Heritage receives “Commendable” designation on Illinois Report Card

BY DANI TIETZ
dani@sjodaily.com

The Heritage School District received a “Commendable” designation on the Illinois Report Card, which was released on Oct. 30.

Each year, the Illinois State Board of Education gives schools summative designations based on data provided.

Schools receive Exemplary School, Commendable School, Underperforming School, and Lowest-Performing School designations. 

Heritage High School, Heritage Elementary and Junior High School received “Commendable” designations. 

With 449 students district-wide, enrollment in the Heritage School District declined by 30 students in 2019 after gaining approximately 10 students from 2015-2018. 

Grades 6 and 12 saw the increases at 12 and 14, respectively.

The district has 41-percent low-income students. The low-income rate has fluctuated between 36 and 42 percent since 2015.

The report shows that chronic absenteeism, meaning students who miss 10-percent or more of school with or without a valid excuse, decreased by 3 percent from 21-percent in 2018 to 18-percent in 2019. The state average has been 17 and 18-percent in 2018 and 2019. 

But chronic truism rates, 5-percent or more of school days per year without a valid excuse, is rising. In 2015 and 2016, the rate was 2 and 1-percent, respectively. In 2017 and 2018 it was 11-percent and in 2019 it was at 13-percent.

High School drop-out percentages also increased. In 2015-2016 the district reported zero, but in 2017 and 2018, drop-outs were at 1-percent and in 2019 they were reported at 8-percent.

A five-year look at 4-year graduation rates showed Heritage High School losing a bit of steam after a 97-percent 4-year graduation rate in 2018. The 4-year rate in 2017 was 83-percent and the 5-year rate in 2019 was 97-percent.  

As a class, 75-percent of freshmen were on track to graduate in 2019. The percentage was at 83-percent in 2017 and 76-percent in 2018.

Heritage High School students see near-state-average scores on their SAT test. In 2017, students received an average score of 503 on the English Language Assessment (ELA) part of the test and a 472 on Math. 

Math scores in 2018 were an average of 450 as did ELA scores at 494.3. In 2019, Heritage students scored an average of 476 on ELA and 447.5 on Math.

Since graduating in 2019, 61-percent of Heritage graduates have enrolled in college. That number is down from 2018 when it was 78-percent. In 2017, the rate was 60 percent and in 2016, the rate was 71-percent.

The district spends roughly $12,000 per student enrolled. According to ISBE’s report, the district spends $12,708 per student at Heritage High School. Expenditures per student at Heritage Junior High and Elementary are at $11,232 per student.

The Heritage District was designated at a Tier 2 school for Evidence-Based Funding in 2019. At $4,634,504 Evidence-Based Funding Resources, they are at 87-percent capacity to meet the $5,313,550 Adequacy Target. 

Average class size throughout the Heritage District has been below the state average since 2015. With the state average holding steady at 21-23 students per class, overall, Heritage classrooms fluctuate between 11 and 20 students per class.

The Heritage School District, which has a total of 35 teachers has a student to teacher ratio of 15.1 at the elementary level and 14.1 at the high school level. The state average is 18.1 at the elementary level and 19.1 at the state level.

The teacher retention rate, the 3-year average percentage of teachers returning to work at Heritage, remains above the state average, at 89-percent. 

On average, teachers within the Heritage School district see a lower salary than their state-wide counterparts. This has held true at least since 2015.

Currently, on average, Heritage teachers are paid $51,208 per year. The state average is $67,049.

The percentage of teachers who are absent more than 10 days per year rose in 2019. In 2017, 95-percent of teachers had fewer than 10 absences within the school year, but in 2018, 71-percent of teachers missed fewer than 10 days and in 2019 75-percent of teachers missed fewer than 10 days.

In 2017 and 2019, 100-percent of Heritage teachers received Excellent or Proficient designations on their evaluations. 94-percent of teacher received the highest rating in 2018.

The Heritage School District falls behind the state average of administration to student ratio. The state average of admins to students was 173:1 in 2019, but Heritage was at 225:1.

Average administrator pay was closer to the state average, though. In 2019, Heritage administrators made an average of $107,622 whereas the state administrators made an average of $109,592.