The top reported proficiency rate is 35% in English language arts. The lowest is 30% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Genoa Elementary School
Genoa Elementary School is a regular public school serving grades three through five in the village of Genoa, a small city of roughly four thousand residents in the northeast corner of DeKalb County. The school is part of Genoa Kingston CUSD 424, a unified district that also serves the nearby community of Kingston.
The school's academic profile reflects below-average performance on Illinois state assessments. In math, Genoa Elementary's proficiency in the most recent year ranged from around twenty-seven percent in fifth grade to around thirty-eight percent in third grade. In English language arts, proficiency ran from roughly thirty-two percent in third grade to around thirty-eight percent in fourth grade. Science testing, available only for fifth grade, showed proficiency near thirty percent. All students were tested with full participation across subjects. These results position the school in the bottom quartile when compared against other districts in DeKalb County. A parent may want to look into this further with the school and the district to understand whether specific literacy or numeracy interventions are underway, and what the arc of improvement has been in prior years.
Enrollment at Genoa Elementary is small, with roughly one hundred ten to one hundred twenty-five students in each grade. The student body is predominantly white, with a meaningful share of Hispanic students and very small numbers of Asian and Black students. Data on free-or-reduced-price lunch eligibility, English learners, and special education enrollments were not available, so a parent seeking to understand economic diversity or support services at the school would want to ask the school directly.
Genoa itself is a suburban-rural community with a revitalized historic downtown centered on Main Street and newer residential subdivisions like Riverbend featuring sidewalks and pocket parks. The city is growing modestly, and housing values in the area are modestly below the Illinois state median. The majority of residents own their homes, and the population skews toward families. The Genoa Township Park District anchors civic life around the fifteen-acre Chamberlain Park, and the Genoa Public Library sits in downtown.
A recent context for families: In November 2024, DeKalb County school districts, including Genoa Kingston, placed a proposed county-level school facility sales tax on the ballot to fund building maintenance, facility upgrades, school resource officers, and mental health professionals. County voters rejected the measure. This means the district continues to rely on local property taxes and existing budgets for facility upkeep and staffing. The district has since put out separate bids for high-school re-roofing and mechanical upgrades, underscoring the ongoing capital needs that the failed tax would have addressed. This is relevant to families because facility condition and support-service staffing will remain dependent on property-tax funding rather than a shared sales-tax base across the county.
The school does not serve grades beyond fifth, so there is no graduation rate or high-school data. The school's website was not available to verify program offerings or additional detail on instruction. A parent evaluating Genoa Elementary should seek clarification from the school on the recent assessment results, any remedial or intervention work underway, and what support services are available to students.
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