Bethel Grade School, Mount Vernon IL

Original Research by School Decision on Bethel Grade School

Bethel Grade School serves pre-K through grade eight in Mount Vernon, a small county-seat city in southern Illinois where manufacturing and distribution are economic anchors. The school is the sole building in Bethel School District 82, and the community has been investing substantially in its infrastructure: voters approved bond funding in early 2024 to replace an aging wing, and groundbreaking on a multi-year construction project occurred in fall 2025, adding new classrooms for the youngest students and renovated administrative and gathering spaces.

The school's enrollment is small, numbering just under a hundred and fifty students spread across ten grades from pre-K through eighth. The student population is predominantly white, with smaller shares of Hispanic and Black students. Demographic detail about free-or-reduced-price lunch eligibility, special education, and English learner status was not available in the data provided.

Most recent state testing results, from spring 2025, show performance that warrants close attention. In English language arts, proficiency is uneven by grade: third grade shows below-midpoint results, but fourth, fifth, seventh, and eighth grades cluster around or above the midpoint. Math proficiency is lower and declining sharply as students progress. Third and fourth grades show roughly half of students proficient or above, but by sixth grade that figure drops to a small share, and by eighth grade proficiency is in the single digits. Science testing, available only for fifth and eighth grades, shows about half the fifth graders meeting the standard and one in five eighth graders doing so. The pattern across grades and subjects suggests students face increasing difficulty in upper elementary and early middle school math in particular; a parent may want to look into the school's approach to math instruction and support in the upper grades, as well as any transition challenges between grade bands.

Compared to other districts in Jefferson County, Bethel Grade School's overall proficiency index places it above the midpoint, a meaningful position even amid the grade-level variation. The school participates fully in state testing with near-universal participation, indicating that results reflect the full enrolled cohort, not a subset.

The school sits in Mount Vernon at the intersection of Interstates 57 and 64, a manufacturing hub home to Continental Tire, a major Walgreens distribution center, and SSM Health Good Samaritan Hospital. The city has a walkable downtown core with shops and civic gathering spaces, and parks including Veterans Memorial Park and Rend Lake recreation area nearby. Housing values are moderate and below state and national benchmarks. The community is engaged in deliberate revitalization, with plans to develop new senior housing and community incentives for residential rebuilding; population has declined modestly over recent years. For families considering the school, the physical investment in new facilities reflects local commitment, but the academic trajectory in math in the upper grades is a substantive question worth exploring directly with the school about curriculum, staffing, and intervention strategies.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 350%

School 50% · District 50%

▲ 4 pts above state median · ▲ 2 pts above county median

Grade 447%

School 47% · District 47%

▲ 10 pts above state median · ▲ 6 pts above county median

Grade 538%

School 38% · District 38%

▲ 8 pts above state median · ▲ 15 pts above county median

Grade 611%

School 11% · District 11%

▼ 13 pts below state median · ▼ 8 pts below county median

Grade 720%

School 20% · District 20%

▼ 9 pts below state median · ▼ 2 pts below county median

Grade 87%

School 7% · District 7%

▼ 16 pts below state median · ▼ 5 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 333%

School 33% · District 33%

▼ 11 pts below state median · ▼ 20 pts below county median

Grade 453%

School 53% · District 53%

▲ 5 pts above state median · ▲ 6 pts above county median

Grade 562%

School 62% · District 62%

▲ 10 pts above state median · ▲ 11 pts above county median

Grade 637%

School 37% · District 37%

▼ 13 pts below state median · ▼ 6 pts below county median

Grade 760%

School 60% · District 60%

▲ 9 pts above state median · ▲ 7 pts above county median

Grade 853%

School 53% · District 53%

even with state median · ▲ 2 pts above county median

Science

Grade 548%

School 48% · District 48%

▲ 11 pts above state median · ▲ 12 pts above county median

Grade 820%

School 20% · District 20%

▼ 20 pts below state median · ▼ 13 pts below county median

This schoolBethel SD 82, 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.