Carbondale Reporter

In the 2023-24 school year, 48% of the students in Crab Orchard Community Unit School District 3 passed the ELA portion of the Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR), according to the Illinois State Board of Education.

Of the 204 students in Crab Orchard Community Unit School District 3 who took the ELA portion of the test, approximately 98 (48%) passed.

The percentage of Crab Orchard Community Unit School District 3 students who met or exceeded expectations on the IAR increased by 10.8% compared to the previous school year.

Crab Orchard Community Unit School District 3 roughly covers two schools within Williamson County and has a main office in Marion.

The Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR) measures how well students in grades 3-8 are progressing toward state standards in English language arts and mathematics.

K-12 enrollment has been declining in Illinois for many years, reflecting the state's demographic changes. Between the 2019–20 and 2022–23 school years, Illinois public school enrollment declined from approximately 1.98 million to 1.85 million students, a decrease of about 127,000 students or 6.4%. This decline is significantly higher than the typical annual decreases of 0.5% to 1.5% observed in the preceding years, reflecting broader demographic shifts within the state.

School	District	Students who met standards (%)	Students who exceed standards (%)
Crab Orchard Elementary School	Crab Orchard Community Unit School District 3	45.1%	2.9%