CENTRAL ILLINOIS (WCIA) -- The 2025 Illinois Report Card indicates that schools around the state are seeing improved graduation rates and declining student absenteeism. At the same time, disparities in English language arts and math between racial, ethnic and economic groups remain.

The report card was released on Thursday. State Superintendent of Education Dr. Tony Sanders said schools are showing improvements in areas that were hit hard by the pandemic -- like attendance and student growth rate.

This report card is also the first to use a new assessment system. Previously, performance levels mislabeled many students, indicating that students were less successful and prepared for college than they actually were. But, the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) said the new benchmarks m

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