The top reported proficiency rate is 58% in English language arts. The lowest is 51% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Pinckneyville Elem School
Pinckneyville Elementary School serves kindergarten through fourth grade in a small rural county seat in southern Illinois. The school enrolls a small cohort spread across those five grade levels, with the student body heavily white and drawn from the immediate local area.
On state testing, the school shows moderate proficiency in both English language arts and math. In third grade, proficiency sits slightly above the midpoint in both subjects; fourth grade shows comparable levels, with ELA holding steady and math slightly lower. The school participates fully in state assessment—participation rates are complete—but a parent may want to look into how the school supports students who are not yet proficient, and what trajectory the school sees across upper grades.
The school sits within the Pinckneyville School District, a small K-8 district that serves two schools. District-level research found no recent curriculum changes, referendums, or major policy shifts reported publicly over the past several years; the district appears focused on routine facilities work rather than systemic academic initiatives, and no broader strategic direction emerged from available sources.
Pinckneyville itself is a slowly shrinking rural community centered on a traditional courthouse square downtown, with detached single-family neighborhoods and grain farmland beyond. The city is the seat of Perry County and calls itself a blue-collar manufacturing and farming community. Population has declined over recent decades and continues to decline modestly year to year. Housing is relatively affordable; median home values sit well below the state average and carry modest monthly mortgage estimates. Major employers include the state correctional center, a power plant, and a critical-access hospital. The Illinois Rural Heritage Museum and Pyramid State Park anchor local cultural life.
Demographically, the school is overwhelmingly white (over nine-tenths of enrollment), with very small counts of Asian, Hispanic, and multiracial students and handful of Black students. Socioeconomic data on free and reduced price lunch eligibility was not available. Special education and English learner enrollments were also not reported.
Among the school's county peer districts, it ranks in the top quartile for overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades. The school does not serve high school grades, so graduation rate data do not apply. Chronic absenteeism data were not available. State testing data for grades five through eight are not reported because the school does not serve those grades.
For families considering this school, the relevant factors are: small enrollment with local student composition, moderate proficiency in core subjects, a rural setting with limited density, and a community that is gradually shrinking rather than growing. The school represents a straightforward early-elementary option in a quiet agricultural area.
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