The top reported proficiency rate is 62% in English language arts. The lowest is 36% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Cissna Park Jr High School
Cissna Park Jr High School serves the three grades of middle school in a very small rural district in southern Illinois, serving a student body of roughly sixty students across grades six through eight. The school is housed within the broader Cissna Park school complex, which also contains the community library, creating a unified civic anchor in a village of fewer than a thousand residents.
The community itself is a compact rural village centered on Illinois Route 49, with a strong German and Swiss heritage and a population that skews older and is predominantly homeowning. Most local employment centers on agriculture and small service businesses, with the Cissna Park Co-op being a regional agricultural hub. Housing values in the area are substantially below state and national medians, and the school sits within what is described as one of the least densely populated neighborhoods in America. There are no public transit options; the area is car-dependent.
On state assessments administered in spring 2025, the school shows uneven performance across grades and subjects. In mathematics, proficiency rates range from below average in sixth and eighth grade to stronger performance in seventh grade. In English language arts, seventh grade stands out with proficiency rates well above half, while sixth and eighth grades show roughly half their students proficient. Science testing in eighth grade shows proficiency below that point. The school's overall proficiency index places it below the midpoint when compared to other middle and high schools in Iroquois County. Parent interest in the school's particular math trajectory—particularly the performance of eighth graders—may warrant a direct conversation with the school about curriculum and support structures across the middle grades.
Limited data is available on the school's particular programs, staffing patterns, or discipline approaches. No information was found on enrollment of English learners, students with individualized education plans, or free-or-reduced-price lunch eligibility. The racial composition is predominantly white, with small numbers of students identifying as Black and Hispanic. The district itself has not publicly announced major curriculum reforms, facility upgrades, or other strategic shifts in recent years; the available public record for this very small district contains mainly directory information.
For families in the Cissna Park area, this is the local middle school option, serving students in a setting that reflects the village's rural, agricultural character and close-knit scale. The setting is not selective or specialized; it is a traditional public middle school shaped by its community context and the constraints and opportunities that come with serving a very small enrollment across three grade levels.
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