The top reported proficiency rate is 43% in Science. The lowest is 25% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Arcola High School
Arcola High School is a junior-senior high serving grades 7 through 12 in a small manufacturing city in Douglas County, Illinois. The school draws from a community where roughly half the students identify as Hispanic or Latino and half as white, reflecting the town's mix of longtime residents and workers tied to local industry and agricultural employment.
The school's latest state test results show low proficiency across tested grades and subjects. In grade 7, about a third of students met proficiency in math and English language arts. In grade 8, math proficiency drops sharply to around a fifth of students, though ELA performance is slightly higher at just under a third. Science proficiency in grade 8 is at just over a third of students. Data for grades 9 through 12 and for elementary grades served at the building are not available, either because those grades are not tested under Illinois's assessment system or because results have not yet been reported. A parent may want to ask the school directly about high school course offerings, AP access, and college-readiness pathways, as those do not appear in the available data.
Among the four school districts in Douglas County, Arcola's reported proficiency index places it in the bottom quartile. Comparison data on graduation rates and chronic absenteeism were not available. The school's immediate enrollment spans roughly equal numbers of seventh and eighth graders and ninth through eleventh graders, with a smaller twelfth-grade cohort. Free-or-reduced-price lunch eligibility data and special education or English learner enrollment rates were not provided, so a parent seeking that context should check with the district office.
The town itself is a compact grid with a historic downtown and moderate walkability in the center and residential areas, though most transportation is by car. Housing values are below the state average and suggest affordability relative to national benchmarks. The major private employer is the Libman Company, a mop and broom manufacturer headquartered in Arcola, alongside other light manufacturing and cleaning-product concerns. The community sits just off Interstate 57 and is known as a gateway to Illinois Amish Country. Recent development includes Rider Place Apartments, a new subsidized rental complex, and ongoing growth at Green Mill Village near the highway.
The school building itself sits on Washington Street on the west side of town, a short walk from downtown rather than isolated on an outlying campus. No recent district-wide shifts in pedagogy, curriculum, or tax structure were found in publicly available sources. A parent considering this school would benefit from direct conversations with school leadership about how the school is addressing the low state proficiency results, what support structures exist for students at different achievement levels, and what post-secondary pathways are available to graduates.
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