Macon Reporter

Test results show 27% of Macon County students passed the ELA portion of the Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR) in the 2023-24 school year, according to the Illinois State Board of Education.

The number of Macon County students who succeeded rose by 14.1% compared to the previous school year.

Woodford County had the highest success rate across the state, with 60.7% of its students passing the ELA portion of the IAR. Schools in Alexander County, on the other hand, performed the worst, with 87.3% of students failing to meet test requirements.

The Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR) measures how well students in grades 3-8 are progressing toward state standards in English language arts and mathematics.

Recent IAR data shows that while Illinois students improved slightly in the test, math performance remains below pre-pandemic levels. In 2024, 28.4% of students met math benchmarks, compared to 31.8% in 2019. 

However, data also indicates a significant achievement gap based on race and ethnicity. The disparities were even more pronounced in math. White students achieved a proficiency rate of 38.7%, while Black students achieved 9.1% and Hispanic students 15.6%. Asian students achieved the highest proficiency rates in both subjects, hitting 68.2% in ELA and 61.4% in math.

Illinois allocated $8.6 billion to K-12 education in its 2025 budget—a $350 million increase over FY 2024, meeting the minimum required under the state’s school funding formula.

School	Students who met standards (%)	Students who exceed standards (%)	Total enrollment
Maroa-Forsyth Middle School	51.8%	14.1%	245
Warrensburg-Latham Middle School	51.7%	21.3%	214
Maroa-Forsyth Grade School	48.5%	3.7%	584
Warrensburg-Latham Elementary School	46%	5.3%	458
Mt. Zion Junior High School	44%	4.1%	398
Argenta-Oreana Middle School	42.4%	5.6%	174
Mt. Zion Intermediate School	40%	2.7%	521
Mt. Zion Elementary School	36.7%	4.5%	347
Meridian Middle School	35.5%	3.6%	198
Meridian Elementary School	32.3%	1.6%	466
Argenta-Oreana Elementary School	30.7%	1.6%	455
Robertson Charter School	24.5%	1.5%	329
Montessori Academy for Peace	20.8%	0.9%	648
Johns Hill Magnet School	11.2%	0.2%	625
American Dreamer STEM Academy	9.1%	0%	364
Dennis Elementary School	8%	0.6%	520
Michael E. Baum Elementary School	7.6%	0.6%	323
Stephen Decatur Middle School	6.3%	0.2%	474
Muffley Elementary School	6.1%	0%	389
South Shores Elementary School	5.4%	0.6%	320
Parsons Accelerated School	5.4%	0%	465
Franklin Grove Elementary School	3.5%	0.4%	460
Hope Academy	0.3%	0%	527

Information in this story was obtained from the Illinois State Board of Education. The source data can be found here.