Summary:
The Dakota CUSD 201 district in Illinois consists of two schools: Dakota Elementary School and Dakota Junior Senior High School. The district serves students from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade, with a total enrollment of 749 students across the two schools.
Dakota Junior Senior High School stands out as a top-performing school, ranking in the top 21% of Illinois high schools and maintaining a 4-star rating from SchoolDigger for the past three years. The school boasts high proficiency rates in English Language Arts (55.3%) and Mathematics (46.6%), as well as a strong 89.0% graduation rate and a low 2.4% dropout rate. In contrast, while Dakota Elementary School has seen a decline in its statewide ranking, its test scores have shown improvement, particularly in 6th-grade proficiency rates, which exceed the district and state averages.
Both schools face the challenge of high chronic absenteeism rates, at 25.4%, which is an area for potential improvement. Additionally, the elementary school has a higher percentage of students receiving free or reduced-price lunch (41.13%) compared to the junior/senior high school (33.24%), suggesting a greater need for targeted support and resources. The district may benefit from further investigation into the factors contributing to the high schools' success and the elementary school's progress, as well as strategies to address the concerning chronic absenteeism rates across both schools.
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