Monee Elementary School, Monee IL

Original Research by School Decision on Monee Elementary School

Monee Elementary School serves kindergarten through fifth grade in a small Will County village roughly 32 to 40 miles south of downtown Chicago. The school is part of Crete-Monee CUSD 201U, a district spanning four communities: Crete, Monee, Park Forest, and University Park.

The school's enrollment is modest, with a student body composed mostly of children from the area. Demographically, just over half the students are Black, with meaningful Hispanic and white enrollment and a small Asian contingent. The district has recently invested in facility upgrades and curriculum expansion at the elementary level, including a SmartLab at Monee Elementary itself for hands-on STEM learning.

On state testing, Monee Elementary's results show mixed performance. In third grade, about half the students reached proficiency in math and a similar share in English language arts. Performance weakens markedly in the upper elementary grades. By fourth grade, proficiency in math drops substantially, and in fifth grade it falls further. English language arts proficiency in fourth grade also runs lower than third grade, though fifth-grade ELA rebounds to just under three-fifths of students proficient. In science, about a quarter of fifth graders reached proficiency. These numbers suggest students face growing difficulty with academic content as they advance, a pattern worth exploring with the school about instructional approaches and support systems.

Compared to other districts across Will County, Monee Elementary's overall proficiency index falls below the midpoint. State testing data does not cover the youngest grades in Illinois, so no results are available for kindergarten, first, or second grade.

Monee village itself is car-dependent and primarily residential, with limited sidewalks and few walkable destinations; most families here drive for shopping, dining, and services. A small historic downtown clusters along Court Street near the railway, but the school is not downtown-centered. The area is positioned for growth, with new residential subdivisions and a major industrial corridor along I-57 anchored by logistics, warehousing, and manufacturing. New housing in Monee starts in a modest range, and median home values are below the state benchmark. Monee has no Metra station; the nearest commuter rail is a short drive north in University Park.

A parent choosing Monee Elementary would be placing their child in a neighborhood school serving a demographically diverse student body with recent investments in STEM pedagogy and building condition. The trajectory of test scores across the elementary grades, particularly the sharp drop in upper-elementary math, is something a parent may want to look into further with the school to understand what academic supports are in place and how the school addresses skill gaps in the middle and upper elementary years.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 351%

School 51% · District 28% · ▲ 24 pts above district

▲ 5 pts above state median · ▼ 9 pts below county median

Grade 429%

School 29% · District 20% · ▲ 9 pts above district

▼ 8 pts below state median · ▼ 20 pts below county median

Grade 522%

School 22% · District 16% · ▲ 6 pts above district

▼ 8 pts below state median · ▼ 19 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 359%

School 59% · District 33% · ▲ 25 pts above district

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

Grade 446%

School 46% · District 34% · ▲ 12 pts above district

▼ 2 pts below state median · ▼ 11 pts below county median

Grade 559%

School 59% · District 47% · ▲ 12 pts above district

▲ 7 pts above state median · ▼ 5 pts below county median

Science

Grade 528%

School 28% · District 23% · ▲ 5 pts above district

▼ 9 pts below state median · ▼ 16 pts below county median

This schoolCrete Monee CUSD 201U, 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.