The top reported proficiency rate is 9% in English language arts. The lowest is 3% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Franklin Grove Elem School
Franklin Grove Elementary is a regular public school serving kindergarten through sixth grade in Decatur, with an enrollment of about five hundred students. The school sits in a Midwest industrial city anchored by agricultural commodity processing—Decatur is the soybean capital, home to Archer Daniels Midland's North American headquarters and other major grain and food ingredient operations. Lake Decatur and its waterfront parks anchor civic life; the school is one of several distributed across neighborhoods rather than clustered downtown.
The school's most pressing characteristic is its academic performance. On the 2024-25 Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR), proficiency in math and English language arts across tested grades (third through sixth) runs well below levels typical of schools in its county. In third-grade math, fewer than a handful of students met the proficiency bar; in fourth grade, about one in twenty did. In sixth-grade math, roughly one in fifty students tested proficient or above. English language arts shows a similar pattern, ranging from around one in sixteen students in fourth grade down to one in eleven in third grade. On the one science test administered, fifth-grade proficiency sits near five percent. Across all tested subjects and grades, the school's overall proficiency index places it in the bottom quartile among schools in Macon County.
State testing in Illinois this year saw changes to cut scores that affect comparability with prior years, so year-to-year trend data is not available. A parent may want to look into this further with the school to understand what supports are in place and what the trajectory has been in years before the assessment changed.
The enrollment is stable at roughly five hundred students, with a fairly even distribution across grades. The student body is notably diverse by race and ethnicity: about half the students are Black, with meaningful populations of white and multiracial students, and smaller numbers of Hispanic and Native American students. Free-or-reduced-price lunch data was not available, but the composition suggests a range of socioeconomic circumstances.
The school sits within Decatur Public Schools (District 61), which recently launched a comprehensive strategic planning and master facility plan called Roadmap2030. This multi-year initiative, which began in October 2024 and presented recommendations to the Board in May 2025, will examine the structural condition of district buildings and align usage with enrollment projections and financial outlook. Because this process may determine which buildings remain open and how programs are organized, it shapes the long-term stability and future of schools in the district. Beginning in the 2024-25 school year, the district also implemented a strict bell-to-bell ban on phones, earbuds, smart watches, and tablets, with all devices kept in locked lockers during the entire school day—a daily change in the classroom environment that spans all grade levels.
The broader Decatur community is in slow decline; the 2020 population was around eighty-five thousand, with a 2024 estimate near seventy-five thousand. However, the city has pursued downtown revitalization through the Limitless Decatur initiative and a 2023–2025 strategic plan, and a major new housing development called the Village at Legacy began construction on a former church property in early 2024, with completion expected in summer 2025. Housing values in the zip code run below the state and national benchmarks, making the area relatively affordable compared to other parts of Illinois. Unemployment sits near four percent, and household incomes are in the mid-eighties.
On a practical level, parents considering Franklin Grove should understand that the school currently faces substantial academic challenges reflected in state testing results. The school's district is in the middle of a significant long-term planning process that will affect how buildings and programs are configured. For families seeking an elementary school environment in Decatur, the combination of low current proficiency, ongoing strategic uncertainty, and the recent districtwide phone ban all merit careful discussion with school leadership before enrollment.
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