Benjamin Franklin Elem School, Moline IL

Original Research by School Decision on Benjamin Franklin Elem School

Benjamin Franklin Elementary is a K-5 school of about average size for its grade band in Moline, serving a diverse student body split roughly evenly among White and Hispanic students, with smaller shares of Black students and students of Asian descent. The school draws from a mid-sized Mississippi River city with stable population, a historic downtown anchored by John Deere's world headquarters, riverfront parks and trails, and ongoing mixed-use development along the waterfront.

On state testing, Benjamin Franklin shows a split picture. In third-grade math, proficiency sits above the midpoint among Rock Island County districts. In fourth and fifth grade, however, math proficiency drops notably lower; the same pattern holds in language arts, where third grade comes in roughly in the middle of county schools, but fourth and fifth grade lag. In fifth-grade science, proficiency is quite low. The school participates fully in state testing, and these results come from the recent Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR). A parent may want to look into further detail with the school about what drives the apparent dip from grade three to grades four and five, and what instructional supports exist in the upper elementary grades.

The school sits in a context of significant district change. The Moline-Coal Valley district is consolidating Lincoln-Irving and Willard Elementary schools into a new modernized K-5 building, Robert Ontiveros Elementary, with groundbreaking already underway and opening planned for 2027. This reshuffles school boundaries and school communities across the district. Benjamin Franklin itself is not part of this consolidation, but families should be aware that the broader elementary landscape is shifting.

Housing in Moline is affordable relative to state and national benchmarks, with median home values and rents moderate and monthly costs consuming a smaller share of household income than typical. The neighborhood is predominantly older housing stock with incremental new development, though the city has been actively recruiting downtown housing growth and waterfront investment. Schools are situated on their own campuses rather than in the downtown core; civic and commercial life centers on the historic 5th Avenue district and riverfront parks, with separate retail and employment corridors farther south.

State testing data for grades six and above are not available in the reported results; Benjamin Franklin serves through fifth grade only, so no data exist for those grades at this school.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 363%

School 63% · District 44% · ▲ 19 pts above district

▲ 17 pts above state median · ▲ 29 pts above county median

Grade 441%

School 41% · District 37% · ▲ 4 pts above district

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

Grade 538%

School 38% · District 26% · ▲ 12 pts above district

▲ 8 pts above state median · ▲ 13 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 343%

School 43% · District 37% · ▲ 6 pts above district

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

Grade 448%

School 48% · District 39% · ▲ 9 pts above district

even with state median · ▲ 14 pts above county median

Grade 551%

School 51% · District 38% · ▲ 13 pts above district

▼ 1 pts below state median · ▲ 16 pts above county median

Science

Grade 526%

School 26% · District 26% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▼ 11 pts below state median · even with county median

This schoolMoline-Coal Valley CUSD 40, 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.