Waukegan High School

Waukegan High School serves grades 9–12 in Waukegan, Illinois, and has 4,186 students, the largest enrollment among six nearby high schools. Test proficiency is low, and 11th-grade ACT proficiency is well below state levels in English language arts (22% versus 50%), math (15% versus 40%) and science (22% versus 48%). The clearest concern is attendance: in 2025–26, 55% of students were chronically absent, compared with 33% districtwide and 24% statewide, and every nearby school with a reported rate was lower.

Math is a relative strength, but results remain far below both the state and nearby-school averages. Across the tested grades, Waukegan’s math proficiency gaps versus nearby averages were about 27–28 percentage points; the gaps were about 29–33 points in English language arts and 29–32 points in science. Ninth-grade PreACT results were higher than 10th-grade results in all three subjects, but Waukegan ranked near the bottom of the nearby group in each. Its 2025–26 graduation rate was 85%, matching the district rate but below the state’s 90% and most nearby schools’ reported rates.

Results have improved in some areas but not consistently: graduation rose from 74% in 2021–22 to 85% in 2025–26, while chronic absenteeism declined from 61% to 55% and remained the highest among nearby schools. SchoolDigger ranked Waukegan 568th of 620 Illinois schools, at the 8th percentile with 0 stars; the supplied Waukegan CUSD 60 ranking was 716th of 738, at the 3rd percentile with 0 stars. The student-teacher ratio was a relatively low 12.9:1 in 2024–25, and 64% of students were free/reduced lunch eligible that year; these are context, not explanations for results. SchoolDigger’s statewide percentile for results among English Language Learner Students fell from 38 in 2023–24 to 0 in 2025–26, a sharp decline in the school’s relative standing for this group.