Kankakee High School (9-12)

Kankakee High School is located in an urban community within Kankakee County, Illinois, which is about sixty miles south of Chicago. Kankakee High School is a comprehensive high school enrolling approximately 1500 students in grades nine through twelve. The demographics of the school are 43.6% African American, 35.9% Hispanic, 18.9% White, and 1.1% Other. Eighty five percent of our students are classified as low income. Kankakee High School has a 11% mobility rate, an 80% student attendance rate, and a graduation rate of 71%. In addition over three hundred of our students are completing early college course work while in high school. Kankakee High School offers a variety of after school activities like sports (basketball, volleyball, golf, etc), Student Council, Scholastic Bowl, after school tutoring programs, National Honors Society and art club just to name a few. Kankakee High School has been remodeled in order to update the schools technology and to create a setting more like a college campus where students have different study/classroom hubs and have an improved curriculum where students choose which career path they would like to follow and learn about. The high school is also apart of a pilot ISBE program called CBE (competency based education) where students a reassessed on mastering content and skill competencies related to college and career readiness.

Kankakee High Schools academic programs are organized on a semester schedule. Students are required to take seven periods a day each semester. The school day is divided into seven 53-minute periods and one period is scheduled for lunch and a final period is set aside for students to work on college & career readiness activities, competency enrichment, completion and remediation. Students meet with their classes on a daily basis. Students do have the option to be on a blended or fully remote schedule. Blended students can take both traditional, in-person courses and have remote courses. Fully remote students take all coursework remotely and come into the building when they need support or remediation. Students have the option to take college prep, honors, Advanced Placement, dual credit courses or career and technical courses at the high school. Some examples of these classes are AVID, AP Studio, AP Chemistry, AP Calculus, AP Music Theory, French III Honors, Yearbook, Spanish for Native Speakers, Cosmetology, Construction, Dual Credit English, Piano, Band/Orchestra, Psychology and more. Kankakee has built community relationships with local partners to continue to expand student opportunities for college and career readiness.

Students are able to attend the Kankakee AreaCareer Center. There they are enrolled in CTE courses with dual credit opportunities with ourlocal community college. Students have the opportunity to graduate with up to 12 hours ofcertification and/or coursework at the college level beyond the practical work experience theyparticipate in. The high school also has over 70 students currently enrolled with one of ourpartner colleges: Kankakee Community College or Olivet Nazarene University. Students cancomplete a minimum of 12 hours of college course work a semester, while getting dual creditwith the high school. Students are able to participate as both juniors and seniors in the program.