Summary:
Kewanee CUSD 229 is a school district in Illinois that serves the community of Kewanee and the surrounding area. The district has one high school, Kewanee High School, which has struggled to maintain its performance in recent years. While the school's graduation rate is slightly below the state average, it faces significant challenges, including a high dropout rate, chronic absenteeism, and low standardized test scores compared to other Illinois high schools.
Kewanee High School's statewide ranking has declined from 489 out of 699 Illinois high schools in 2021-2022 to 501 out of 697 in 2023-2024, indicating a worsening performance relative to its peers. The school's low test scores, with only 7.4% of 11th-grade students proficient or better in SAT Mathematics, compared to the state average of 26.1%, suggest that the school is not adequately preparing its students for academic success. Additionally, the school has a high percentage of students (67.3%) receiving free or reduced-price lunch, indicating a significant level of economic disadvantage among the student population.
Despite the school's challenges, it does have some resources available, with a student-teacher ratio of 16.2 to 1 and a per-student spending level slightly higher than the state average. However, these resources do not appear to be translating into improved student outcomes, and the district may need to take a more comprehensive, data-driven approach to address the root causes of the school's poor performance, such as chronic absenteeism and low academic achievement.
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