The top reported proficiency rate is 71% in English language arts. The lowest is 50% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Longfellow Elem School
Longfellow Elementary serves kindergarten through fifth grade in Marion, Illinois, a county seat in Southern Illinois that functions as the region's retail and administrative hub. The school sits on a mid-sized campus in a community experiencing visible growth and reinvestment.
The enrollment is small, distributed across six grades with class sizes that reflect that overall scale. The student body is predominantly white, with a meaningful minority presence of Black students and smaller populations of Hispanic and multiracial children. Free-or-reduced-price lunch data was not available, so a parent may want to look into further what share of families qualify for meal assistance.
On state assessment results, Longfellow shows uneven performance across grades and subjects. In math, third graders reached about seven in ten students proficient or above, but the picture tightens at fourth grade where about six in ten students met the benchmark, then improves slightly at fifth grade. English language arts results are more spread: third grade sits below six in ten proficient, while fourth grade jumps to about eight in ten, and fifth grade lands around seven in ten. Science proficiency at fifth grade is at about half of students. State testing data for sixth and seventh grades does not appear; the school serves only through fifth grade. These results represent where the school currently stands; Illinois changed cut scores for proficiency in recent years, which affects year-to-year comparability.
Among the districts in Williamson County, Longfellow's overall proficiency index places it in the top quartile, which reflects the stronger showing in fourth-grade English language arts and third-grade math relative to other elementary schools in the county, even as fifth-grade math and science results suggest room for growth in upper elementary.
Marion is in the midst of tangible transformation. A major retail, entertainment, and hospitality development is under construction on the site of the former Illinois Star Centre mall, supported by state STAR bond financing. A substantial new affordable housing project with more than forty homes is planned for construction starting in early 2026. The city is also working with its high school building trades program to construct new homes in the Midway Court neighborhood. These developments are attracting families and reshaping the community's housing and employment landscape. Housing in the area is below state and national median values, and rental costs are modest, making the community accessible for families entering or managing tight budgets.
The downtown is anchored by Tower Square Plaza with walkable commercial and civic corridors, though outside that core the environment is largely auto-oriented. Civic institutions include the Carnegie Library, the Marion Cultural and Civic Center, multiple parks, and a regional transit system with fixed-route bus service.
Longfellow is a regular public elementary school with no special designation. Information about special education, English learner support, instructional approach, class composition, or specific enrichment and intervention programs was not available in the data provided. A parent considering enrollment would benefit from direct conversation with the school about how it addresses students working below grade level, language support, gifted identification, and the day-to-day learning environment across its classrooms.
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