Vienna High School Earns State's Top Rating
The school received an Exemplary designation on the 2026 Illinois School Report Card, the highest rating the state awards.
Updated on Nov. 2, 2026 in Secondary Education
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Vienna High School, with roughly 400 students, earned an Exemplary designation for the first time on the 2026 Illinois School Report Card. It was one of five high schools in the state's southernmost 50 counties to receive the designation in 2026.
Why it matters
The Exemplary rating reflects academic achievement, attendance, and graduation rates across the school. For Vienna residents, it marks a milestone for the town's only high school after several years of near-miss ratings.
Vienna High School, with roughly 400 students, is one of five high schools in the southernmost 50 Illinois counties to earn Exemplary in 2026. The school received strong or very strong ratings across all five areas of the 5Essentials Survey, though the underlying scores were not reported.
The players
Illinois State Board of Education
The state agency that issues the Illinois School Report Card and assigns school ratings, including the Exemplary designation.
Vienna High School
The Vienna, Illinois public high school with roughly 400 students that earned the state's top school rating in 2026.
The details
The school treated students to a free lunch before gathering everyone in the gym for a battle of the bands featuring student and teacher musicians, with a fog machine adding to the atmosphere. The Exemplary rating is the highest a school can receive from the state and rests on academic achievement, attendance, and graduation rates.
Timeline
Several years before 2026: The school came close to Exemplary status repeatedly.
2026: The Illinois School Report Card awarded the Exemplary designation.
Monday, November 2, 2026: The school celebrated with a lunch and battle of the bands.
Season Trajectory
Vienna High School's first Exemplary rating comes under the Illinois School Report Card, the state's framework that scores schools on academic achievement, attendance, and graduation. The 5Essentials Survey, which measures leadership, instruction, teacher collaboration, and family involvement, provides a parallel lens on school quality beyond test-based outcomes.
Families in Vienna now have a state-verified rating for their high school when weighing enrollment choices. Students and parents can review the school's Report Card data directly to see how it compares with other schools in the region.
The takeaway
A school's rating reflects years of work by students, teachers, staff, and families rather than a single year's effort. Parents evaluating a school can look beyond the headline rating to the underlying attendance and graduation measures.
Further reading
Explore more on Secondary Education to see how other Illinois high schools are measured.
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