The top reported proficiency rate is 68% in English language arts. The lowest is 46% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Central School
Central School is an elementary school serving fourth and fifth grades in Lemont, a mixed-use village southwest of Chicago. The school reopened in 2022-23 after a community referendum in 2021 that authorized a tax increase to fund expanded capacity and programs. It is one of two main schools in Lemont-Bromberek Community School District 113A, a district that has grown steadily alongside the village's housing boom.
The school's academic profile shows mixed results across subjects and grades. In fourth-grade math, performance is solid, with a substantial share of students meeting or exceeding state proficiency standards. Fourth-grade reading (English language arts) shows somewhat lower proficiency, and fifth-grade math declines noticeably compared to fourth grade. Fifth-grade reading rebounds to above fourth-grade levels. Fifth-grade science proficiency is lower still, with less than half the students meeting the state threshold. Reading at fifth grade appears to be the school's relative strength among the grades it serves. Student test participation is very high across all subjects, meaning these results reflect broad engagement. The state changed its proficiency cut scores for the current year, so year-over-year trend data is not yet available.
Central School enrolls roughly equal numbers of fourth and fifth graders. The student body is predominantly white, with smaller shares of Hispanic, Asian, and multiracial students. Specific counts for free-or-reduced-price lunch status and for students with individualized education plans or English learner status were not available in the data provided. The school serves a community in which housing values are in the mid-range for the wider Chicago metropolitan area, and the recent housing market has grown steadily with demand for family homes.
When placed against all districts in Cook County, Central School's overall proficiency index across tested subjects and grades sits above the midpoint, meaning the school performs better than the median district in the county on this measure. The school does not serve high school grades, so graduation rate and chronic absenteeism data do not apply.
Central School sits in a village with a walkable historic downtown anchored by the Metra station, local restaurants, shops, and the I&M Canal corridor. Civic anchors include the public library, nearby forest preserves and the Cal-Sag Trail, and a recovery-focused downtown revitalization underway. Argonne National Laboratory and CITGO's refinery are among the area's largest employers. The village has grown substantially over recent decades, with housing development continuing to accelerate. The district's 2021 referendum and reopening of Central School were direct responses to that growth and were framed to parents as enabling reduced class sizes and expanded programming—changes that remain relevant to families evaluating schools and neighborhoods in the area.
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