Southern Illinois News

Nearly 10 in 10 Pope County public high school students aren't at grade level in math.

That's according to an analysis from Southern Illinois News of test scores compiled by the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE).

ISBE reports that in the 2023-24 school year, 95.3% of Pope County's 43 public high school students—approximately 40 students—failed the math portion of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) and have “minimal (or) incomplete understanding of the knowledge and skills relative to Illinois Learning Standards.”

Students can achieve four proficiencies in their subjects: partially met, approaching, meets, and exceeds standards. This report concludes students who partially met or approached the standards have failed in the subject.

Pope County High School, the only high school in Pope County, registered its highest failure (95.3%) rate during 2022, and the lowest (90.5%) in 2021.

Countywide, math test failure rates rose from 90.5% in the 2022-23 school year to 95.3% in the 2023-24 school year.

Pope County High School was the only Pope County high school to experience an increase in failure rates in the 2023-24 school year, reaching 95.3%.

Statewide, failure rates were highest in Bureau County, Christian County, Gallatin County, Schuyler County, and Hamilton County, where the percentage of students who failed the math exam were 82.4%, 91.6%, 93.4%, 93.6%, and 95.2%, respectively.

Data shows that 73.7% of Illinois students failed the 2023-24 school year state math exam, up from 73% in the 2022-23 school year.

The SAT test is administered to Illinois high school sophomores “to fulfill the requirement that students take an assessment for college and career readiness in order to receive a regular high school diploma.”

High School	Student Count	Failure Rate in 2022-23	Failure Rate in 2023-24
Pope County High School	43	90.5%	95.3%