Illinois High School to College Success Report

Each year, more than 65,000 Illinois public high school graduates enroll full-time for the first time in the 48 public community colleges and 12 public four year colleges and universities in Illinois. Accurate and comprehensive data on the academic progress of these students during their first year in higher education provides educators and policymakers with important information. Such information can be used to engage in collaborative discussions and decisions to support secondary and postsecondary institutions in developing an articulated and aligned curriculum to ensure success for all students.

For 18 years, Illinois released a high school feedback report; up to this point, only 11 four-year public universities collected and reported data centrally through this tool. The October 2007 adoption of Senate Joint Resolution 59 (SJR59), relating to Students College Readiness, expanded the participation of postsecondary institutions. As a result, the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE), Illinois Board of Higher Education (IBHE), and Illinois Community College Board (ICCB) developed an Illinois High School to College Success Report. This report presents data from the 2006-08 school years and includes information from the 48 community colleges as well as the 11 four-year public institutions that receive freshman students.

• Public Four-Year Institution Composite
• Chicago State University
• Eastern Illinois University
• Illinois State University
• Northeastern Illinois University
• Northern Illinois University
• Southern Illinois University Carbondale
• Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
• U of I at Chicago
• U of I at Urbana/Champaign
• U of I Springfield
• Western Illinois University

The 2006–08 Illinois High School to College Success Report package consists of three separate reports:

• Individual High School Reports. These reports provide school-level information on how graduates from individual high schools performed during their freshman year at Illinois postsecondary institutions.

• State Aggregate High School Report. This report aggregates the data from the Individual High School Reports into a single state report.

• Individual Postsecondary Reports. This new report for Illinois colleges and universities provides information on freshman students and the high schools from which they graduated.

The charts and tables in the Illinois High School to College Success Report describe performance indicators for Prairie State Achievement Examination (PSAE)–tested high school graduates who attended a public two-year or four-year postsecondary institution in Illinois during the 2006–08 school years.

The report provides a snapshot of data and information to support conversations about the following:

• A statewide comparison of college grade point averages (GPAs) for the fall 2006-2008 semesters
• The alignment of freshman student performance to the ACT College Readiness Benchmark Scores
• The relationship between rigorous mathematics and science preparation in high school and student success during the first year of college
• ACT composite scores and statewide enrollment by college
• The percentage of high school graduates who completed college-preparatory (core) coursework and the relationship to their first-year experience in college
• The relationship between ACT scores, participation in developmental coursework, and college GPAs for fall 2006-2008
• College persistence and retention rates

Another noteworthy piece of the Illinois High School to College Success Report is its emphasis on data-driven decision making. The report not only will engage secondary and postsecondary stakeholders but also will use multiple data sources to facilitate informed, collaborative decision making.

ISBE, IBHE, and ICCB have disseminated the reports to participating secondary and postsecondary institutions and have also provided access to the report through their respective websites. In addition, the Illinois Interactive Report Card (IIRC) includes Individual High School Reports that can be accessed directly through the IIRC website.

The Illinois High School to College Success Report will be used as a tool to build and strengthen collaborative efforts between secondary and postsecondary educators, parents and community residents, and policymakers to increase student achievement:

1. Educators have additional information to review curriculum, standards, and expectations and to make revisions when appropriate to improve student success.
2. Parents and community residents have information on college and career readiness to support conversations with secondary and postsecondary institutions and groups.
3. Policymakers have additional data to make policy decisions to support the collaboration between secondary and postsecondary institutions as well as the alignment between secondary and postsecondary standards and expectations.

The following chart indicates the parameters of the pilot report:

An essential element of the 2007–08 Illinois High School to College Success Report is the formative evaluation process, which serves to facilitate its use as an exemplary feedback instrument. Throughout the initial rollout year, evaluation data assessing the institutional use, dissemination timeline, data included, and access to professional development will be collected and reviewed for modification or expansion.

1.  Is this the first time that information on the freshman-year college performance of Illinois high school graduates has been available?
   
   Since 1990, Illinois has produced a report on the performance of high school graduates. The redesigned report, however is different in several ways:
   
   
• In addition to high schools, the information included in the report will be provided to the public postsecondary institutions in Illinois, ISBE, IBHE, and ICCB.  All three reports (individual high school, state aggregate and postsecondary) will also be available for public consumption via agency websites and the Illinois Interactive Report Card (IIRC). In contrast previous high school feedback reports were sent only to the principals of Illinois high schools.
  
  
• The 2006–08 report will include, for the first time, information on student achievement at all Illinois public community colleges and four-year institutions that admit freshmen. Previous reports did not include community college information.
  
  
• For the first time, a report specific to individual postsecondary institutions will be produced. This report will inform higher education institutions on how incoming freshmen from various feeder high schools perform at their institution.
  
  
2. Will information from private colleges and universities in Illinois be included in the report?
   
   The 2006–08 pilot report will include information only from Illinois public community colleges and four-year institutions accepting freshmen. In the future, however, private colleges and universities in Illinois will be encouraged to contribute data to the report.
   
   
3. When and how will the report be disseminated?
   
   The report was distributed in early June 2011 to the secondary and postsecondary institutions with a joint cover letter from ISBE, IBHE, and ICCB. The information is also available on the ISBE, IBHE, and ICCB websites. The Illinois Interactive Report Card (IIRC) will post individual high school reports that can be accessed directly through the IIRC website or through a link from the ISBE website.