James Avant Elementary School, Washington Pk IL

Original Research by School Decision on James Avant Elementary School

James Avant Elementary School is a small elementary school of about that size for its grade band, serving kindergarten through fifth grade in Washington Park, a declining village in St. Clair County in the Metro East. The school sits within the East St. Louis School District and draws students almost entirely from the immediate community: the enrollment is overwhelmingly Black or African American, with smaller populations of Hispanic students and very small numbers of other groups. Grade distributions show most students concentrated in the younger grades, with enrollment tapering sharply in fourth and fifth grade, likely reflecting how the district handles the primary-to-intermediate transition.

State assessment results show proficiency clustered in the low range. In math, third graders showed the strongest results among those tested, with proficiency in the low-to-mid band; fourth graders dropped noticeably lower, and fifth graders markedly lower still. The pattern is sharper in English Language Arts, where third grade came in at the bottom, fourth grade slightly higher in the mid-band, and fifth grade notably stronger, above the midpoint. Science proficiency in fifth grade sits well below proficiency thresholds. The assessment data carries a flag indicating that state cut scores changed, so year-to-year trend comparisons are not safe to compute, and average scale scores were not available. Against the comparison set of St. Clair County districts, the school's overall proficiency index falls below the midpoint.

When matched against peers in the county, James Avant performs in a lower band academically. A parent considering the school may want to look into further what support structures and interventions are in place to address these results, particularly in mathematics progression and the apparent gap between grades that emerges in the middle of the primary years. The district itself is undertaking significant structural investments, including a major career and technical education expansion at the high school and districtwide AVID strategies starting in elementary school, coupled with expanded Running Start dual-credit partnerships. These are gains aimed at high school and beyond, but they reflect a district-level commitment to college and career readiness that may eventually influence elementary practice.

The broader context is Washington Park itself, a small residential village in decline for decades, with median home values very affordable and within reach of first-time buyers, though the community has faced repeated fiscal crises and a damaging fire in 2021. The MetroLink transit station anchors the village and connects to jobs in East St. Louis and St. Louis. New nonprofit-led housing development is underway in an effort to stabilize the population, but schools in the area serve a stable, low-income student population that has limited outside mobility. For families in Washington Park without the resources or inclination to seek out-of-district schooling, James Avant is the elementary option; understanding its academic profile and what support it offers is essential to setting realistic expectations for early literacy and numeracy growth and identifying what supplemental help may be needed at home or through community resources.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 341%

School 41% · District 30% · ▲ 11 pts above district

▼ 5 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 428%

School 28% · District 19% · ▲ 10 pts above district

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

Grade 516%

School 16% · District 8% · ▲ 8 pts above district

▼ 13 pts below state median · ▼ 7 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 325%

School 25% · District 27% · ▼ 2 pts below district

▼ 19 pts below state median · ▼ 14 pts below county median

Grade 436%

School 36% · District 33% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▼ 12 pts below state median · ▼ 17 pts below county median

Grade 563%

School 63% · District 28% · ▲ 35 pts above district

▲ 11 pts above state median · ▲ 7 pts above county median

Science

Grade 521%

School 21% · District 14% · ▲ 6 pts above district

▼ 16 pts below state median · ▼ 14 pts below county median

This schoolEast St Louis SD 189, 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.