The top reported proficiency rate is 51% in Science. The lowest is 39% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Oakland Elementary School
Oakland Elementary School in Bloomington serves kindergarten through fifth grade, with an enrollment distributed roughly evenly across six grades. The school sits in Bloomington, a mid-sized central Illinois city anchored by State Farm Insurance and home to Illinois Wesleyan University, with a mix of residential neighborhoods and corporate office campuses. Oakland is a neighborhood school, not a magnet or charter, serving a diverse student body in a community actively managing housing demand driven by regional growth.
The school's student composition reflects Bloomington's diversity. The enrollment includes a substantial share of white students, with meaningful representation of Black students, Asian students, students of two or more races, and Hispanic students. Free-or-reduced-price lunch data was not available in the school records, so a parent would want to reach out to the school directly about socioeconomic context. Information on special education enrollment and English learner enrollment was not provided, but the district brief notes that District 87 has seen growing ELL enrollment over the past decade and adopted the English 3-D curriculum for middle- and high-school ELL students in January 2024, splitting newcomers from more advanced multilingual learners—a shift parents with multilingual children should know about.
Academic performance on Illinois state assessments shows patterns worth noting. In English language arts across grades three through five, proficiency rates range from around forty percent in grade three to just over fifty percent in grades four and five. In mathematics, the school shows comparable results, with rates clustering in the upper thirties to just over forty percent across the same grades. The school achieved near-universal test participation, with rates above ninety-five percent across grades and subjects where results appear. Science testing in grade five showed roughly half the students proficient. These results place the school in the bottom quartile when compared to other district-served schools in McLean County on a combined proficiency index, a softer spot that a parent may want to look into further with the school's leadership regarding how they are addressing student learning in these core subjects.
The test results should be interpreted with awareness that the assessment system changed cut scores recently, limiting year-to-year trend comparability, so these current snapshots reflect the new state standards but do not show whether performance is moving up or down from prior years. Grade six data was not available, which is consistent with the school's stated grade band of kindergarten through fifth.
Bloomington itself is navigating a growth pinch. Regional demand for housing is rising sharply because of Rivian and Ferrero expansion in nearby Normal, but new housing construction is lagging the need. The median home value in the school's zip code is moderate by national standards, and rental costs are also relatively affordable, making the area accessible to families with a range of incomes. However, this mismatch between demand and supply is a real dynamic shaping the community. On the civic front, Bloomington offers libraries, Miller Park with its zoo, and public transit through Connect Transit, which operates fixed routes throughout the city.
District 87 recently made several structural changes that affect families here. In April 2025, McLean County voters approved a county school facility sales tax, which took effect July 1, 2025, dedicated to improving school facilities, hiring school resource officers, and supporting mental health professionals. This represents lasting funding support that benefits Oakland and other district schools and offers some property-tax relief. The district purchased the former State Farm building at East Oakland Avenue in 2024 to expand pre-K capacity and house career and technical education programs; the Bloomington Career Academy held its ribbon-cutting in October 2025, and the early-education move is expected to open in August 2026. A new policy banning cell phones in classrooms rolled out this year, addressing what the district identified as a leading cause of disciplinary referrals, a daily classroom-culture change parents will notice.
Oakland Elementary is a regular neighborhood school in an economically mixed, diverse community managing real housing constraints alongside civic investment in schools. Its academic results suggest headwind in early numeracy and literacy that merits direct conversation with school leadership. The district is actively expanding pre-K and career pathways and has secured new funding for facilities and mental health support, signaling institutional momentum, even as the broader community grapples with growth pressures.
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