Bluford Grade School, Bluford IL

Original Research by School Decision on Bluford Grade School

Bluford Grade School serves about a quarter-thousand students in early childhood through eighth grade in a very small rural village in southern Illinois. The school sits in a community of modest size and slow population decline, where it functions as a central civic institution alongside the village's other public buildings.

The most recent state testing data shows academic results well below the county median across tested subjects. In math, proficiency rates range from about one in eight students in fifth and sixth grades to about one in three in third grade, with the lower grades generally performing slightly better than the middle grades. In English language arts, performance is more varied: third and fourth graders show rates in the low to mid range, fifth graders around one in three, but sixth and seventh graders perform notably better, with about half of sixth graders and just under half of seventh graders meeting proficiency. Science results, available only for fifth and eighth grade, sit in the low range. Looking across all tested subjects and grades, the school's overall proficiency index places it below the midpoint among the districts serving Jefferson County.

All students are tested and participation is complete. The data note that Illinois changed proficiency cut scores in recent years, so direct year-over-year comparison is not reliably possible.

The student body is small and overwhelmingly white, with students of color representing only a handful of enrollees. The school draws its population evenly across the grades it serves. Information on free-or-reduced-price lunch status, students with individualized education plans, and English learners was not available. Staffing, attendance, and discipline data were also absent from the materials provided.

The school is part of a two-school district that recently made a significant operational shift. The high school moved away from a trimester-based calendar and returned to traditional semester scheduling beginning in the 2024-2025 school year. The district cited continuity of instruction, smaller middle-school class sizes, and easier alignment with local scheduling as reasons for the change. This shift affects how high school courses, credits, and graduation timelines are organized, though it does not directly touch the grade school's calendar.

Bluford Grade School sits on a quiet street in the village center, in the kind of setting where schools and municipal buildings define community life rather than a busier retail downtown. The surrounding area is car-dependent and spread out. There is no dedicated public library or local transit in the village itself; families typically travel to Mount Vernon for broader services and goods. Housing in Bluford is predominantly older owner-occupied single-family homes and mobile homes, with little new construction. The local job market is small and weighted toward professional services, agriculture, and contracting work. A parent may want to understand more directly from the school and district about their current academic support strategies, given the gap between proficiency levels and state expectations.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 331%

School 31% · District 31%

▼ 15 pts below state median · ▼ 17 pts below county median

Grade 427%

School 27% · District 27%

▼ 10 pts below state median · ▼ 15 pts below county median

Grade 512%

School 12% · District 12%

▼ 18 pts below state median · ▼ 12 pts below county median

Grade 610%

School 10% · District 10%

▼ 14 pts below state median · ▼ 8 pts below county median

Grade 719%

School 19% · District 19%

▼ 9 pts below state median · ▼ 3 pts below county median

Grade 814%

School 14% · District 14%

▼ 9 pts below state median · ▲ 2 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 328%

School 28% · District 28%

▼ 16 pts below state median · ▼ 25 pts below county median

Grade 433%

School 33% · District 33%

▼ 15 pts below state median · ▼ 13 pts below county median

Grade 535%

School 35% · District 35%

▼ 18 pts below state median · ▼ 16 pts below county median

Grade 655%

School 55% · District 55%

▲ 5 pts above state median · ▲ 12 pts above county median

Grade 748%

School 48% · District 48%

▼ 3 pts below state median · ▼ 5 pts below county median

Grade 836%

School 36% · District 36%

▼ 17 pts below state median · ▼ 15 pts below county median

Science

Grade 531%

School 31% · District 31%

▼ 6 pts below state median · ▼ 4 pts below county median

Grade 818%

School 18% · District 18%

▼ 21 pts below state median · ▼ 15 pts below county median

This schoolBluford Unit School District 318, 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.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 4Lower-income20%Higher-income12%8 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 4Lower-income20%Higher-income29%9 pp gap