Lovington Grade School, Lovington IL

Original Research by School Decision on Lovington Grade School

Lovington Grade School serves an enrollment of about 150 students across kindergarten through eighth grade in a very small, rural village in northern Moultrie County. The school sits within Arthur CUSD 305, a district that also operates a separate high school about 8 miles away in the town of Arthur. Students in Lovington therefore transition out after eighth grade to a different building and campus.

The school's 2024-25 state assessment results show low proficiency rates across both English language arts and mathematics. In math, proficiency ranges from low in third grade up to roughly a third of students proficient in fifth and sixth grades, then drops again in the upper middle grades. In English language arts, the pattern is similar, with proficiency rising to around two-fifths of students in grade six but dipping to around a quarter in seventh and eighth. Science results, available for grades five and eight, show proficiency in the high thirties. All students were tested with full participation rates. A parent may want to look into these results further with the school to understand whether curricular changes, staff turnover, or other factors account for the variance by grade and what supports are in place to raise attainment.

When placed against the two other districts in Moultrie County, Lovington Grade School's overall proficiency index falls well below the median for the county. The school occupies the bottom quartile in this regional context.

The student body is predominantly white, with the vast majority of the enrollment drawn from families in Lovington and surrounding farmland. Detailed information on free-or-reduced-price lunch eligibility, English learners, and special education students was not provided in the data.

Lovington itself is a compact, rural village with a population that has declined notably over recent decades. The median home value in the area is below both state and national benchmarks, and most residents own their homes. The village sits on Illinois Route 32 and lies about 9 miles north of Sullivan, the county seat. Employment in the immediate area centers on agriculture, a small bank branch, and the school itself; no major employers or new development projects were documented.

The district is operating in a context shaped by recent changes. Voters rejected a referendum in November 2024 to renovate the high school building, following an earlier failed referendum in 2022. The aging high school facility remains unaddressed. Concurrently, the district has rolled out a redesigned English language arts curriculum for 2024-25 as part of a broader curriculum alignment effort across all grades and subjects. These shifts will influence the school environment and tax outlook for families in the coming years.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 313%

School 13% · District 53% · ▼ 40 pts below district

▼ 33 pts below state median

Grade 420%

School 20% · District 40% · ▼ 20 pts below district

▼ 17 pts below state median

Grade 531%

School 31% · District 37% · ▼ 5 pts below district

▲ 2 pts above state median

Grade 633%

School 33% · District 41% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▲ 9 pts above state median

Grade 716%

School 16% · District 29% · ▼ 13 pts below district

▼ 13 pts below state median

Grade 818%

School 18% · District 18%

▼ 5 pts below state median

English language arts

Grade 313%

School 13% · District 49% · ▼ 35 pts below district

▼ 31 pts below state median

Grade 420%

School 20% · District 50% · ▼ 30 pts below district

▼ 28 pts below state median

Grade 538%

School 38% · District 53% · ▼ 16 pts below district

▼ 15 pts below state median

Grade 640%

School 40% · District 58% · ▼ 18 pts below district

▼ 10 pts below state median

Grade 726%

School 26% · District 55% · ▼ 28 pts below district

▼ 25 pts below state median

Grade 824%

School 24% · District 41% · ▼ 18 pts below district

▼ 30 pts below state median

Science

Grade 538%

School 38% · District 42% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▲ 1 pts above state median

Grade 835%

School 35% · District 30% · ▲ 5 pts above district

▼ 4 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.