The top reported proficiency rate is 56% in English language arts. The lowest is 33% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Martinsville Elem School
Martinsville Elementary School is a small, publicly operated school serving kindergarten through sixth grade in a rural village in Clark County, Illinois. The school enrolls students across eight grade bands, including a preschool class, in a setting where the vast majority of students are white and from the immediate Martinsville area. The school sits a few blocks from downtown, within the compact footprint of a town of modest size with a predominantly residential, aging character and a long history tied to agriculture and oil.
The academic picture here reflects significant variability by grade level, warranting careful parent attention. Third grade shows strong proficiency in math and reasonable performance in English language arts. By fourth grade, math proficiency drops sharply, and this decline continues through the upper elementary years; fifth-grade math proficiency is particularly low, and sixth-grade math performance falls to a very small fraction of tested students. English language arts performance in grades four through six remains in the middle range but below what one might expect for an elementary school serving these grades. Science testing occurs only in fifth grade, where proficiency is also below midpoint. The school's overall proficiency index—averaging across all tested grades and subjects—places it above the midpoint among the three districts in Clark County, a modest distinction that reflects strength in early elementary grades but substantial softness at the upper end.
A parent considering this school may want to look further into the school's approach to math instruction in grades four and above, as the steep declines in measured proficiency suggest either a shift in curriculum difficulty, changes in teaching approach, or other factors at play. The consistency of the decline across consecutive grades warrants direct conversation with the school about what support structures exist for students who struggle with the jump from third to fourth grade math.
The enrollment is small by modern standards, allowing for the kind of contained, family-like environment that some families seek. The school draws almost entirely from Martinsville itself, reflecting the rural isolation of the town and limited school choice in the area. Martinsville sits on a slow decline, with population dropping and the median resident age around fifty, meaning this is a community with relatively few young families and more retirees and long-term residents. Housing values in the area are modest, roughly one-quarter to one-third below the state median, making this an affordable place to own a home; that affordability comes alongside limited economic dynamism and fewer large local employers.
The district itself—Martinsville CUSD 3C—shows no reported major recent changes or initiatives in available public records, suggesting a stable, small-district operation focused on continuity rather than transformation. The school provides the grade structure and foundational instruction expected of an elementary school, but the testing data indicates that preparation for middle school mathematics, in particular, may require supplemental attention or tutoring support for many students.
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