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Kaneland students beat state average in high school graduation, other success indicators

SUGAR GROVE – Kaneland indicators of success and data from the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) school report card were shared during the Kaneland Board of Education meeting Nov. 11, and the district’s graduation rate and other benchmarks are higher than the state average.

These indicators of success were selected by Kaneland to monitor student achievement, while the ISBE issues reports cards annually for each public school and district in the state.

“I think it’s a great opportunity for us to take a look at comprehensive data on our district, both districtwide and by building, so we’re going to take some time to look into that data and share some of that,” said Todd Leden, superintendent of Kaneland. “While the state stuff is important to us, what we really look at is our growth from year to year and look at some of our comparables and our individual growth.”

The average class size at Kaneland is 23.8 students per classroom, which is slightly higher than the 21.9 for the state. Among the 4,331 students in the district, 81% are white, 11.1% are Hispanic, 2.3% are black, 2.1% are Asian and less than 1% are American Indian. Low income students account for 14.5% of the student body compared with 48.8% statewide.

Teacher retention rate at Kaneland is at 90.1% and higher than the 85.7% figure for the state, while the average Kaneland teacher salary is $68,474 compared with $67,049 for the state.

Academically, the district is lacking compared with the state in algebra as just 21.3% of district eighth-graders are passing Algebra 1 compared with 30.6% of the state.

When it comes to graduation projections, 94.6% of Kaneland’s ninth-graders are on track to graduate compared with only 86.6% of students throughout the state.

Kaneland High School’s graduation rate is 90.9% overall compared with 85.9% for the state. It is at 80.4% for children with disabilities while it’s at 74.4% for the state.

Nearly 30% of Kaneland high school students are taking early college courses, including 44.5% of seniors.

The Indicators of Success can be reviewed at www.kaneland.org. Additional data about Kaneland’s report card can be found at www.illinoisreportcard.com.

In other news, the Fox Valley Career Center’s fee for use of Kaneland facilities for 2020-21 will be $4,592 less than it is in the current school year.

Julie-Ann Fuchs, associate superintendent for Kaneland, said the decrease is primarily the result of two things.

“The FVCC staff has decreased and the Kaneland staff has increased,” she said. “And Kaneland significantly increased technology devices in 2019-2020 as a result of providing a Chromebook for all students in grades four through 12. These two areas reduced the FVCC portion of the associated costs.”

The board approved a new fee of $52,393 for 2020-21.

Source: The Daily Chronicle

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