The top reported proficiency rate is 37% in Science. The lowest is 26% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Edison Elem School
Edison Elementary School serves prekindergarten through fourth grade in Danville, a declining industrial city in central Illinois that sits alongside Interstate 74 about an hour south of the Illinois-Indiana border. The school enrolls a small student body with a majority Black population, a sizable White enrollment, and smaller shares of Hispanic and multiracial students. The specific breakdown shows the school reflects the racial composition of Danville itself, which has experienced long-term population loss from a peak several decades ago and now competes for residents and tax base in a shrinking regional market.
Academically, Edison's performance on Illinois state testing shows students struggling significantly with proficiency benchmarks. In third grade, roughly one in five students met or exceeded proficiency in math, and roughly one in eight in English language arts. Fourth grade results are somewhat better, with about three in ten meeting the math standard and about four in ten in ELA. The school participated in state science testing over a decade ago; state testing data for current science results was not available. No score data on specific academic growth or multi-year trends were reported, so parents looking for evidence of year-to-year improvement or decline would need to seek that information directly from the school. The testing participation rates appear solid, suggesting the results reflect actual student performance rather than gaps in who took the assessments.
When placed against other districts in Vermilion County, Edison's overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades sits below the midpoint, indicating the school is performing lower than the median of its county peers. This positioning reflects the pattern visible in the district brief: Danville CCSD 118 has recognized its own acute challenges in math instruction, with districtwide math proficiency in the single digits to low teens according to recent reporting, prompting the district to contract an independent math consultant and set an explicit goal of moving students forward on that front. That district-wide intervention signals that the math struggles visible in Edison's third and fourth grade results are part of a broader systemic issue the district is working to address.
The school sits on North Vermilion Street, which is the main commercial corridor carrying hotels, retail chains, and big-box development north of Danville's compact historic downtown. Danville itself lacks recent market-rate housing development; home values in the area are modest and rents are relatively low, placing housing costs well below state and national medians. The city has discussed housing and jobs as central to reversing its population decline, and a recent controversy over public housing cuts added complexity to the local discussion of residential stability and community investment.
Within the district, families choosing Edison would be aware that Danville CCSD 118 has declined to support a countywide school facilities sales tax that other Vermilion County districts passed, meaning Edison's capital improvements rely on existing revenue and reserves rather than a recurring dedicated funding stream. The district has nevertheless pursued a multi-year facilities reinvestment program funded through reserves and COVID relief, including substantial work at the high school and at Northeast Elementary Magnet School. That magnet school operates a year-round (balanced) calendar as part of its design, though construction needs pulled it onto a traditional fall-spring schedule for the past two years, illustrating how major building projects can shift the day-to-day school experience.
Edison is a regular public school without magnet or charter status, serving a straightforward elementary grade band in the district's broader portfolio. Parents evaluating Edison would want to understand the school's specific instructional approach to math given the district's acknowledged focus on that area, and they may want to ask the school directly about year-to-year performance trends and any targeted supports for students not yet meeting grade-level proficiency. The state testing results provided show where the school stands at a single point in time; whether students are closing gaps, widening them, or holding steady is information the school can supply.
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