to both excused or unexcused absences, notched a third consecutive year of improvement since its pandemic-driven peak in 2022. Chronic absenteeism fell to 25.4% in 2025, down 14.8% since 2022. Among grade levels, chronic absenteeism remained highest among students in high school, while absenteeism among students in kindergarten showed the greatest improvement.

Illinois continues to promote evidence-based interventions for chronically absent students, since missing just two days of school per month for any reason "can translate into students having difficulty learning to read by the third-grade, achieving in middle school, and graduating from high school," according to an extensive body of research, documented by Attendance Works. Public Act 104-0355, enacted Sept. 1 this year, creates the Chronic Absence Task Force to further the study of statewide strategies to continue reducing chronic absenteeism across all grade levels.

Illinois Continues to Attract New Teachers in Record Numbers

Illinois has reached a record high of 137,899 teachers in 2025, adding 687 more full-time teachers statewide since last year. The number of Asian, Hispanic, and multi-racial teachers grew, contributing to modest but important gains in teacher diversity.

Now in its third year, the state's Teacher Vacancy Grant Pilot Program has invested $120 million to help the 170 school districts with the greatest teacher shortages address local challenges to recruiting and retaining educators. Districts are required to base their spending decisions on data, ensuring that the strategies are evidence-based and aligned with their specific needs. In the first two years, more than half (56.5%) of grantee districts decreased unfilled positions, compared to only 18.9% of non-grantee districts.

Rising Enrollment in College and Career Preparation Coursework

More high school students enrolled in advanced coursework intended to prepare them for success in college and career - with increased participation in Advanced Placement, dual credit, honors, and International Baccalaureate classes. Starting in the 2024-25 school year, the Accelerated Placement Act requires automatic placement in the next most advanced course for high school students who score in the Above Proficient performance level on state assessments and the option to take the next most rigorous course for students who score in the Proficient performance level. The law aims to increase access to advanced coursework for qualified yet underrepresented students. Participation in Career and Technical Education also grew 1.4%, reaching almost 290,000 students statewide, as the state increased CTE funding by $10 million and began phasing in a new and more equitable funding formula for CTE programs during the 2024-25 school year.

A recent report produced by the Illinois Workforce & Education Research Collaborative (IWERC) in partnership with ISBE confirmed that higher education, specifically, earning a bachelor's degree or higher, continues to provide the best pathway for upward economic mobility ​ for Illinois students across all backgrounds. The findings reinforce the importance of expanding opportunities for students to participate in advanced coursework and CTE, so they graduate high school with the preparation and confidence to pursue postsecondary opportunities that lead to economic success.

Proficiency Rates on State Assessments Set New Baseline and Provide Truer Picture of Student Performance

Following an 18-month, educator-led and expert-validated process, Illinois adopted new, research-informed, and ​ right-sized assessment performance levels to give students, families, and educators better data on academic achievement and college readiness. Prior performance levels mislabeled many students, often indicating that students were less academically successful and prepared for college than they actually were. The new benchmarks for proficiency align across English language arts, math, and science assessments and grade levels and reflect real college- and career-readiness expectations. As a result, the 2025 proficiency rates set a new baseline and cannot be compared to prior years.

2025 Proficiency Rates by Subject and Grade for Grades 3-11

Importantly, families, educators, and policymakers can still track longitudinal progress and recovery from the pandemic using the Student Growth Percentile.

The 2025 Illinois Report Card provides a snapshot of school performance data from the 2024-25 school year. Visit www.lllinoisReportCard.com for interactive graphs and visualizations, and download spreadsheets of all 2025 data, state-level 15-year trend data, and student growth percentiles on the ISBE Report Card Data Library webpage.​