SE Illinois News

Nearly 8 in 10 Wayne 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 SE Illinois News of test scores compiled by the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE).

ISBE reports that in the 2023-24 school year, 76.4% of Wayne County's 178 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.

Of three Wayne County schools, Fairfield Community High School (77.5%) had the highest failure rate in the county. Meanwhile, Cisne High School (73.1%) had the lowest.

Countywide, English test failure rates rose from 70.7% in the 2022-23 school year to 76.4% in the 2023-24 school year.

The failure rate increased at one Wayne County high school in the 2023-24 school year, with the most significant increase happening at Fairfield Community High School, where the failure rate increased by 11.6%, reaching 77.5% 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%.

Wayne City High School and Cisne High School were the only high schools in the county 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
Fairfield Community High School	120	65.9%	77.5%
Wayne City High School	32	77.8%	75.1%
Cisne High School	26	78.9%	73.1%