Skokie School District 68 garnered mixed ratings on the 2025 Illinois Report Card. Highland Elementary School was upgraded to an “exemplary” rating, while Devonshire Elementary School was downgraded to a “targeted” rating.
The report card, released on Oct. 30, places Highland at the highest of five ratings an Illinois public school can get, meaning that the school is performing in the top 10% of the state. A “targeted” rating is the state’s third-highest of five ratings and puts Devonshire on track to receive four years of assistance from the Illinois State Board of Education.
The report card’s second-highest rating is “commendable,” and the fourth and fifth ratings are “comprehensive” and “intensive,” respectively. D68 schools Jane Stenson Elementary School and Old Orchard Jr. High School both received “commendable” ratings.
The state board defines “commendable” schools as those that have no underperforming student groups, a graduation rate greater than 67%, and whose performance is not in the top 10 percent of schools statewide.
“Targeted” schools have one or more student demographic groups performing at or below the level of the “all students” group in the lowest 5% of all schools, according to the state board. In District 68’s case, the state board found that children with disabilities at Devonshire fit that description.
As part of Devonshire’s designation, the elementary school will receive $114,000 in financial assistance from the state across four years, according to Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services Christie Samojedny.
As part of the designation, the district will need to conduct an overall review of the school and identify any gaps, not just students with disabilities, according to Samojedny.
“Of course, children with disabilities would automatically kind of make that list” for those funds to be spent on, she said. “But we would look at any other needs within the building, and funds would be used towards those purposes.”
In a letter shared with D68 families on Nov. 10, Superintendent Scott Grens wrote, “I am thrilled to see Highland Elementary recognized among the highest-performing schools in Illinois. This recognition reflects the outstanding efforts of our students, staff, Principal Dr. Bradley, and our Highland families.
“While District 68 proudly celebrates Highland’s exceptional achievement, it remains equally committed to continuous improvement and targeted support across all schools including Devonshire Elementary School, where the summative designation has identified an opportunity for additional supports focused on the Children with Disabilities student group.”
Grens told Pioneer Press that the district has seen steady growth across all schools. “The (learning loss) gaps are being filled (in) as we speak,” he said, referring to learning loss that was felt nationwide during the COVID-19 pandemic.
For the 2025-2026 school year, the district has made nearly $350,000 in strategic staffing investments to keep up with the needs of the student body of 1,752 students, according to Grens. According to his letter, 69% of D68 students speak a language other than English at home and 39% of them receive multilingual service. Also, 24% of multilingual students receive special education service.
The new investments include a new bilingual Arabic teacher at Devonshire, three new staffers for multilingual instruction at Old Orchard Jr. High, two new multilingual specialists to assist all schools, one new special education teacher at Devonshire and one new special education teacher at Old Orchard Jr. High.
“The multilingual specialist piece is really going to benefit each school, just given the demographics of our student body,” Grens said. “We went from having what was two multilingual specialists, now to four; and we have four buildings, so that was an intentional approach to ensuring that we had some focus on equity with the staffing rollout.”
Grens said the investments are zeroing in on the achievement gap of students with disabilities at Devonshire, and the “targeted” rating is all the more reason to stay focused on that goal.
According to data from the Illinois Report Card, 46% of Devonshire’s students are English learners, while Jane Stenson and Highland hover around 20%. Devonshire also has a higher rate of low income students, a higher rate of homeless students and a higher chronic truancy rate. Devonshire has 400 students enrolled, while Jane Stenson has 345 enrolled and Highland has 306.