West Prairie North Elementary Sch, Good Hope IL

Original Research by School Decision on West Prairie North Elementary Sch

West Prairie North Elementary serves pre-kindergarten through sixth grade in Good Hope, a small rural village in McDonough County in west-central Illinois. The school sits at the heart of a five-town district that formed from successive consolidations, most recently bringing together Blandinsville, Colchester, Good Hope, Sciota, and Tennessee into the West Prairie district structure.

The enrollment is small, with fewer than 200 students distributed across the grade band. The student body is predominantly white, with a handful of students from other backgrounds. The school serves a quiet, agricultural community where most homes are single-family dwellings and the local business base consists largely of farm-related operations and small trades. Employment outside the village is typical; Macomb, seven miles south, serves as the regional jobs hub.

On state assessments in 2024-25, West Prairie North's results show low performance across tested grades and subjects. In mathematics, proficiency rates ranged from 15 percent in sixth grade to roughly 32 percent in third grade, with fourth and fifth grades at 25 and 18 percent respectively. English language arts proficiency was similarly weak across third through sixth grades, ranging from roughly 17 percent to 40 percent. Science testing, conducted only in fifth grade, showed 50 percent proficiency. All students who took the assessments participated fully. A parent may want to look into the school's instructional approach and support systems in math, where proficiency rates are particularly low in the upper elementary grades.

Among districts in McDonough County, West Prairie North's overall proficiency index sits below the midpoint, positioning it among the lower-performing schools in the county's district comparison set.

The school's broader context has been shaped by recent district-level shifts. In August 2023, the district consolidated its junior and senior high schools into a single renovated facility in Colchester. That facility consolidation reflects a long trajectory of school mergers driven by declining rural enrollment. In November 2024, the district sought voter approval for a bond to add a vocational and agricultural building plus an athletic facility with an all-weather track at the Colchester high school. The referendum narrowly failed, signaling community hesitation about additional school spending and leaving the district without the facility expansion it had proposed.

Housing in the Good Hope area is modestly valued and affordable. The local market shows home values well below both the Illinois and national medians, making the area accessible for families working in agriculture or small business. The everyday texture is quiet and car-dependent; residents navigate to jobs, shopping, and services largely by personal vehicle.

West Prairie North Elementary represents a small-town rural school with limited academic proficiency relative to its county peers. Families choosing this school would be selecting a tight-knit community environment with an accessible housing market, but should understand the school's current academic trajectory and the broader context of consolidation and constrained district resources.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 332%

School 32% · District 53% · ▼ 21 pts below district

▼ 14 pts below state median

Grade 425%

School 25% · District 41% · ▼ 16 pts below district

▼ 12 pts below state median

Grade 518%

School 18% · District 19% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▼ 12 pts below state median

Grade 615%

School 15% · District 16% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▼ 9 pts below state median

English language arts

Grade 326%

School 26% · District 53% · ▼ 26 pts below district

▼ 18 pts below state median

Grade 417%

School 17% · District 41% · ▼ 25 pts below district

▼ 31 pts below state median

Grade 523%

School 23% · District 41% · ▼ 18 pts below district

▼ 30 pts below state median

Grade 640%

School 40% · District 62% · ▼ 22 pts below district

▼ 10 pts below state median

Science

Grade 550%

School 50% · District 51% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▲ 13 pts above state median

This schoolWest Prairie CUSD 103, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.