“We wish to congratulate all five Coal City Schools for another year of successful
designations,” stated the Coal City Community Unit School District #1 Director of
Curriculum and Instruction.
The statement from Jennifer Kenney came at the Nov. 5 meeting of the Board of
Education as she announced the summative designations received by each of the
district’s five academic buildings. The information comes from the 2025 Illinois
Report Card, a document that takes a formulated look at how students are
performing in the classroom compared to their peers across the state. The local
school data was published last week by the Illinois State Board of Education [ISBE].
Two Unit 1 Schools received the highest ranking and were designated
exemplary—Coal City Intermediate School and Coal City High School. These
academic centers rank among the top 10 percent of all elementary and high schools
in the state.
“To be in the top 10 percent of schools across the state is pretty impressive and we
are very proud of the students, faculty and staff,” Superintendent Chris Spencer said.
Coal City Early Childhood Center, Coal City Elementary School and Coal City Middle
School were designated as commendable. The state data released on Oct. 30 shows
that each of these schools were just points away from earning exemplary status.
According to ISBE, the summative designations describe how well a school is doing
in meeting the needs of its students. There are several indicators that go into
calculating a school’s level of performance.
Elementary and middle school academic indicators total 75 percent including
growth in both English/language arts [ELA] and math. Proficiency in ELA, math, and
science, and English learners progress to proficiency. The remaining 25 percent is
based on school quality and student success indicators that consist of a climate
survey and chronic absenteeism.
The Intermediate School’s overall summative designation score was 84.64. The state
exemplary threshold for elementary and middle schools was 81.99. Exemplary
schools are those that have no underperforming student groups at or below the “all
students” group of the lowest performing 5 percent of schools. And, for high schools
they must have a graduation rate of 67 percent.
Coal City High School’s designation was based on a score of 93.24. The exemplary
threshold for ninth-twelfth grade schools was 93.02.
High school academic indicators total 75 percent including ELA, math and science
proficiency, graduate rate, and English learner progress to proficiency. The
remaining 25 percent are school quality and student success indicators that include
chronic absenteeism, climate survey and ninth graders on track to graduate.
The district’s commendable schools all posted scores just below the exemplary
threshold. The Early Childhood Center scored 79.30 (2.69 points from exemplary),
Elementary School was 79.16 (2.83 points from exemplary) and the middle school
came in at 79.05 (2.94 points from exemplary).
The district’s report card, as well as those for each academic building, can be viewed
at www.illinoisreportcard.com/.