Arcola Elementary School, Arcola IL

Original Research by School Decision on Arcola Elementary School

Arcola Elementary School serves prekindergarten through sixth grade in a small manufacturing city in Douglas County, central Illinois, just off Interstate 57 at the edge of Illinois Amish Country. The school enrolls roughly 400 students in a district that also includes a consolidated junior-senior high school on the same campus.

The student body is evenly split between white and Hispanic students, with smaller numbers of Asian, Black, and multiracial children. Free-or-reduced-price lunch eligibility data was not available. The enrollment reflects the town's working-class character, where major employers include the Libman Company (mop and broom manufacturing) and other light industrial operations.

Academic performance across mathematics and English language arts on the state's 2024-25 assessment shows proficiency rates below the midpoint when measured against other districts in Douglas County. In mathematics, proficiency ranges from roughly one in five students in grade three to about one in three in grade four, with somewhat weaker results in grades five and six. English language arts shows a pattern of lower proficiency in the lower elementary grades, rising to about half in grade five and approaching three-fifths in grade sixth. Science testing is limited to grade five, where proficiency reaches roughly four in ten. These results suggest students are finding the transition to state testing standards challenging, and a parent may want to look into this further with the school to understand what support is available and how the district is addressing performance gaps.

The school serves only elementary grades, so no graduation rate or high school pathway data applies. Staffing, attendance, and discipline data were not available. The school website address was not provided, so parents seeking additional program details or enrollment information would need to contact the district directly.

Arcola itself is a compact town of roughly 1,200 residents with a traditional walkable downtown and schools located on Washington Street a few blocks west of Main Street, creating a neighborhood-integrated feel rather than a separated campus. Housing values are moderate, and rental affordability is reasonable relative to national benchmarks. The city has modest but visible growth, including new affordable housing and continuing residential development, supported by active tax-increment finance and enterprise zone programs. The community has a visible identity anchored in its Amish Country gateway status, historic depot, and broom-manufacturing heritage, alongside newer tourism attractions.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 320%

School 20% · District 20%

▼ 26 pts below state median

Grade 432%

School 32% · District 32%

▼ 5 pts below state median

Grade 529%

School 29% · District 29%

▼ 1 pts below state median

Grade 623%

School 23% · District 23%

▼ 1 pts below state median

English language arts

Grade 335%

School 35% · District 35%

▼ 9 pts below state median

Grade 436%

School 36% · District 36%

▼ 12 pts below state median

Grade 548%

School 48% · District 48%

▼ 5 pts below state median

Grade 656%

School 56% · District 56%

▲ 6 pts above state median

Science

Grade 543%

School 43% · District 43%

▲ 6 pts above state median

This schoolArcola CUSD 306, 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.