District 62 officials told the Board of Education on Nov. 17 that the district’s newly released Illinois State Report Card shows solid performance overall but persistent opportunity gaps.

“Nearly 60 percent of our students met or exceeded standards in English language arts last year,” a district presenter said during the meeting. The presenter also said District 62 outperformed the state by about six percentage points in ELA and reported that about 49.6% of district students met or exceeded math standards, compared with roughly 38% statewide.

Presenters cautioned that the Illinois State Board of Education changed cut scores for the Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR) and the Illinois Science Assessment (ISA) this year, which limits direct comparisons to prior years. Still, the district said all schools received a “commendable” designation on the report card, including Orchard Place, which had been previously labeled “targeted.”

District staff highlighted subgroup performance: students with individualized education programs (IEPs) and multilingual learners scored notably lower than the district average across several measures. The district presenter said multilingual students now make up about 42.2% of the student body — well above the state average of 17.5% — and described growth in English-language proficiency metrics: “We saw a nice increase in the number of students meeting this benchmark,” the presenter said regarding ACCESS results.

Officials described next steps to address gaps and accelerate growth: targeted professional learning for literacy across pre-K–8, new K–8 ELA curricular materials under pilot for possible adoption next year, targeted math professional learning for middle-school teachers, and focused instruction aligned to DLM (Dynamic Learning Map) essential elements for students assessed on alternate indicators.

Board members asked about attendance and subgroup absenteeism as a driver of lower performance for some groups. The district said site-based transition supports, home visits, and school-level attendance plans are deployed where absenteeism is affecting outcomes.

The presentation emphasized progress but framed the results as a guide for continued improvement, not a signal that gaps have closed. The district closed the segment by saying it will continue to monitor subgroup outcomes and to report progress to the board and community.