The top reported proficiency rate is 54% in English language arts. The lowest is 37% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Metropolis Elem School
Metropolis Elem School serves the roughly 490 students in pre-K through sixth grade across a small southeast Illinois city anchored by Superman's cultural identity and two major employers: the Honeywell uranium conversion plant and Harrah's casino. The school's enrollment spans grades from pre-K through sixth, with enrollment relatively evenly distributed across grades, each serving somewhere in the range of middle-double-digit to smaller triple-digit cohorts per grade band.
On state assessments administered in spring 2025, the school's performance shows a clear decline through the grades in both math and English language arts. In third grade, roughly seven in ten students scored at proficiency on the IAR math assessment, and about half met proficiency in ELA. By fourth and fifth grades, math proficiency dropped sharply to around half and then one-third of students respectively. Sixth grade math showed proficiency at around one in four students. The picture in ELA is somewhat more stable but still concerning: fourth and fifth grades held near or slightly above half proficient, while sixth grade sat just above half. In science, which is tested in fifth grade at the school, only about one in three students scored proficient. Students participated in these assessments at full or near-full rates, so the data reflects how this group actually tested.
When placed against the other districts in Massac County, Metropolis Elem's overall proficiency index lands above the county midpoint. The neighboring comparison set contains only two districts county-wide, and this school sits between them on average performance, running above the lower of the two and below the higher.
The student body is predominantly white, representing more than seven in ten students. Black students comprise roughly one in eight students, and about one in twenty identify as Hispanic. Around one in ten students are multiracial. Specific data on students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch, those with individualized education plans, or English learners was not available in the school's report.
Massac County has experienced gradual population decline over recent years as residents have migrated to neighboring Kentucky, and the region has weathered volatility at Honeywell, the historic anchor employer. The district itself underwent a significant but unsuccessful annexation referendum in 2023, when voters in Massac Unit 1 approved a proposal to merge with neighboring Joppa-Maple Grove Unit 38, but voters in the Joppa district rejected it, leaving Unit 1's footprint and enrollment unchanged. At the elementary level, the district has publicly shifted reading instruction toward the Science of Reading approach, moving away from basal reader-centered practice and emphasizing vocabulary building through wider reading. This is a foundational pedagogical change families should understand if literacy development is a focus.
The school's grade-by-grade proficiency trajectory warrants closer attention. A parent may want to look into the school's specific instructional approach and support structures, particularly the sharp decline in math proficiency in grades five and six and the overall modest proficiency rates across the upper grades. Participation rates remain high, so these reflect genuine attainment rather than assessment barriers. The strong third-grade math performance suggests early foundations are being laid, making the decline in later grades a question worth exploring with teachers and administrators about curriculum pacing, intervention, or transition practices between grade levels.
Housing in the Metropolis area is affordable relative to state and national benchmarks, and the local economy, while strained, has shown modest employment growth in recent years. Fort Massac State Park provides a major civic anchor east of the town. Families should understand they are settling in a place with uncertain economic momentum but stable, affordable housing and strong community ties rooted in the town's historic identity and natural assets.
See more original research from School Decision →