The top reported proficiency rate is 60% in English language arts. The lowest is 59% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Coal City Elem School
Coal City Elementary School is a small public school serving grades two and three in Coal City, a fringe suburb roughly 53 to 60 miles southwest of Chicago in Grundy County. The school enrolls about 300 students and is part of Coal City Community Unit School District 1, which operates five schools across a 55-square-mile territory covering Coal City, Carbon Hill, Diamond, and Goose Lake.
The student body is predominantly white, with a Latino share representing roughly a fifth of enrollment. Specific data on free-or-reduced-price lunch eligibility and students with individualized education programs were not available, nor was information on English learners.
On the most recent Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR), the school's third-grade cohort achieved proficiency rates near 60 percent in both mathematics and English language arts. The school tested all third graders who were enrolled; participation was complete. Testing results for grade two were not reported because the Illinois assessment system does not test second grade. The school's overall proficiency index places it in the top quartile among Grundy County districts on the metrics that apply to elementary schools.
A parent should understand that this school serves only two grade levels. It is part of a larger district that has undertaken a multi-year facilities improvement plan anchored by a working-cash bond issuance in November 2023. The district is modernizing buildings that date to the 1970s and earlier through fiscal years 2025 and 2026, with planned upgrades including furniture replacement, bathroom renovations, and other infrastructure work across the elementary building. The district also announced a new capital development program extending through the latter 2020s.
Coal City itself is a quiet commuter village where most residents own homes. The downtown runs along Broadway Street with local businesses and small chain retail. The school campus sits south of the village center on South Carbon Hill Road, clustered with the middle and high schools on consolidated grounds. Housing values in the area are moderate relative to national benchmarks, and the local economy has shifted from its coal-mining past toward manufacturing and power generation, with Union Pacific freight operations also present. The village has been growing slowly and is undertaking targeted new residential development in subdivisions.
Because this school serves only early elementary grades, there is no graduation rate, high school course access data, or middle-years state assessment results to review. A family considering Coal City Elementary would be moving into a district managing an aging physical plant through active capital investment and debt service, within a community that is small, stable, and oriented toward families who work elsewhere.
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