Despite dismal student performance on annual exams covering math and reading, high school graduation rates remain high across the region, according to a SE Illinois News analysis of 2016 data from the Illinois State Board of Education.
Of the 13 schools analyzed in Edwards, Gallatin, Hamilton Saline, Wabash, Wayne and White counties, Grayville Jr./Sr. High School showed the greatest disparity. In a year when 94 percent of seniors graduated on time, just 14 percent of students actually passed annual tests that the state uses to determine who is "ready for the next level."
The end-of-year tests known as the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) are administered to third- through eighth-graders in Illinois, testing them based on Common Core standards. High schoolers also took the tests through 2016.
A composite score combines the results of the subject tests. Students whose scores either meet or exceed expectations are considered "ready for the next level."
Schools' graduation fraud index shows the difference between the composite passing rate and the graduation rate.
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Graduation fraud index
| SE Illinois high school | School district | City | Annual exam pass rate (%) | Graduation rate (%) | Graduation fraud index |
| Grayville Jr/Sr High School | Grayville CUSD 1 | Grayville | 13.5 | 94.1 | -80.6 |
| Gallatin High School | Gallatin CUSD 7 | Junction | 29.8 | 97.6 | -67.8 |
| Norris City-Omaha-Enfield High School | Norris City-Omaha-Enfield CUSD 3 | Norris City | 26 | 90.6 | -64.6 |
| Hamilton County Jr/Sr High School | Hamilton Co CUSD 10 | McLeansboro | 28.2 | 90.3 | -62.1 |
| Harrisburg High School | Harrisburg CUSD 3 | Harrisburg | 23.5 | 81.4 | -57.9 |
| Carrier Mills-Stonefort High School | Carrier Mills-Stonefort CUSD 2 | Carrier Mills | 33.3 | 89.2 | -55.9 |
| Eldorado High School | Eldorado CUSD 4 | Eldorado | 36.2 | 88.9 | -52.7 |
| Galatia High School | Galatia CUSD 1 | Galatia | 34 | 84.4 | -50.4 |
| Carmi-White County High School | Carmi-White County CUSD 5 | Carmi | 46.1 | 96.2 | -50.1 |
| Fairfield Community High School District 225 | Fairfield Comm H S Dist 225 | Fairfield | 39.7 | 75 | -35.3 |
| Cisne High School | North Wayne CUSD 200 | Cisne | 50 | 84.4 | -34.4 |
| Edwards County High School | Edwards County CUSD 1 | Albion | 55.9 | 83.6 | -27.7 |
| Mount Carmel High School | Wabash CUSD 348 | Mount Carmel | 64.3 | 75.2 | -10.9 |
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