The students who are seniors this year at Oak Park and River Forest High School were the first class to participate in the school’s Honors for All freshman curriculum which places most freshmen in honors classes in English, History and Science.
A report presented at a recent meeting of the OPRF District 200 Board of Education gave a mixed picture of the results of the bold change.
“We have some good trends and we have some challenges,” said District 200 Superintendent Greg Johnson summing up the results of the report.
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The good trends include a significant increase in the number of the students taking honors or Advanced Placement classes beyond their freshman year, especially among Black students, and that most students in all demographic groups passed their freshman classes with solid grades. Among the challenges is a persistent difference in academic performance among demographic groups.
Among the OPRF Class of 2022 only 10% of Black freshmen took an honors class, compared to 62% of Black freshman in the Class of 2026. Under the Honors for All curriculum, all freshmen who don’t need intensive support, about 85%, are placed in honors classes for English, History and Science. At the same time, the mid-level College Prep offerings for those classes were eliminated as officials tried to get more students to take honors and AP classes in subsequent years.
Overall, 85% of the OPRF Class of 2026 took honors classes as freshmen, compared to just 38% in the Class of 2022 and 46% in the Class of 2025.
Still, School Board member Fred Arkin voiced concerns about a gap in academic performance along racial lines. According to figures provided by the school, grades of Black freshmen last year were, on average, significantly below the grades of their white classmates.
“We don’t seem to be closing the gap,” Arkin said.
However Johnson described the gap in academic performance as a challenge to be addressed in a system that is successful overall.
“The failures that do occur are not equitably distributed,” Johnson said. “This is not a widespread equity problem; this is an equity problem within a generally successful system.”
Since the Honors for All detracking curriculum was instituted in 2022 roughly 80% of students enrolled in the freshman honors classes received grades of A or B. The overall pass rate has been approximately 98% while the pass rate for Black freshmen has been between 93% and 94%.
Seven equity advocates, including members of the Committee for Excellence and Equity in Education and other advocacy groups, backed by about 15 supporters holding handmade signs, made public comments early in the Sept. 25 School Board meeting urging officials to do more to combat the gap in academic performance. They demanded that the district form an independent committee to advise it on equity efforts and to devote more resources to equity programs.
“We must provide appropriate supports for our students, particularly our Black and brown students,” said Mary Bird.
John Duffy, a long time leader of the Committee for Equity and Excellence in Education, called on OPRF to devote more resources to its equity efforts, pointing to the millions and millions of dollars the school is spending to modernize the building. In the past Duffy and CEE have called for more team teaching in freshman classes and more tutoring support for students who are struggling.
“It is now time for you to do what you said that you were going to do,” Duffy said.
The report, while noting that “disproportionality across demographic groups persists,” focused more on the positives, including that the percentage of sophomores taking an honors or AP class has significantly increased.
“More and more freshmen are deciding after this freshmen experience that they can enroll in honors classes,” Johnson said. “We are pleased to see that more students are showing that grit, that resilience by enrolling in Honors courses.”
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The percentage of Black students enrolled in an AP class has more than doubled than what it was for the Class of 2022.
The report also noted that the performance of the highest achieving students at OPRF did not suffer, as some opponents of the Honors for All Curriculum had predicted.
School Board members seemed receptive to the calls for more resources from the public commenters and willing to at least explore the idea of creating an independent committee to advise the administration on its equity efforts.
“It’s the first time in a long time they’ve come to us with things that are really actionable on our part,” Arkin said.
Board member Tim Brandhorst said that he was encouraged by the report.
“This is early days,” Brandhorst said. “The trend lines are encouraging.”
Board members told administrators that they are willing to spend more money on equity efforts and asked for specific tasks from the administration.
“This is our number one strategic priority,” said board member Jonathan Livingston. “This demands urgency.”
Bob Skolnik is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.