In the 2023-24 school year, 57.7% of Chester Community Unit School District 139 students failed the ELA portion of the Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR) test, according to the Illinois State Board of Education.
These students did not meet the required standards of the ELA portion of the IAR compared to the 42.2% who did.
The total number Chester Community Unit School District 139 students who failed their ELA assessments fell by 4.5% from the previous school year.
Chester Community Unit School District 139 roughly covers schools within Randolph County and has a main office in Chester.
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.
K-12 enrollment has been declining in Illinois for many years, reflecting the state’s demographic changes. Between the 2019–20 and 2022–23 school years, Illinois public school enrollment declined from approximately 1.98 million to 1.85 million students, a decrease of about 127,000 students or 6.4%. This decline is significantly higher than the typical annual decreases of 0.5% to 1.5% observed in the preceding years, reflecting broader demographic shifts within the state.
| School | District | Students who did not meet met standards (%) |
|---|---|---|
| Chester Elementary School | Chester Community Unit School District 139 | 57.7% |
