Year over year, the release of the Illinois Report Card reflects the hard work that school staff, policymakers, communities, and students put into our schools and their success. While there are always areas for improvement, the report card provides us with the information necessary to refocus our efforts and improve through policy and practice at the state, district, and school levels. As EdSystems works to create clear paths to college and career opportunities, the report card acts as a window into the state’s progress. This year, we are particularly excited about increases in CTE participation and the fact that more CTE concentrators are getting postsecondary credits. We applaud the Illinois State Board of Education and their partners at the Illinois Interactive Report Card1 on another successful launch.
Highlights from the 2025-26 school year include:
- Increased CTE and dual credit participation
- Improved ninth-grade on-track rate and graduation rate for all demographics
- A reduction in chronic absenteeism
- A recovery in postsecondary enrollment and community college remediation
Increasing CTE and Advanced Coursework Participation
An area of significant improvement for the state is Career Technical Education (CTE) participation and advanced coursework participation. Remarkably, CTE participation has risen from 266,448 students in 2022 to 290,679 today, despite overall decreasing school enrollment in the state. Even more remarkably, CTE concentrators (those who take more than one CTE course) have gone from 105k in 2022 to 163k today – an almost 60 percent increase. These increases are particularly encouraging as students enrolled in CTE courses generally show higher levels of engagement, including better attendance rates, higher high school graduation rates, and improved postsecondary outcomes.
While CTE may once have been perceived as valuable for only a particular set of students, Illinois state policy has focused on strengthening these programs so they are valuable to students with a variety of academic backgrounds and integrate both high-quality work-based learning and advanced coursework (e.g., dual credit and Advanced Placement courses). The end goal is to better prepare all participants for both college and career. This emphasis is demonstrated by the fact that CTE concentrators earning postsecondary credit have increased from 32 percent in 2022 to 51 percent in 2026, all while the number of concentrators has increased. This is in part driven by increased advanced coursework for all students: While state reporting for combined AP and dual credit only goes back two years (2024–2025 and 2025–2026), AP and dual credit rates are increasing from 23.6 percent in 2021 to 27.3 percent today and from 12.9 percent to 20 percent, respectively. Importantly, these increases have occurred across almost all demographic groups.
As the state continues to investigate and support different approaches to increasing postsecondary success, both CTE and advanced coursework (and in many cases both) remain critical strategies. We anticipate further increases in both measures as districts emphasize scaling robust CTE pathways aligned with the Perkins-funded State of Illinois Model Programs of Study Guides and implementing their automatic acceleration policies required under the Illinois Education and Workforce Equity Act (Public Act 101-0654). As the state looks to the next round of federal Perkins planning, we anticipate continued focus on integrating career-focused early college credit courses.
Count of CTE Participants and Concentrators by Year
Improving 9th Grade on Track and Graduation Rates
9th grade on track is a critical measure for our students. Based on whether students attend school and successfully complete core courses (English, math, science, and social studies), the metric serves as an early-warning indicator of whether students need additional support. According to research, students on track in 9th grade are close to four times more likely to graduate high school, a first step in future success (Allensworth & Easton, 2005)2. While Illinois saw a downturn in 9th grade on track rates during the pandemic (with a low in 2021 of 82.2 percent), rates have since climbed and now surpass pre-pandemic rates (86.6 percent in 2019 vs. 89.6 percent in 2026). Importantly, these increased rates are mirrored across all demographic groups, including Black students, whose rates have risen from 74.5 in 2019 to 81.6 percent, and Hispanic students, who have increased from 82.7 in 2019 to 85.7 percent today. We will watch whether these positive trends continue to support improved graduation rates, but the extra attention this metric adds to the first year of high school is critical to improving student success after high school and beyond.
9th Grade on Track Rates by Year
Similarly, graduation rates have increased overall and for different demographic groups. The improvements that we have seen since 2021 (86.8 percent) to today (89.8 percent) bode well for both our students and the state’s economic future. These increases have been driven largely by low-income students (an increase of over 5% since 2021) and minority students (over 6% for Black students and almost 4% for Hispanic students since 2021), which is even more encouraging. Ensuring students meet the state’s varied (and evolving) graduation requirements remains an important measure of school success. Graduating high school remains a stepping stone for students’ postsecondary aspirations and life beyond.
Reduced Absenteeism and Remediation; Increased Postsecondary Enrollment Rates
Other positive trends in the report card data include reductions in chronic absenteeism and remediation rates and increases in postsecondary enrollment and graduation rates. While chronic absenteeism remains significantly above pre-pandemic levels and requires ongoing vigilance, the work the state and districts are doing is having an impact, with almost a 6-percentage-point reduction since 2022 (from 29.8 percent to 23.5 percent).
Similarly, while there was a dip in postsecondary enrollment last year, this year the numbers increased, with more than 67 percent of students entering postsecondary education within 16 months of high school graduation. This has been driven in large part by enrollments in community colleges, which increased from 24.5 percent in 2025 to 27 percent in 2026. Four-year participation is also strong and improved from the post-pandemic years (up over 2 percentage points), however there was a downtick from last year which we will continue to watch (about a half a percentage point).
Though community college remediation numbers saw an uptick last year, this year, the numbers came down again, with overall remediation at its lowest level ever (data goes back to 2013). Notably, math remediation declined slightly year-over-year, although it remains above the rate in English Language Arts. We hope to see community college remediation data reported in a disaggregated format in future years so we can generate insights into the level of preparation different student groups show upon enrolling in postsecondary, as we see differences in student performance across other measures earlier in the pipeline.
New Tests and Metrics to Watch
Another area EdSystems continues to monitor is the implementation of new standardized assessments in high school, with the state transitioning from the SAT to the ACT in the 2024–2025 school year. While standardized tests are only one lens on college and career readiness, they provide a temperature check on whether schools and districts are improving students’ foundational reading and math skills. In addition to moving to a new test, the state has begun highlighting a new metric: “average ACT score.” This is useful as “percent of students proficient”, the metric most often reported, depends on where the standard is set and where students are relative to that line. An average test score, on the other hand, provides a better sense of how all students are doing across the spectrum.
This year, English Language Arts (ELA) showed the difference: overall proficiency went up (from 52.4% to 55.4%), but the average scores went down (from 18.1 to 17.9). This is particularly concerning because average ELA SAT scores were already trending downward before the switch to ACT. Math is a clearer story, with both proficiency and average test scores increasing (from 38.4% to 39.2%; from 18.8 to 19.2). Proficiency remains below 50%, which is concerning, and this concern increases after multiple years of falling SAT scores, but it is good to see the most recent rise. As we see more ACT data over time, the trends will be easier to assess, and we will continue to watch both metrics (percent proficient and average test scores) as more data becomes available.
Lots to Celebrate, More to Do
The 2025–2026 Illinois Report Card tells a remarkable story. In almost every metric on the path to success after high school, Illinois students have improved. At a time when the future of work is uncertain, and concerns about inflation, affordability, and employment are on everyone’s minds, these numbers provide an opportunity to celebrate. We are particularly excited by the increased enrollment in CTE and the push to link CTE and advanced coursework. More and more, it is becoming clear that linking education to careers through CTE or broader pathways work, such as the PWR Act’s College and Career Pathway Endorsement framework, is a path to postsecondary and life success. EdSystems stands ready to help communities progress on this journey through supporting policymakers, education leaders, and workforce partners in developing and implementing policies and practices to shore up these important gains, improve outcomes for students from marginalized communities, and take Illinois beyond pre-pandemic levels of student success.
