The top reported proficiency rate is 61% in Science. The lowest is 45% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Bement Elementary School
Bement Elementary School serves children from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade in a small rural village in Piatt County. The school sits in a quiet farming community centered on a compact downtown and a working factory, where most residents own their homes and the atmosphere reads as settled and established.
The school enrollment is small. Pre-kindergarten carries the largest group, with smaller cohorts in the primary and upper elementary grades. The student body is overwhelmingly white, with a small number of Hispanic and multiracial students and very few students of other backgrounds. No data on free-or-reduced-price lunch eligibility or special populations was available in the public records.
On the state assessment administered in early 2025, the school showed mixed results across grades and subjects. In math, proficiency ran highest in third grade and declined as students moved into the upper grades, reaching its lowest point in fifth grade. In English language arts, the pattern reversed: third grade showed the weakest performance, while fourth and fifth grades performed notably stronger in reading. Science assessment data came from fifth grade alone, where proficiency in science was moderately solid. All students participated in the state testing, with no absences from the assessment.
The school's overall proficiency index places it in the top quartile among the four districts in Piatt County, a meaningful position within its immediate peer set, even though the absolute proficiency rates themselves point to room for growth. A parent may want to look into further detail with the school about math performance in the upper elementary grades, where the trend moves downward, and to understand what approaches the school is taking to sustain the gains evident in fourth and fifth grade reading.
The district is undertaking a visible facilities investment: a connector project between classroom buildings and the gymnasium, plus air conditioning in the gym to serve as a community cooling and warming center. The project was approved in late 2025 and is expected to complete in summer 2026, partially funded by an alumni estate gift. For families considering the school, this signals both infrastructure renewal and community engagement.
Housing values in the Bement area are below the state benchmark, placing homeownership within moderate reach for many families. The village itself has held steady in size over many decades and shows no major new construction or rapid growth, so the setting remains rural, quiet, and established rather than rapidly changing.
See more original research from School Decision →