ETHS Board Approves Year in Review Report
Report shows overall test scores held steady while reading proficiency among Black ninth-graders fell in the 2025-2026 school year.
Updated on Nov. 11, 2026 in Secondary Education
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The Evanston Township High School Board of Education approved a year in review report on the 2025-2026 school year. Overall test scores were similar to the prior year, though district officials raised concern about a drop in reading proficiency among Black ninth-graders.
Why it matters
The report combines achievement, student sense of belonging and discipline data into one review, giving Evanston families a fuller picture of how the high school is performing across groups of students. The reading decline for Black students and the rise in disciplinary incidents point to gaps the district must address.
The district's four-year graduation rate for the class of 2026 was 92.7%, above the statewide average of 90.6%. Students involved in disciplinary incidents rose to 829 last school year, up from 751 in 2023-24, and the report does not explain the cause of that increase.
The players
Evanston Township High School (ETHS)
A public high school district serving Evanston, Illinois, with 3,462 enrolled students across a diverse student body.
The details
The board approved the report, which examines achievement, student sense of belonging and discipline together. Reading proficiency was measured with the state's STAR reading assessment, and the rate of white ninth-graders meeting the standard rose from 85% to 88%. ETHS ranks in the top 20% in the state for racial disproportionality in exclusionary discipline or suspensions.
Timeline
2023-24: Disciplinary incidents involved 751 students.
2024-25: Disciplinary incidents involved 779 students.
2025-26: Disciplinary incidents involved 829 students, and the board approved the year in review report.
Roadmap
ETHS's graduation rate runs above the Illinois statewide average of 90.6%, which places the district among the state's stronger performers on that measure. The reading and discipline gaps across student groups show that high graduation rates do not by themselves ensure equitable outcomes inside the school.
Families with students at ETHS can see how their school ranks on graduation, attendance and discipline compared with the state. Parents of Black students in particular have a concrete measure of where reading gaps remain.
The takeaway
A high graduation rate does not guarantee every student is progressing equally, so parents should look past district averages to the results for their own children's groups. Asking the school how it plans to close reading gaps is a practical next step.
Further reading
Explore more on Secondary Education to see how districts measure student achievement and discipline.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Evanston RoundTable.
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