Monroe Elem School, Bartonville IL

Original Research by School Decision on Monroe Elem School

Monroe Elementary School is a PreK-8 school in Bartonville, Illinois, serving the students of Monroe School District 70. It enrolls a small cohort of students across ten grade bands in a regular public school setting.

Academically, Monroe shows uneven proficiency across its tested grades. In English language arts, results vary notably by grade. Third grade shows modest performance, while fourth grade reaches a strength, with eighth grade also performing well above the school median. Fifth and sixth grades hold to middle ground. In math, the pattern differs: third grade leads the school's math results, but proficiency drops sharply by middle grades, with grades six through eight all showing results well below half the students meeting the standard. Science testing occurs only in grades five and eight; grade five comes in below the school median while grade eight rebounds to strength. The school participates fully in state testing, with participation rates consistently strong across subjects and grades. State testing methodology and cut scores changed in the 2024-25 school year, so year-to-year comparison is not available. Overall, Monroe's proficiency index places it in the top quartile among school sites in Peoria County, a meaningful position that reflects mixed grade-level results balancing stronger performance in earlier and later grades against a dip through the middle of the school.

The school's enrollment of roughly low-to-mid three-hundred students is small for a PreK-8 building. The student body is predominantly white, with small and modest shares of students identifying as Hispanic, multiracial, or other races. Free and reduced price lunch data and the counts of students with Individualized Education Plans or English learner status were not available, so a parent may want to contact the school directly to understand economic diversity and the depth of special population support.

Bartonville itself is a small, quiet residential suburb of Peoria with a working-class texture rooted in steelmaking and mining. The village is home to the Liberty Steel mill, one of the region's largest manufacturing employers, though its fortunes have been volatile; the facility furloughed workers in late 2024. Housing stock consists primarily of modest single-family ranches and bungalows built before the 1960s, with homes reflecting modest pricing relative to state and national benchmarks. The area has experienced slow or flat population growth and sits on the periphery of Peoria rather than at its center. Commercial activity spreads along several corridors rather than clustering in a downtown; civic anchors include Alpha Park green space, the Alpha Park Public Library, and access to Interstate 74 and U.S. Route 24. The village recently adopted a comprehensive plan and has attracted modest new retail (an Aldi and Scooter's Coffee), with the largest development driver being Liberty Steel's expansion plans. Day-to-day life in Bartonville reads as a stable, family-oriented small town with limited walk-up commercial vitality but strong road access to Peoria.

Monroe SD 70 is a single-school district of the same small enrollment footprint. No major curriculum shifts, referenda, or tax actions of recent years were confirmed in available sources, so the district appears stable in its operations.

A parent considering Monroe Elementary should expect a neighborhood school in a small, working-class suburb with solid proficiency in the tested grades at both ends of the PreK-8 span but notably weaker results in middle grades, particularly in math. The school's position among county schools is a strength. Program breadth, staffing depth, or special student support details were not available, so a parent may want to reach out directly to the school to understand offerings and staff resources. The surrounding community is quiet and affordable, with old housing stock and modest commercial amenities, rooted in the industrial past and future of the Liberty Steel operation.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 372%

School 72% · District 72%

▲ 26 pts above state median · ▲ 28 pts above county median

Grade 461%

School 61% · District 61%

▲ 24 pts above state median · ▲ 26 pts above county median

Grade 556%

School 56% · District 56%

▲ 26 pts above state median · ▲ 25 pts above county median

Grade 636%

School 36% · District 36%

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

Grade 750%

School 50% · District 50%

▲ 21 pts above state median · ▲ 20 pts above county median

Grade 850%

School 50% · District 50%

▲ 27 pts above state median · ▲ 34 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 359%

School 59% · District 59%

▲ 15 pts above state median · ▲ 18 pts above county median

Grade 479%

School 79% · District 79%

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

Grade 567%

School 67% · District 67%

▲ 15 pts above state median · ▲ 19 pts above county median

Grade 668%

School 68% · District 68%

▲ 17 pts above state median · ▲ 25 pts above county median

Grade 754%

School 54% · District 54%

▲ 2 pts above state median · ▲ 14 pts above county median

Grade 875%

School 75% · District 75%

▲ 22 pts above state median · ▲ 28 pts above county median

Science

Grade 558%

School 58% · District 58%

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

Grade 870%

School 70% · District 70%

▲ 30 pts above state median · ▲ 39 pts above county median

This schoolMonroe SD 70, 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.

Proficiency by household income

Mathematics

Grade 8Lower-income36%Higher-income33%3 pp gap