Skip to main content
On the morning of October 30, 2026, Illinois families received a fresh snapshot of how the state’s schools are doing. The 2026 Illinois Report Card, the annual release that gathers test results, graduation figures and attendance data for public schools across the state, arrived with a mixed message. Scores moved up in several places, graduation reached a new high, and yet two familiar problems refused to fade: mathematics remained the weakest subject, and too many students were still missing too much school.
That combination is what makes this year’s release worth reading carefully. A report card is not a single grade. It is a set of trend lines pulling in different directions: reading, science and graduation point one way, while mathematics and attendance point another. For parents, the useful question is which trend affects their own child and school.
This article answers that question in a different order from usual. The most common questions come first, so readers short on time get the essentials straight away. The detailed numbers, the subject story and the attendance picture follow after, all drawn from the state’s 2026 release as reported on the day it came out.
The report card in five points
- Scores rose statewide and in Chicago, with English language arts and science showing the clearest gains.
- Mathematics improved only slightly, and it remains well behind reading at both the state level and in Chicago.
- The statewide four-year graduation rate reached nearly 90 percent, described as a new high, up steadily from 82 percent in 2012.
- Chronic absenteeism fell again, to 23.5 percent statewide, but it is still far above the pre-pandemic level of 17.5 percent recorded in 2019.
- In Chicago, chronic absenteeism eased by one percentage point to 39 percent, while high school absence rates stayed stubbornly high.
Those five points capture the headline, but a statewide average can improve while a particular group still struggles, and a subject can rise slightly yet sit far below where educators want it to be. The sections below unpack each point.
Questions readers are asking
What is the Illinois Report Card?
The Illinois Report Card is the state’s annual public release of school data. It brings together results from state assessments, graduation rates, attendance figures and school ratings, so families can compare schools and districts on the same measures. The 2026 release covers the most recent school year and reflects a new way of rating schools, which changed how many schools earned the state’s highest rating.
Did scores really improve, or did the measuring stick change?
Both things happened, and that matters for how the numbers should be read. Proficiency figures did rise in 2026, but the state had also lowered the scores needed to count as proficient in English language arts and mathematics in 2025. That change means results from before 2025 cannot be compared directly with the latest figures. Within the new system, the direction of travel in 2026 is upward, but the size of the gain should not be read as a like-for-like jump from the older standard.
What counts as chronic absenteeism?
A student is counted as chronically absent when they miss 10 percent or more of the school year, counting excused and unexcused absences together. In a typical school year, that works out to roughly 18 days. The measure is deliberately broad: it is not about a single illness or a single family emergency, but about a pattern of missed days that adds up over months and starts to affect learning.
Why does mathematics keep lagging behind reading?
Mathematics has recovered more slowly than reading since the pandemic disrupted schooling, a pattern seen in Illinois and in national data as well. In Chicago, mathematics proficiency grew by the smallest amount among the subjects reported, and statewide mathematics proficiency remains well below reading. The state education board has begun work on a numeracy advisory plan aimed specifically at lifting mathematics achievement, a sign that officials see this as a subject-level problem rather than a general one.
What should a parent do if their child is missing a lot of school?
Start with the reason, not the total. Transport problems, health issues, anxiety about school, and scheduling clashes each need a different response, and schools can usually help more when they know which barrier is involved. Tracking attendance at home, even roughly, helps families spot a pattern early, while it is still easy to reverse. The practical steps later in this article explain how to do that without turning every absence into a confrontation.
One table, two stories
The statewide table below sets the main measures side by side. Read it as two stories at once: a story of recovery, and a story of unfinished work.
| Measure | 2026 figure | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| English language arts proficiency, statewide | About 55 percent | More than half of students reached proficiency, with a small gain on the previous year |
| Science proficiency, statewide | About 49 percent | Just under half of students reached proficiency |
| Mathematics proficiency, statewide | About 39 percent | The weakest of the three subjects, despite a slight gain |
| Four-year graduation rate, statewide | Nearly 90 percent | A new high, up steadily from 82 percent in 2012 |
| Chronic absenteeism, statewide | 23.5 percent | Down from recent peaks, but still well above 17.5 percent in 2019 |
The graduation figure deserves a moment of its own. A rate near 90 percent means almost nine in ten students who started high school finished within four years, a long climb from 82 percent in 2012. Graduation is a lagging measure: it reflects years of schooling, not one good term, so a new high usually means earlier improvements in attendance, course completion and support have compounded over time.
Proficiency figures tell a shorter-term story. They reflect the most recent assessments and are more sensitive to teaching, test design and the proficiency standard itself, which is why the table pairs each figure with a plain-language reading.
Three subjects, three different stories
English language arts: steady progress
English language arts is the strongest subject at state level, at about 55 percent proficient. In Chicago the figure is lower, at 44.6 percent, but the direction is the same, with a rise of three percentage points. District literacy leaders linked the gain to standards-aligned teaching and work with the district’s large population of English learners, who also recorded small gains. Reading often recovers first after disruption, because reading practice happens at home as well as at school.
Mathematics: the smallest gain, the biggest worry
Mathematics is where the report card is least encouraging. Statewide, about 39 percent of students reached proficiency, well behind reading. In Chicago, mathematics proficiency rose by two percentage points to 28.6 percent, described as the smallest growth among the academic measures reported. That gap between reading and mathematics, roughly 16 percentage points in Chicago, is the single clearest subject divide in the release.
Mathematics recovers more slowly for a clear reason: it builds in sequence, so a missed concept in one year makes the next year’s work harder. A student who misses several weeks of mathematics returns to a class that has moved on to material built directly on what was missed. That is also why mathematics and attendance are linked so closely, as the next section explains.
Science: the surprise gain in Chicago
Science produced the most striking Chicago figure. Science proficiency in the city’s schools reached 48.7 percent, reported as the largest gain among the subjects, with Hispanic students’ science scores rising by six percentage points to 36 percent, and Black students and English learners each gaining at least five percentage points from 2025. Statewide, science proficiency stood at about 49 percent, close to the Chicago figure.
That closeness matters: in reading and mathematics Chicago still trails the state by a clear margin, but in science it does not.
The full Chicago Tribune report on the release, which sets out these figures alongside the district’s response, is worth reading for readers who want the district-level detail in one place: Illinois Report Card 2026 coverage from the Chicago Tribune.
The attendance thread that runs through everything
If there is one theme that connects the score gains, the graduation high and the mathematics worry, it is attendance. Students cannot learn material they were not present to be taught, and the report card shows that absence remains far more common than it was before the pandemic.
Statewide, chronic absenteeism fell to 23.5 percent, meaning roughly one student in four missed at least a tenth of the school year. That improves on the peaks seen during and just after the pandemic, but it remains well above the 17.5 percent recorded in 2019, the last full school year before pandemic disruption. The state has recovered part of the ground it lost, but not all of it.
The average also conceals wide differences. Chronic absenteeism stood at 37 percent for Black students and 30 percent for Hispanic students statewide, both well above the overall rate. Those gaps point to barriers that are not spread evenly: transport, health, housing instability and work or caring responsibilities at home affect some families far more than others.
Chicago’s picture is sharper still. The city’s public schools serve more than 304,000 students, and chronic absenteeism there dipped by one percentage point to 39 percent. That is a move in the right direction, but it still means that nearly two in five Chicago students missed at least a tenth of the year. High school rates remained especially high, with the share of Chicago high school students missing that much school running at more than double the state average in most cases. High school is also the stage where absence has the most direct effect on graduation, because missed credits and missed coursework accumulate quickly.
It helps to know how schools count chronic absence, because the definition shapes how families should think about it. Missing 10 percent of the school year sounds abstract until it is translated into days: roughly 18 days across a typical school year, counting excused and unexcused absences together. A guide to calculating the absenteeism rate explains how schools turn days missed into percentages, and the national picture shows the same pattern elsewhere: a look at chronic absenteeism improvement across 21 states shows Illinois is not alone in seeing rates fall while remaining above pre-pandemic levels. Tracking a child’s own percentage, even roughly, turns an abstract statewide statistic into a number a family can act on early, while a small pattern is still easy to reverse.
Why mathematics is getting its own plan
The decision to start a numeracy advisory plan deserves attention, because states do not usually create a subject-specific plan unless the general approach is not working fast enough for that subject. Mathematics builds in sequence, so missed lessons compound, and it relies heavily on classroom instruction and guided practice, which are harder to replace at home than reading practice.
A numeracy plan, as described in the reporting on the release, is meant to bring together advice on curriculum, teacher support and early intervention for students who fall behind. The details will matter more than the announcement: whether schools get help with the topics where students struggle most, whether struggling students are identified early rather than after a poor test result, and whether attendance support is built in, since an intervention cannot work for a student who is not in the room.
For parents, the plan is a reason to ask a specific question at the next school meeting: what is the school doing differently in mathematics this year, and how will it know whether it is working?
What families can do with a report card like this
A statewide report card can feel remote from a single child’s school day. These steps bring it closer to home, without requiring any special expertise.
First, find the school’s own figures, not just the district or state average. A school that looks average overall may be strong in reading and weak in mathematics, or the reverse. The subject breakdown matters more than the overall rating, because it shows where a child’s experience is likely to be strongest and where extra support at home could help most.
Second, track attendance in the same way schools do. Count days missed across the year, including excused absences, and divide by the number of school days so far. If the result is approaching 10 percent, that is the point to talk to the school, not after it has passed that mark. A guide to improving attendance percentage offers practical steps families and schools can take together, starting with identifying the specific barrier rather than treating absence as a single problem.
Third, separate a one-off dip from a pattern. A child who misses a week with illness and then returns to full attendance is in a different position from a child who misses one or two days every week. Schools use the chronic absence measure precisely because it captures patterns, not single events.
Fourth, ask about mathematics support early. If a child is behind, waiting until the end of the year means waiting until the gap has grown. A short weekly session focused on the specific topics missed is usually more effective than a large intervention later.
Finally, keep graduation in perspective. A statewide rate near 90 percent is genuinely good news, and Chicago’s 83 percent, described by the district as a record high for the city, is also progress. But graduation rates reflect students who stayed on track for four years, not those who left, changed schools or took longer to finish.
A recovery that is real, and incomplete
The 2026 Illinois Report Card tells a story that is easy to summarise and hard to misread if the details are kept in view. Scores are up. Graduation is at a new high. Attendance is improving, but it has not returned to where it was before the pandemic, and the students who miss the most school are still missing far more than their peers. Mathematics, the subject most sensitive to missed lessons, is improving the slowest.
That is a recovery, but it is an incomplete one. The next report card will show whether the numeracy plan and the attendance work narrow the gaps this one exposed. For families, the most useful response is not to wait for that release, but to use this one: check the school’s subject figures, track attendance as a percentage, and ask the specific questions that turn a statewide average into support for one child.
To check a child’s own attendance figure, try the attendance percentage calculator on the homepage, which turns days attended and days missed into a clear percentage in a few seconds.
