Illinois

Press Release

February 11, 2025

Contact: Sam Stockwell
samuel_stockwell@gse.harvard.edu
617.495.0342

Illinois Ranked 9th Among States in Math Recovery and 15th in Reading Between 2019 and 2024

Students in Illinois remain an average of almost 30% grade level behind 2019 levels in math and 37% of a grade level behind in reading.

Chronic absenteeism has risen sharply in Illinois, from 17% of students in 2019 to 30% in 2022, significantly slowing recovery efforts in some districts.

(February 11, 2025) In its third year of reporting on the pace of academic recovery measures in districts nationwide, the Education Recovery Scorecard (a collaboration between the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University and The Educational Opportunity Project at Stanford University) is issuing its annual report on district-level student growth in math and reading.

The latest report also provides the first high resolution picture of where Illinois students’ academic recovery stood in Spring 2024, just before federal relief dollars expired in September. While the National Assessment of Educational Progress described changes in average achievement by state, we combine those scores with district scores on state assessments to describe the change in local communities throughout Illinois. Here’s what we found:

Illinois ranked 9th among states in terms of recovery in math and 15th in reading between 2019 and 2024, yet in the period between 2022-2024, Illinois ranked 36th in math and 38th in reading.
Students in Illinois remain an average of almost 30 percent of a grade level behind 2019 levels in math (.29 grade equivalents) and 37 percent of a grade level behind in reading (.37 grade level equivalents). In other words, the loss in math achievement in Illinois is almost 30 percent of the progress students typically make annually between grades 4 through grade 8.
The average student in some districts, such as Springfield 186 and Aurora East 131, remains more than 80 percent of a grade equivalent below their 2019 mean achievement math and reading.
Reading and math are both concerns in Illinois, as 82% percent of students are in districts whose average math achievement in 2024 remained below their own 2019 levels and 86% are in districts whose average reading achievement in 2024 remained below their own 2019 levels. Nationally, 85 percent of students are in districts below 2019 levels in math, with only 15 percent above. Similarly, 89 percent of students are in districts below 2019 levels in reading, with only 11 percent above.
Still, there are bright spots: mean achievement for students in St. Charles CUSD 303 and CUSD 200 has exceeded 2019 levels in math and reading (the latter by over half a grade level in reading), while Indian Prairie CUSD 204 is closing in on a full recovery in math.
A sharp rise in chronic absenteeism (students missing more than 10 percent of a school year) from 17% percent of students in 2019 before the pandemic to 30% percent in 2022 (now down to 26% in 2024) is slowing the recovery in many districts in Illinois.
Illinois received over $7.8 billion in federal pandemic relief for K-12 schools—or roughly $4,000 per student—which is more than the national average of $3,700 per student. Nationally, our analysis suggests that the dollars did contribute to the academic recovery, especially when targeted at academic catch-up efforts such as summer learning and tutoring.

The federal pandemic relief dollars may be gone, but the pandemic’s impact lingers in many Illinois schools. Even without federal relief dollars, states could be targeting continuing federal Title I dollars and state dollars to implement interventions which have been shown effective, such as tutoring and summer learning. State leaders, mayors, employers and other community leaders should join schools to redouble efforts on the shared challenge of reducing student absenteeism.

One of the project leaders, Professor Tom Kane at Harvard, said: “Tackling absenteeism is one of the few things that mayors, employers and other community leaders can do to help students recover.”

For the national press release and findings click here.

About the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University

The Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University, based at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, seeks to transform education through quality research and evidence. CEPR and its partners believe all students will learn and thrive when education leaders make decisions using facts and findings, rather than untested assumptions. Learn more at cepr.harvard.edu.

Contact: Sam Stockwell, samuel_stockwell@gse.harvard.edu, (617) 495-0342

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