Atwood-hammond Grade School, Atwood IL

Original Research by School Decision on Atwood-hammond Grade School

Atwood-Hammond Grade School serves prekindergarten through eighth grade in a small rural village straddling the Piatt-Douglas county line in central Illinois. The school enrolls a student population that is predominantly White, with a small share of students from other racial and ethnic groups.

The school's recent state assessment results reveal uneven performance across grade levels and subjects. In English language arts, students show stronger proficiency in the middle grades—fifth and seventh graders performed above half proficiency—but younger and older students struggled. Third graders achieved around half proficiency in ELA, while eighth graders fell to roughly a quarter proficiency. In mathematics, the pattern is sharper: third graders performed strongest, while performance declined markedly in the upper grades, with eighth-grade math proficiency dropping to zero. Science results from fifth and eighth grade tell a similar story of decline, with fifth-grade proficiency at a modest level and eighth-grade proficiency very low. Across all subjects, eighth grade consistently shows the weakest performance. The data suggests either a particular challenge with the eighth-grade cohort or broader difficulties with mathematics and science instruction at that level. A parent may want to look into this further with the school to understand the causes and whether remediation or support is in place.

Overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades places the school below the midpoint among districts in Piatt County, suggesting academic outcomes that would merit careful conversation with school staff about where support and strength lie.

The school operates within Arthur CUSD 305, which has undertaken a curriculum overhaul identifying priority standards, scope and sequencing, and pacing guides across all subjects and grades. A new English language arts curriculum launched in the 2024-25 school year, representing a structural change in instruction that will shape the learning experience going forward.

The district faces a facilities challenge that indirectly affects the school community. Voters rejected a bond referendum in November 2024 to address the aging high school building—addressing HVAC, security, science labs, and accessibility. The district had also failed to pass a larger facilities plan in 2022. These back-to-back referendum failures mean the broader school infrastructure remains under stress and shape the near-term outlook for district finances and any future tax asks.

In Atwood itself, the village is compact and rural, centered on a small downtown along Main Street. The village sits on the northern edge of Amish country between Decatur and Champaign. Population has remained stable. Housing values in the area reflect modest local conditions, and the broader labor market includes manufacturing, construction, and health care as the primary employment sectors for residents. Secondary students attend Arthur-Lovington-Atwood-Hammond High School on a separate campus several miles away in Arthur, so middle-grade completion here feeds into a consolidated high school system.

See more original research from School Decision →

Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 365%

School 65% · District 53% · ▲ 12 pts above district

▲ 19 pts above state median

Grade 450%

School 50% · District 40% · ▲ 10 pts above district

▲ 13 pts above state median

Grade 556%

School 56% · District 37% · ▲ 19 pts above district

▲ 26 pts above state median

Grade 632%

School 32% · District 41% · ▼ 9 pts below district

▲ 8 pts above state median

Grade 736%

School 36% · District 29% · ▲ 7 pts above district

▲ 7 pts above state median

Grade 80%

School 0% · District 18% · ▼ 18 pts below district

▼ 23 pts below state median

English language arts

Grade 350%

School 50% · District 49% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▲ 6 pts above state median

Grade 453%

School 53% · District 50% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▲ 5 pts above state median

Grade 577%

School 77% · District 53% · ▲ 23 pts above district

▲ 24 pts above state median

Grade 658%

School 58% · District 58%

▲ 8 pts above state median

Grade 768%

School 68% · District 55% · ▲ 13 pts above district

▲ 17 pts above state median

Grade 823%

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

▼ 30 pts below state median

Science

Grade 541%

School 41% · District 42% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▲ 4 pts above state median

Grade 815%

School 15% · District 30% · ▼ 15 pts below district

▼ 24 pts below state median

This schoolArthur CUSD 305, 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.