Libertyville High School and District 128 have been winning major awards for their programs, as the district has been placed on the 4th Annual “Advanced Placement District Honor Roll,” while LHS has ranked high compared to other schools on the Illinois Report Card website and has won the School Search “Bright A+ Award.”
Every semester, students receive the single most important sheet of paper that can come in the mail for a high schooler: a report card. Bringing the idea into the digital world, the Illinois Report Card is an online system of ranking Illinois high schools. This system shows a lot of interesting statistics such as total enrollment, average class size, graduation rates, and more. The website is still adding information that people can access about their school.
According to the Illinois Report Card for LHS, 86% of our students earn a score of at least a 21 on the ACT. This website has information on a wide variety of public schools throughout Illinois, including a lot of basic information people should know about their schools. There are 863 districts in Illinois, and those districts contain a total of 3,862 public schools. With over 2 million students in the state, a mere 2,028 come from LHS. Comparing our school’s stats to the rest of the Illinois schools, our “College Readiness Scale” is 3% higher than the district’s overall average, and 40% higher than the state’s average.
Expanding from LHS, District 128 as a whole has been named to the 4th Annual Advanced Placement District Honor Roll. The district was one of only 477 other districts in the entire U.S. and Canada to earn this AP Honor Roll Recognition. This is the district’s third consecutive recognition for the AP District Honor Roll. Statistics place D128 at a very high standing, such as an increase in participation and access to AP courses, and maintained and even improved performance levels on exams.
LHS has been succeeding in AP classes, with a 79% increase in the total number of exams administered, and within those exams, there has been an 84% increase in the number of exams scored as a 3, 4, or a 5 from the previous school years compared to last year. What really makes LHS stand out is our 93% increase in the number of exams scored at a 4 or even a 5, which on the AP scale, is the highest score.
Senior Paula Zhang takes multiple AP classes here at LHS, and when describing her experience with her teachers in these courses, she said, “I think one big thing I’ve gotten from all of my AP classes is the ability to communicate my ideas and really support them, and I’ve learned all of this from my teachers.” Zhang said her AP classes have put her in the habit of putting her time to use and having a good work ethic, and has better prepared her for the future.
The school has also won the “Bright A+ Award” from School Search. As one of a select 60 districts that were honored with this award, LHS specifically has been recognized for its academic success. District 128 has been given this award due to being among the top 5% of Illinois school districts. When asked about Libertyville’s recognition, Principal Dr. Marina Scott said it does not come as a shock to her or the school board.
“It’s cool that our scores are high, you know, that’s fantastic, but it’s even better that we get to see that growth and watch it climb as the students grow with it. I think the biggest impact on your success is your teacher, and I think we have great teachers here who are always looking for new ways to help you learn. So the combination of three things, community, students that are dedicated and hard-working, and teachers that are high-performing, that’s going to get you great results,” she said.
