The Illinois School Report Card, a rating system developed by the state of Illinois, rated LT as “Exemplary,” the highest designation any school in Illinois can receive. 

“I’m most proud of the collective work we’ve done over the course of the last few years,” Principal Jennifer Tyrrell said. 

The rating system contains many categories, Tyrrell said. LT improved in three of the metrics: “Freshmen on Track,” “Chronic Absenteeism,” and “English Learners Progress to Proficiency.” In addition, LT received a perfect rating for the second year in a row in the Math, English Language Arts (ELA), Graduation Rate, and Science Proficiency categories. All of these ratings combined placed LT among the top 10 percent of schools in the state, the requirement to be rated “Exemplary.” 

“There is diversity in the metrics that to me makes it really celebratory because it represents the full experience [at LT],” Tyrrell said. 

While the ranking system gives a holistic view of the school, testing accounts for 20% of the rank, Kristine Zieman, Coordinator of Assessment and Research said. The SAT accounts for 15%, and the Illinois Science Assessment accounts for 5%. LT has performed well on its testing this year, yielding eight National Merit Semifinalists, 25 National Merit Commended Students, seven National African American Recognition Awards, 29 National Hispanic Recognition Awards, and 17 National First Generation Recognition Awards. 

“This year, LT outperformed 91 percent of all high schools in Reading, 93 percent of all high schools in Mathematics, and 88 percent of all high schools in Science,” Zieman said. “That’s something for our entire school community to be really proud of.”

The Illinois School Report Card rating system has been in place since 2018, Tyrell said. In those six years, LT has never been rated “Exemplary” before. This year was the first year of LT’s Bilingual Program, which helped them to improve in the English Learners Progress to Proficiency category. Many of the categories also align with LT’s Strategic Plan, a plan to improve the school that was put in place in 2022. 

“[We have] a lot of areas to grow in; we are certainly on a journey and in the middle of our strategic plan,” Tyrrell said. 

On the testing side, LT is still not back to pre-pandemic levels, Zieman said. In the spring of 2019, 78% of LT students met College Board’s “College and Career Readiness Benchmark” in reading, and only 73% met the standard in the spring of 2024; 70% of students met the benchmark for math in the spring of 2019, but only 56% met it in the spring of 2024. 

“We still have achievement gaps,” Zieman said. “Students from traditionally undersupported groups, [such as] Black, Hispanic, and economically disadvantaged students, are still behind students who come from traditionally supported groups. That’s something we need to work on.” 

The District Equity Leadership Team is tackling those inequalities, Zieman said. The committee has broken into subcommittees and is currently researching strategies and initiatives to tackle the achievement gaps. 

“[The rating] is one more point of pride and another recognition of the strong full experience at LT,” Tyrell said.