Valley View Elem School, Mchenry IL

Original Research by School Decision on Valley View Elem School

Valley View Elementary serves kindergarten through fifth grade in McHenry, a mid-sized Fox River city in McHenry County about forty-five miles northwest of Chicago. The school sits within McHenry CCSD 15, which recently closed its year-round program at Landmark School after four decades of operation, consolidating that option and sending its students back to their home schools beginning this year. That closure removed a unique district choice for families, a shift that shapes the landscape any parent considers when thinking about elementary pathways here.

The school enrolls a small to moderate student body, with roughly equal cohorts across the grade levels. The student body is predominantly white, with a substantial Hispanic enrollment making up roughly a quarter of the population. Smaller numbers of Asian, Black, multiracial, and Native Hawaiian and Alaska Native students attend. The school does not report free-or-reduced-price lunch data or special education and English learner counts, so those dimensions of the student support picture remain unclear from the available information.

On state assessments administered this past school year, Valley View's results show a mixed profile. In English language arts, third grade performed reasonably well while proficiency rates declined notably as students moved into fourth and fifth grade. Third grade ELA attainment was solid, but fifth grade dropped substantially. In mathematics, the pattern was similar: third graders achieved proficiency at roughly the midpoint statewide, fourth graders performed at about the same level, but fifth grade fell sharply below. Science testing, given only in fifth grade, showed particularly soft results. Across tested subjects and grades, the school's overall proficiency index sits just below the midpoint among the county's districts, according to the comparison data available. A parent may want to ask the school directly about what grade-level shifts are happening and what instructional supports exist for students as they reach the upper elementary grades, particularly in mathematics and science.

The school's results are set in a context where Illinois assessment scoring cut scores shifted notably this year, so year-over-year trends cannot yet be reliably compared. All students participated fully in testing, which is a baseline positive.

McHenry itself is a settled community with historic downtown districts along the Fox River and a commercial spine built along state routes. Housing values in the zip code are modest and stable. The city has major employers in healthcare, manufacturing, and retail, plus a public school system that now operates without the year-round calendar alternative that existed until recently. Valley View is a straightforward neighborhood elementary serving the community's younger grades with a traditional calendar, typical curriculum structure, and no specialty magnet or charter designation. The school's location on a state route speaks to the auto-oriented character of the broader community.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 354%

School 54% · District 58% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▲ 8 pts above state median · ▼ 4 pts below county median

Grade 452%

School 52% · District 36% · ▲ 17 pts above district

▲ 16 pts above state median · ▲ 5 pts above county median

Grade 540%

School 40% · District 35% · ▲ 6 pts above district

▲ 11 pts above state median · ▲ 1 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 365%

School 65% · District 54% · ▲ 11 pts above district

▲ 21 pts above state median · ▲ 8 pts above county median

Grade 455%

School 55% · District 46% · ▲ 8 pts above district

▲ 6 pts above state median · ▼ 8 pts below county median

Grade 547%

School 47% · District 53% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▼ 5 pts below state median · ▼ 17 pts below county median

Science

Grade 533%

School 33% · District 39% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▼ 4 pts below state median · ▼ 12 pts below county median

This schoolMcHenry CCSD 15, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.