Despite dismal student performance on annual exams covering math and reading, high school graduation rates remain high across the Decatur metro area, according to a Macon Reporter analysis of 2016 data from the Illinois State Board of Education.
Of the 12 schools analyzed in Macon, DeWitt and Moultrie counties, Meridian High School showed the greatest disparity. In a year when 83 percent of seniors graduated on time, just 6 percent of students actually passed annual tests that the state uses to determine who is "ready for the next level."
The end-of-year tests known as the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, or PARCC, are administered to third- through eighth-graders in Illinois, testing them based on Common Core standards. High schoolers also took the tests through 2016.
A composite score combines the results of the subject tests. Students whose scores either meet or exceed expectations are considered "ready for the next level."
Schools' graduation fraud index shows the difference between the composite passing rate and the graduation rate.
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Graduation fraud index
| Decatur metro area high school | School district | City | Annual exam pass rate (%) | Graduation rate (%) | Graduation fraud index |
| Meridian High School | Meridian Cusd 15 | Macon | 6.4 | 82.7 | -76.3 |
| Warrensburg-Latham High School | Warrensburg-Latham Cusd 11 | Warrensburg | 24.3 | 95.7 | -71.4 |
| Eisenhower High School | Decatur Sd 61 | Decatur | 3.1 | 71.8 | -68.7 |
| MacArthur High School | Decatur Sd 61 | Decatur | 5.8 | 72.2 | -66.4 |
| Clinton High School | Clinton Cusd 15 | Clinton | 21.3 | 86.7 | -65.4 |
| Okaw Valley High School | Okaw Valley Cusd 302 | Bethany | 28.2 | 91.9 | -63.7 |
| Argenta-Oreana High School | Argenta-Oreana Cusd 1 | Argenta | 16.7 | 78.6 | -61.9 |
| Sullivan High School | Sullivan Cusd 300 | Sullivan | 33.4 | 93.4 | -60 |
| Maroa-Forsyth Senior High School | Maroa Forsyth Cusd 2 | Maroa | 32.2 | 86.9 | -54.7 |
| Blue Ridge High School | Blue Ridge Cusd 18 | Farmer City | 41.3 | 90.6 | -49.3 |
| Sangamon Valley High School | Sangamon Valley Cusd 9 | Niantic | 34.8 | 82.9 | -48.1 |
| Mt Zion High School | Mt Zion Cusd 3 | Mount Zion | 47.2 | 93.6 | -46.4 |
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