The top reported proficiency rate is 63% in Science. The lowest is 45% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Centennial School
Centennial School serves third and fourth grades in El Paso, a small central Illinois city straddling Woodford and McLean counties, surrounded by farmland with a historic downtown along Front Street and highway-oriented commercial activity near I-39. The school is part of El Paso-Gridley Community Unit School District 11.
The school has a modest enrollment, roughly evenly split between third and fourth grade. The student body is predominantly white, with small numbers of Hispanic and multiracial students and very few Black students. Free-or-reduced-price-lunch eligibility data was not available in the public record, as were counts for students with IEPs or English learners. These gaps are common in publicly reported state data for schools below a certain enrollment threshold.
On the 2024-25 Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR), third-grade performance was mixed. In reading, about three-fifths of third graders met or exceeded proficiency; in math, about half did. Fourth-grade results showed a steeper drop, with just over half reaching proficiency in reading and about a third doing so in math. Participation was complete in both grades. The proficiency index across these tested grades and subjects places the school above the midpoint among Woodford County's districts overall, though individual subject performance, particularly fourth-grade math, points to room for growth.
The most recent science result available was from 2016-17, when about three-fifths of fifth graders met proficiency in an earlier science assessment framework; that data is now substantially outdated and reflects a different proficiency standard, so little can be drawn from it as a current picture.
El Paso is experiencing flat to slight population decline since 2020. The housing market sits below state and national medians, with home values relatively affordable and mortgage payments modest compared to national benchmarks. The community is anchored by a historic downtown with civic landmarks and parks, though most commercial activity has shifted to arterial roads and interstate access. The district rejected a major facilities bond in early 2023 that would have addressed aging buildings, including the junior high, and ADA accessibility gaps. Those unresolved facility needs may matter to families considering the school's physical plant and the district's capital outlook.
Centennial is a regular public elementary school with no magnet or charter designation. State testing data covers only the grades it serves; it has no graduation rate or secondary outcomes to report. The school appears to operate in a stable rural-suburban context with long family roots, though families may want to look further into academic support strategies, particularly in fourth-grade math, and the district's approach to addressing aging infrastructure given the failed bond.
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