The top reported proficiency rate is 82% in Science. The lowest is 33% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Eldorado Middle School
Eldorado Middle School serves grades six through eight in a small rural city in Saline County, southern Illinois. The school has an enrollment of about one hundred students in each grade, drawn entirely from the town of Eldorado and its immediate surroundings. The student body is overwhelmingly white, with very small numbers of students of other races and ethnicities. The school did not report free-or-reduced-price-lunch counts or English learner or special education enrollment figures in the available data.
Eldorado Middle School's test results show a wide and striking spread across subjects and grades. In English language arts, performance is substantially stronger: seventh-grade students showed proficiency around three-quarters of the cohort, while sixth and eighth graders achieved around half or just above. In mathematics, the pattern is much weaker and drops sharply. Sixth graders reached about half proficient, but seventh and eighth graders fell to around one-quarter or below. Science testing was available only for eighth grade, where proficiency was strong at just under four-fifths of students. All students participated in testing; participation rates were essentially complete. The test results note a change in proficiency cut scores between the prior year and this year, so trend comparisons with prior-year results are not safe to compute.
Among the county's school districts, Eldorado Middle School ranks in the top quartile on overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades. State testing data were not available for earlier grades (three through five), because this is a middle school serving grades six through eight only. Graduation rate and chronic absenteeism data do not apply; those measures pertain to high school and district level.
The school sits in a contracting rural town. Eldorado's population has fallen substantially over decades, from a peak earlier in the last century down through 2020 and continuing. The economy once centered on coal mining and a major food distribution hub; both are gone. Today the main employers are health care, education, and construction. The downtown retains historic civic anchors, such as the library on Grant Street and the former city hall on the National Register of Historic Places, but most storefronts are abandoned. Housing is inexpensive and dominated by older stock. The town has a small civic footprint with bike paths created from converted railroad rights-of-way and proximity to the Shawnee National Forest.
The parent district, Eldorado CUSD 4, has made notable recent policy moves. Free breakfast and lunch for all students continues for the current school year, reducing daily costs regardless of family income. The district voted to return sales tax revenue to property taxpayers through a property tax abatement, reinforcing a commitment to keeping tax rates among the county's lowest. At the high school level, the district has been approved for five College and Career Pathway Endorsements, a state curriculum designation that puts early college credit and work-based learning on diplomas. The high school is also a certified site for its own Basic Nurse Assistant Training Program, letting students earn a state CNA credential. A large solar development project has funded a hydroponic greenhouse and agrivoltaics-STEM partnership at the high school, adding agriculture and sustainability pathways. These developments are at the high school rather than the middle school, but they signal the district's direction toward career-focused, credentialed pathways.
A parent or prospective resident should note the mathematics results, particularly the sharp decline from sixth to seventh and eighth grade. A parent may want to look into this further with the school to understand what is happening in those grades and what support or intervention the school is offering. The English language arts trajectory in that same span is very different, holding steadier, so the math pattern warrants specific attention. The school's modest size, rural setting, and place within a contracting town shape the peer environment and the housing and labor market context for families considering the area.
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