The top reported proficiency rate is 51% in English language arts. The lowest is 13% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Grant Middle School
Grant Middle School sits in Fairview Heights, a suburban corridor dominated by highway commerce and retail anchored by St. Clair Square mall, with residential subdivisions radiating outward. The school serves grades five through eight and draws from a community of modest homeownership, with median home values well below state benchmarks and rents affordable relative to regional incomes.
The student body is evenly split between Black and white students, with small shares of Asian, Hispanic, and multiracial students. Free-or-reduced-price-lunch eligibility data was not available. The school enrolled students across four grade levels, with fifth grade the largest cohort.
Academic results show a school under significant stress. In English language arts, fifth and sixth graders demonstrated roughly middle-range proficiency, while seventh graders scored notably lower and eighth graders rebounded to the mid-range. Math proficiency is weak across all grades. Fifth graders showed very low proficiency; sixth graders dropped further; seventh graders edged slightly higher; and eighth graders improved but remained low by any standard. Science proficiency was low in fifth grade and moderate in eighth grade. Across tested subjects and grades, the school's overall proficiency sits in the bottom quartile of districts in St. Clair County.
The gap between English language arts and math is striking. Roughly half the sixth and eighth graders are proficient in ELA, but only a small fraction reach math proficiency at those grade levels. This pattern suggests that while reading and writing instruction has gained some traction, mathematics instruction is not meeting students where they are. A parent may want to look into this further with the school, particularly if your child struggles with math, to understand what supports exist.
The school context includes a notable constraint: its parent district, Grant CCSD 110, was certified by the Illinois State Board of Education in March 2024 as in financial difficulty, the first such action the state had taken against any Illinois district since 2006. The district projects significant staffing reductions and a shrinking operating fund balance through 2027, relying on working cash bonds to cover deficits. This is a signal about district stability and resource constraints that goes beyond any single school's performance and affects hiring, class sizes, and programming capacity across the system.
State testing data for grades three and four were not available, which reflects that Grant Middle School does not serve those grades. Demographic details on special education enrollment and English learner status, as well as information on discipline, attendance, and school-specific programs, were not in the available data.
The housing market in the area shows modest home values with modest year-over-year appreciation and relatively stable rents. The city is largely landlocked and focused on infill growth, with recent residential developments adding single-family homes, townhomes, and senior housing. St. Clair Square and retail corridors define the local economy, though healthcare, Collins Aerospace, and proximity to Scott Air Force Base also anchor employment.
Grant Middle School is a regular public school serving an auto-oriented suburb with affordable housing and an economically pressured school system. The proficiency results are low, and the math instruction gap is real. The district's financial situation is unlikely to improve quickly and may constrain school-level flexibility in the near term.
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