Odell Grade School, Odell IL - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Odell Grade School

Odell Grade School serves kindergarten through eighth grade in a small, one-school district in the village of Odell, a rural farming community in north-central Livingston County. The school sits within the village grid itself, a few blocks from the restored Standard Oil Station on Route 66, making it a genuine neighborhood school rather than a campus removed from town life. Enrollment is small, with the school teaching a few dozen students per grade.

The student body is predominantly white, reflecting the village's composition. Data on free-or-reduced-price lunch eligibility and special education enrollment were not available, so a parent would want to ask the school directly about economic diversity and the services available to students with disabilities. English learner enrollment counts were also not reported.

Academically, Odell Grade School's state test results show a clear and concerning pattern: proficiency declines sharply as grades advance. In third grade, reading proficiency runs at a modest level and math proficiency is moderate. By fourth grade, proficiency in both subjects drops significantly. From fifth through eighth grade, results fall further. Eighth-grade math proficiency is particularly low. Reading performance recovers somewhat in seventh and eighth grades but remains below third-grade levels overall. Science proficiency is low in fifth grade and moderate in eighth grade.

When compared to other schools across Livingston County, Odell's overall proficiency index places it in the top quartile among its county peers. This positioning reflects that several district schools face even weaker results, but it does not mean Odell's individual results are strong in absolute terms. The steep grade-to-grade decline in proficiency is the more salient finding for families considering this school.

The school does not serve high school grades, so there is no graduation rate. Students completing eighth grade here would move on to high schools in nearby districts.

Odell itself is a stable, very small village with modest population growth or decline since 2020. Housing is affordable relative to state and national benchmarks, and most residents are homeowners. There is no major commercial activity in the village; nearby Pontiac, the county seat, serves as the regional employment and services hub. The local economy is largely driven by residents commuting outward, with state government, healthcare, and retail as common employment sectors.

What happened to Odell Grade School's achievement as students moved from lower to upper elementary and into middle school deserves exploration with the school administration. Parents may want to investigate whether the school has identified the causes of this attrition, what interventions are in place, and whether staff or resource constraints are a factor. For a family considering this school, that conversation would be essential before deciding whether Odell's small-school community environment and affordable local housing market align with the academic trajectory the data shows.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 369%

School 69% · District 69%

▲ 23 pts above state median

Grade 436%

School 36% · District 36%

even with state median

Grade 521%

School 21% · District 21%

▼ 9 pts below state median

Grade 627%

School 27% · District 27%

▲ 3 pts above state median

Grade 718%

School 18% · District 18%

▼ 11 pts below state median

Grade 815%

School 15% · District 15%

▼ 7 pts below state median

English language arts

Grade 362%

School 62% · District 62%

▲ 18 pts above state median

Grade 436%

School 36% · District 36%

▼ 12 pts below state median

Grade 526%

School 26% · District 26%

▼ 26 pts below state median

Grade 646%

School 46% · District 46%

▼ 5 pts below state median

Grade 765%

School 65% · District 65%

▲ 13 pts above state median

Grade 862%

School 62% · District 62%

▲ 8 pts above state median

Science

Grade 526%

School 26% · District 26%

▼ 10 pts below state median

Grade 854%

School 54% · District 54%

▲ 14 pts above state median

This schoolOdell CCSD 435, 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.