The top reported proficiency rate is 68% in English language arts. The lowest is 58% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on New Athens Elem
New Athens Elem is a small public elementary school serving pre-kindergarten through fifth grade in the village of New Athens, a quiet blue-collar residential community on the Kaskaskia River in St. Clair County, about an hour southeast of St. Louis. The school sits within New Athens Community Unit School District #60, the district's only elementary building.
The enrollment is modest, with students distributed fairly evenly across the grade span. The student body is predominantly white, with very small numbers of Hispanic and Asian students and no reported Black or Native American enrollment. Data on free-or-reduced-price lunch eligibility and special education and English learner counts were not available, so a reader interested in understanding economic need or language support at the school may want to contact the district directly.
In the most recent state testing, New Athens Elem's proficiency results show a mixed picture that varies by grade and subject. In English language arts, the school performed strongest in fifth grade and weakest in third grade, with fourth grade in the middle. In math, third grade showed the highest proficiency, fifth grade was solid, and fourth grade was notably lower. Fifth grade science proficiency came in at a lower level than the ELA and math results in that same grade. All tested students participated in the assessments. It is worth noting that Illinois changed the cut scores for these assessments recently, so direct year-to-year trend comparison is not yet available; a parent may want to ask the school about proficiency patterns over a longer timeline to see whether performance is stable, improving, or declining.
Relative to the other districts in St. Clair County, New Athens Elem's overall proficiency index places it above the midpoint, positioning it as a stronger performer in this county comparison set, though the small number of tested grades and subjects means this index reflects only the grades the school actually tests (third, fourth, and fifth).
The school does not serve the high school grades, so no graduation rate is available. The enrollment data does show one seventh-grader, likely a placement or transfer situation rather than a regular service model.
New Athens is a slowly declining village with a stable housing market in the low-to-mid range. The community is car-dependent, with most residents commuting to jobs elsewhere in the Metro East region. The school is embedded in the village fabric rather than on a separate campus, reflecting the town-centered civic organization. The district has not undergone major recent strategic shifts or bond initiatives; the public information available reflects routine operations and maintenance.
For families living in or considering New Athens, this elementary school offers a traditional small-town K-5 pathway with solid proficiency in English language arts and science, somewhat softer performance in mathematics at the upper elementary level, and a peer environment that is predominantly white and relatively homogeneous. The school's role as the sole elementary building in the district means it serves the full range of families in the village, without selective enrollment or specialized programming documented in the available data.
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