The top reported proficiency rate is 78% in English language arts. The lowest is 47% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Steele Elementary School
Steele Elementary School serves students from pre-kindergarten through sixth grade in a small rural town in northeastern St. Clair County. The school is a regular public school, not a charter or magnet, and is part of the St. Clair County school district. The town of Steele itself has a population that has been slowly declining over recent decades. It is a low-density, car-dependent place with a compact center along US Highway 11, where Town Hall sits. The local economy includes manufacturing, agriculture, and retail, and two industrial parks are located in town. Housing in the broader area is moderately priced, with the typical home value sitting well below the national benchmark, and the town offers a limited range of community amenities, including a city park and a Fourth of July celebration.
The school is small, with an enrollment that gives it an intimate feel. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating that the school serves a community with considerable economic need. The student body is predominantly white, with a notable Hispanic population and a smaller share of students who identify as two or more races.
Academically, Steele Elementary presents a mixed picture that depends on the subject and grade level. In English language arts, the school shows real strength, with proficiency rates that are strong across the grades tested. The combined English language arts proficiency across the school places it in a position that a parent would likely find reassuring, particularly for the earlier grades, where the share of students meeting proficiency is high. In science, the single tested grade also shows a solid proficiency rate. Mathematics, however, is a softer spot. The proficiency rates in math are lower, dropping as students move into the upper elementary grades. This pattern, where math performance trails reading and language performance, is not unusual in elementary schools, but it is a pattern a parent may want to ask the school about directly to understand what supports are in place. The overall proficiency index for the school, which averages performance across all tested subjects and grades, places Steele Elementary high among districts in St. Clair County, although it bears noting that the comparison set is small, with only two districts at the county level.
Because the school only serves through sixth grade, there is no graduation rate to evaluate. Similarly, data on special education classification rates and English learner status were not available in the records. The school does not report chronic absenteeism data in the fields we reviewed, so that dimension of student engagement could not be assessed.
The district itself, St. Clair County Schools, showed no publicly reported major recent changes or initiatives in the search we conducted, so there is no recent district-level shift to account for that would alter the picture of the school.
For a family considering Steele Elementary, the school fits as a small, community-grounded option where English language arts instruction is a clear strength and where the school community is economically diverse. A parent whose child struggles in math may want to probe deeper on what interventions or curriculum the school uses. The town setting is quiet and rural, with a car-dependent layout and limited retail or cultural amenities, but housing is relatively affordable compared to broader state and national averages. The absence of a dedicated high school on-site means that families will need to plan for the transition to a separate school for seventh grade, which is a junior high school in the town, and then to high school within the county system.
See more original research from School Decision →