Minooka Community High School officials recently dug into this fall’s state report card data. District 111 wound up in the second-tier “commendable” category, but was close to the top-level “exemplary” designation.

MCHS’ score on the Illinois Report Card improved from an overall index score of 83.74 a year ago to an 88.90 in 2025.

“We had significant growth across these categories,” Phil Pakowski, District 111’s assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, said. “We came up just a hair short of being considered ‘exemplary.’”

As is the case with all statewide school districts, Minooka 111’s report card score was the amalgamation of a range of data, including English language arts, math and science proficiency scores, graduation rates and absenteeism, among others.

Pakowski and other Minooka 111 officials hashed over some of the school report card data — and how it is be incorporated into current-year decisions — at the board of education’s most recent monthly meeting Nov. 19.

Overall proficiency scores in math and ELA are viewed as strengths within the district, Pakowski said. A combined 60.9% of MCHS students scored “above proficient” or “proficient” in ELA, while 52.1% of students attained the top two designations in math.

Science proficiency scores, at a combined 51.6% “above proficient” or “proficient” have been designated by Pakowski and other Minooka 111 administrators as an “area for growth” for the current school year.

There are several areas where Minooka 111 has traditionally excelled, Pakowski noted, including the district’s graduation rate of 99.1%. It has been steadily climbing up in a four-year comparison. In 2022, the high school’s graduation rate, by contrast, was at 94.3%.

“Our students are being very successful here at Minooka Community High School, and we’re very proud that those students are graduating on time,” Pakowski said.

A metric gauging whether incoming high school ninth-graders are on track to graduation was another area where MCHS excelled. The district scored a 96.0 in this year’s report card, besting seven years of prior historical data that had scores ranging from 84.1 to 94.1.

“Unfortunately, the state of Illinois is in the process of revamping the school report card,” Superintendent Robert Schiffbauer noted during the recent discussion. “They are removing ‘9th grade on track’ as one of the indicators, even though it’s based on research that it’s a key indicator of future success.”

The data point might not be a part of future state report cards, but Schiffbauer said it will remain an internal metric that is reviewed.

“It still is something we’re going to track, because it is important,” he said.

Chronic absenteeism has been — and continues to be — a point of concern within the district.

MCHS’ chronic absenteeism rate increased in year-over-year comparisons. Data in 2025 pegged the figure at 19.8, up from 19.2 in 2024.

“I know we had some questions last year about our chronic absenteeism rate,” Pakowski said. “Obviously, we don’t want 20% of our students to be considered chronically absent.”

District officials noted Minooka 111 is not alone in recording stubbornly high chronic absenteeism rates in the post-pandemic environment. A number of neighboring districts, Pakowski and others noted, reported similar figures.

“That’s an area we’re going to keep working on,” Pakowski said. “Obviously, kids learn better when they’re in school. We want our students to be with us. That’s the best spot for them to be. We’ll continue with our processes and our programs to get our students here.”