Prairie State Education Coverage, Driven by Data
Education News & Data
Local education reporting from every corner of Illinois, grounded in Illinois Department of Education data.
Illinois reached an 89.0% four-year graduation rate in 2025, the highest point in the state's comparable 2019-2025 graduation-rate series and 1.0 point below 90%.
Four of Illinois's largest urban districts outside the collar counties have chronic absenteeism above 40%. Decatur is worst at 46.1%, while Springfield was already at 42% before COVID.
Pam Long says Brussels' size is its strength as she begins leading the small Calhoun County district as superintendent.
Dr. Brett Gallini says he advanced his start date to avoid another transition, then spent his first weeks visiting schools and classrooms across CCSD59.
Kindergarten chronic absenteeism fell from 29.1% to 26.1%, the largest improvement of any grade. Elementary schools are leading Illinois's attendance recovery.
Despite statewide improvement from 26.3% to 25.4%, 64 districts recorded their highest chronic absence rates in the available 2018-19 to 2024-25 series.
Five districts in the Metro East region across from St. Louis have chronic rates above 50%. Venice CUSD 3 went from 9.1% to 51.8% in five years.
A cluster of suburban Cook County high school districts reports chronic absenteeism between 45% and 53%, rivaling or exceeding Chicago Public Schools' 40.1% rate.
Every grade from K through 11 improved its chronic absenteeism rate in 2024-25. Seniors bucked the trend, worsening to 41.5% — a 23-point gap from elementary school.
35.1% of students who are economically disadvantaged miss too much school, nearly 10 points above the state average. Special education and English learner rates are similarly elevated.
Hispanic chronic absenteeism has fallen from 36.1% at its 2022 peak to 31.7%, but the gap with white students has held at about 14 points for four years.
In 11 Illinois districts, more students are chronically absent than not. Five are clustered in the Metro East region, where rates reach as high as 63.6%. East St. Louis, the hardest-hit in 2019, has since improved.
Only 23 of 822 Illinois districts have returned to pre-pandemic chronic absenteeism rates. The rest are stuck 11 points above baseline.
A pre-COVID trend line projected Illinois would have nearly 2 million students in 2025. Instead it has 1.85 million, a gap driven by outmigration, fewer births, and pandemic fallout.
Suburban Chicago districts are posting double-digit sped rate increases. TSD 113 went from 15% to 34% in six years.
