Rock Island Today

Test results show 35.5% of Mercer 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 Mercer County students who succeeded rose by 21.4% 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
Winola Elementary School	43%	5.1%	252
New Boston Elementary School	42.2%	1.2%	160
Matherville Intermediate School	38.7%	1.1%	189
Mercer County Junior High School	35.8%	0.8%	268
Sherrard Elementary School	24.5%	0%	234
Apollo Elementary School	24.1%	1.7%	341

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