Prairie du Rocher Elementary School more than doubled its score on the Illinois School Report Card released Oct. 27. 

The school scored 31.61 on the last report card, released in 2019. The school scored 69.14 on the recent 2022 report card. The report card score is calculated using academics as 75 percent of the score, and 25 percent comes from attendance and a climate survey.

Students in grades 3-8 who met or exceeded state standards grew 20 points in math from 2019 to 2022 (23 to 43 percent). Those who met or exceeded in English/language arts grew 14 points (24 to 38 percent).

Prairie du Rocher Elementary showed the highest growth of any area elementary or middle school from 2019 to 2022 in both math and ELA. The math proficiency was 17 percent above the state average, and ELA was 8 percent above the state average.

“The growth we have made through one of the most challenging times in education (pandemic), is incredible,” Prairie du Rocher School Superintendent Rob Pipher said. “Most schools in our area declined in test scores during the pandemic. It is a testament to the hard work of our students, teachers and families and the systematic changes we made, that our test scores soared during this time period.”

“In addition to the work that was done in the classroom, our school board deserves a great deal of credit for making some very difficult decisions that have improved many aspects of our school and the education we provide. Their willingness to be creative and challenge the status quo has set us on a new trajectory of growth and success for all students,” continued Pipher.

Pipher also attributed this growth to the partnership with the Monroe-Randolph Regional Office of Education.

“Our school improvement process has allowed us to partner with our ROE for professional development. The professional development trainers have worked one on one with our teachers to help us provide better classroom instruction. It has been the best professional development I have seen throughout my career,” Pipher said.

The superintendent added that his school will continue to push for improvement. 

“Our staff has welcomed the challenge to increase our student performance. We have made the necessary changes to increase learning in all students every day,” he said.