Summary
Thornton Township High School is a public school serving 1,697 students in grades 9–12 in Harvey, a south suburban community near several other high schools. In 2025–2026, its 11th-grade ACT proficiency rates were 17% in English language arts (ELA), 11% in math, and 22% in science, compared with 50%, 40%, and 48% statewide. The main concern is that proficiency remains far below state levels, with ELA the clearest weakness against nearby schools.
ELA is Thornton’s weakest subject in local comparisons: it had the lowest 11th-grade ACT ELA result among six nearby high schools, and the lowest 9th- and 10th-grade PreACT ELA results. Its science results compare better with local peers: Thornton ranked third among the six schools in 11th-grade ACT science and was near the middle for 10th-grade PreACT science. Ninth-grade math is a relative bright spot, at 16%—second-lowest among the six nearby high schools, just below Thornwood High School. Against Thornton Township HSD 205, the school was close on 11th-grade ACT results, slightly below the district in ELA and math and slightly above in science. These relative strengths are within a generally low set of results, not evidence that proficiency is near state levels.
Some recent results improved: from 2024–2025 to 2025–2026, ninth-grade PreACT math rose from 11% to 16%, moving from below to above the district, while 11th-grade ACT ELA fell from 21% to 17%. Chronic absenteeism also remains high at 44%, compared with 24% statewide, despite declining from 74% in 2021–2022. SchoolDigger ranked Thornton 580th of 620 Illinois schools, at the 6th percentile with zero stars; its student-teacher ratio was 14.2 in 2024–2025, and 88% of students were free/reduced lunch eligible that year. One notable exception in SchoolDigger’s statewide group rankings is English Language Learner Students: the school ranked at the 66th percentile in 2025–2026, compared with the overall 6th percentile, after rising from the 36th percentile in 2023–2024.
Thank you for your feedback!