Rockford Public Schools leader given 2 more years to hit academic goals. Here’s what must happen
Ehren Jarrett is the longest-serving Rockford Public Schools superintendent in nearly 60 years. Whether he continues in the role will depend on hitting key academic benchmarks
By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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ROCKFORD — Rockford School Board members this week decided to give Superintendent Ehren Jarrett two more years to achieve the district’s goals for improving graduation rates and other measures of academic success.
The board voted 4-3 on Tuesday to extend Jarrett’s contract through June 30, 2026. The three no votes came from Denise Pearson, who is board president, Tiana McCall and Kimberly Haley, all of whom had preferred a one-year extension.
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Jarrett is in his 11th year leading the district. That makes him the longest-serving Rockford Public Schools superintendent since W.R. McIntosh held the role from 1950-65 and later had an elementary school named in his honor. Jarrett became the 11th superintendent to serve in 14 years when he was hired in 2013.
Whether Jarrett continues at the helm beyond mid-2026 will depend solely on whether the district hits three academic benchmarks for graduation and literacy rates. Those benchmarks were spelled out when the district approved his previous performance-based contract in January 2021. The district has made gains in two of the three areas so far.
“The longevity that the board has committed to me over multiple boards has allowed us to collectively do some pretty important things that are harder to do when we’re changing superintendents 11 times in 14 years,” Jarrett said. “The board deserves a lot of credit for this long-term commitment, I just want to be worthy of that commitment that they shown to me by hitting these targets.
“I think our community deserves it, our students certainly deserve it.”
The data that measures student success typically is released by the state in late October, about four months after Jarrett’s contract expires in 2026. That means the board will use data from October 2025 to decide whether he’ll be continuing in the role or if they’ll be preparing to hire his successor.
That would give the board and Jarrett time to create a well organized succession plan before his contract expires if the performance marks aren’t met.
“The board and I were both very clear with the community in 2021 when we set these targets that this was, by design, meant to hold the system accountable and me as the superintendent of the system accountable for the improvement,” Jarrett said.
Here’s a look at the performance benchmarks the district must achieve for Jarrett to fulfill his contract and where the district stands on those measures now:
Graduation rates
The goal: 75%
The state average: 87.6%
The Rockford rate: 68.9% graduate within four years and 69.7% graduate within five years
The trend: Four-year graduation rates are up more than 4 percentage points since 2021, when Jarrett’s last contract began. The four-year rate was 64.4% that year and 70.3% of students graduated within five years, according to the Illinois Report Card.
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Literacy rates
The goal: 20% of students meet or exceed state proficiency standards for English language arts, also called Illinois Assessment of Readiness literacy rates
The state average: 35.4%
The Rockford rate: 18%
The trend: The district’s literacy rates have risen three percentage points since 2021, increasing from 14.9%.
A note on literacy rates: In Illinois, students meet proficiency standards if they score in the 70 percentile on standardized test scores. That means the district’s goal isn’t for 20% of students to have basic reading skills, but to have a higher standard of reading proficiency. “It’s really a very high standard that we’re aspiring to, and we’re trying to gain on the state average,” Jarrett said.
Middle school on track
About: Jarrett’s administration was tasked with creating a tool to gauge the percentage of sixth, seventh and eighth graders who were on track to graduate from high school. Then, once a baseline metric was set, it must increase by 5 percentage points.
The goal: 85%
The state average: This metric was created for Rockford Public Schools and there isn’t a state comparison.
The Rockford rate: 78%
The trend: The average dipped two percentage points from the baseline of 80% when the metric was established in 2022.
History | Rockford Public Schools superintendents
- P. R. Walker (1884-1913)
- R. G. Jones (1913-1917)
- Carroll R. Reed (1917-1920)
- E. E. Lewis (1920-1923)
- Frank A. Jensen (1923-1935)
- W. W. Ankenbrand (1935-1937)
- S. H. Berg (1937-1947)
- P. L. Ewing (1947-1950)
- W. R. McIntosh (1950-1965)
- Thomas A. Shaheen (1965-1970)
- Herbert B. Smith (1970-1971 acting superintendent)
- Robert G. Salisbury (1971-1974)
- Arthur T. Johnson (1974-1984)
- Millard D. Grell (1984-1988)
- John C. Swanson (88-89 interim superintendent)
- Maurice E. Sullivan (1989-1992)
- William Bowen (1992-1993)
- Ronald L. Epps (1994-1999)
- Ellen V. Bueschel (1999-2000)
- Alan S. Brown (2000-2003)
- Joyce Price (2003-2003 acting superintendent and chief education officer)
- Ellen V. Bueschel (2003-2004 interim superintendent)
- Dennis Thompson (2004-2007)
- Linda Hernandez (2007-2009 includes time as acting and interim superintendent)
- LaVonne M. Sheffield (2009-2011)
- Theresa Kallstrom (2011-2011 acting superintendent)
- Robert Willis (2011-2013 interim)
- Ehren Jarrett (July 1, 2013-present)
This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on X at @KevinMHaas or Instagram @thekevinhaas and Threads @thekevinhaas
