The top reported proficiency rate is 27% in Science. The lowest is 20% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Meridian Elementary School
Meridian Elementary School is a small public elementary school serving early grades in Mounds, a declining small city in far southern Illinois. The school sits on a campus east of Interstate 57, shared with other Meridian CUSD 101 buildings, separate from Mounds' small historic downtown. About half the student body identifies as Black, just under four in ten as white, with the remainder multiracial or other races. Most families in Mounds rent their homes, and the area has faced steady population loss over recent years.
Academically, Meridian Elementary's state test results show consistent weakness across both English language arts and mathematics. In third grade, roughly four in ten students met proficiency in math, but performance drops sharply in the next two tested grades. Fourth-grade math proficiency stood at a single digit, and fifth-grade performance sat below one in five. In ELA, third-grade proficiency was very low in single digits, fourth grade even lower, while fifth-grade ELA proficiency climbed to roughly halfway. A fifth-grade science assessment showed proficiency around one in four. These results sit above the county midpoint among Pulaski County districts, though that comparison reflects a small peer set. The low performance across grades and subjects indicates students are not meeting grade-level expectations in core academic areas. A parent may want to look into this further with the school to understand what support systems exist for struggling learners and what targeted interventions are in place.
The school enrolls roughly two hundred students in prekindergarten through fifth grade, with most grades running around thirty students. Prekindergarten is the largest cohort. Because the school serves only the earliest grades, there is no state testing data for grades six through eight, no graduation rate, and no attendance or discipline data. The school appears to feed into another campus within the same district for middle grades.
The locale itself presents a modest landscape. Mounds is a compact residential community with limited commercial activity and no major named employers. The Housing Authority of Pulaski County, headquartered in the town, is among the most visible institutional presences. A small public library sits downtown on First Street with community programs and volunteer staffing. The broader county region has limited public transportation and no direct rail service. Growth data was sparse in available sources, but the town has faced population decline.
The district, Meridian CUSD 101, appears to have minimal recent curricular or operational changes of lasting parent interest. No major referendums or shifts emerged in recent search results. This suggests a stable but quiet institutional posture, neither signaling new investment nor publicizing change.
For families considering Meridian Elementary, the school offers the structure and cost of public education in a small-school setting with known peers, but the academic performance data warrants direct conversation with the school about how students who are not yet proficient are supported and what improvement efforts are underway.
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