Cambridge Comm Grade School, Cambridge IL

Original Research by School Decision on Cambridge Comm Grade School

Cambridge Comm Grade School serves prekindergarten through fifth grade in a small village and county seat in rural northwest Illinois. The school enrolment is small, with roughly equal-sized cohorts spread across its grade bands. The student body is predominantly white, with very limited diversity; enrollment data show no American Indian or Native Hawaiian students, a handful of Asian, Black, and Hispanic students, and a small two-or-more-races group.

The school's most recent state test results show a mixed academic picture. In third grade, math proficiency is strong, while English language arts is solid but lower. Fourth grade shows a substantial drop in math proficiency, falling to just above half of students, though ELA proficiency remains in the mid-range. Fifth grade math proficiency dips further still, while ELA proficiency rises to its highest level across the elementary grades. Science results for fifth grade show proficiency in the mid-to-upper range. The school achieved near-universal test participation in most grades, with one minor dip in fifth grade. Grade six and above have no reported state test results; this reflects the fact that the school's official grade band ends at fifth, even though Cambridge CUSD 227 operates a combined junior-senior high school building elsewhere in the district. The pattern of math proficiency declining as students progress through the upper elementary grades is a feature a parent may want to look into further with the school directly, both to understand what supports are in place and whether the trend has been addressed in instruction.

When compared against other districts in Henry County, the school's overall proficiency index places it in the top quartile among tested schools in the county. This is a genuine strength, though it masks the uneven subject and grade-level performance described above.

The school sits just blocks from Cambridge's downtown square and county courthouse, in a village of slow population decline. Housing values in the Cambridge zip code are below state and national benchmarks, and the area has seen modest appreciation year over year. Parents considering the district should be aware that the school district has scheduled a property tax increase for December 2025, which will raise annual property taxes on a typical home; the district's communications office has posted details on the expected impact. On a positive note, the district completed a new Agriculture Complex addition at the high school in August 2025, expanding career and technical education capacity with dedicated agricultural science and live-animal labs, reflecting a commitment to hands-on, pathway-oriented learning for students in this rural area.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 387%

School 87% · District 87%

▲ 41 pts above state median · ▲ 25 pts above county median

Grade 453%

School 53% · District 53%

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

Grade 545%

School 45% · District 45%

▲ 15 pts above state median · ▲ 1 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 367%

School 67% · District 67%

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

Grade 469%

School 69% · District 69%

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

Grade 577%

School 77% · District 77%

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

Science

Grade 568%

School 68% · District 68%

▲ 31 pts above state median · ▲ 16 pts above county median

This schoolCambridge CUSD 227, 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.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 6Lower-income19%Higher-income40%21 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income6%Higher-income20%14 pp gap