Pleasant Hill Elem School, Peoria IL

Original Research by School Decision on Pleasant Hill Elem School

Pleasant Hill Elementary School serves grades PreK through grade 8 in Peoria, Illinois, as part of Pleasant Hill School District 69. It is a small, regular public school located at the edge of Peoria's West Side, drawing a student body that is roughly evenly split between white and Black students, with a smaller Hispanic population and very small numbers of Asian and multiracial students.

The school's academic performance presents a significant challenge. On the most recent state assessments, math proficiency is very low across tested grades, ranging from essentially no students meeting proficiency in grade 4 to single-digit proficiency rates in grades 3 and 8, with one grade showing modest performance at roughly one in six. English language arts results are more mixed: grades 3 and 4 show proficiency rates in the low-to-mid range, but grades 6 and 8 reach closer to half of students meeting the standard, with grade 8 performing slightly above that mark. Science data was available only for grade 8, where roughly half of students demonstrated proficiency. A parent may want to look into what the school's instructional priorities are in math and how the school is addressing the wide variation in results across grades and subjects.

When compared to other districts in Peoria County, Pleasant Hill's overall proficiency index places it in the bottom quartile. State testing data reflects a change in Illinois's proficiency standards that took effect in the 2024-25 school year, so these results are not directly comparable to prior years.

The enrollment is small, with roughly 160 students distributed across grades PreK through 8. Pre-K and kindergarten account for a meaningful share of that population; the elementary grades (1 through 2) are modestly larger, while grades 3 through 8 are smaller, with only a handful of students in some grades. Free-or-reduced-price lunch eligibility data was not available, and information on special education enrollment, English learner population, chronic absenteeism, and discipline was not provided, so a fuller picture of student demographics and support needs is incomplete.

Peoria itself is a mid-sized Illinois city in slow-growth, redevelopment mode rather than expansion. The city is anchored by healthcare and manufacturing, with OSF Healthcare and Caterpillar as major employers. Neighborhoods vary; older residential areas like West Bluff near the school contain historic housing stock, while the downtown and Warehouse District have undergone walkable mixed-use redevelopment centered on dining, retail, the riverfront, and cultural venues. The housing market reflects limited new construction overall, with most activity in adaptive reuse projects downtown. Home values in the area are well below state and national medians, and rental costs are modest, making housing relatively affordable, though inventory is tight.

The district brief found no recent parent-relevant changes such as major referendums, tax shifts, or curriculum updates worth reporting. On that basis, the profile of this school is one of small enrollment, low and highly uneven academic proficiency in tested areas, particularly in mathematics, situated in a city focused on neighborhood stabilization and adaptive reuse rather than growth.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 36%

School 6% · District 6%

▼ 40 pts below state median · ▼ 38 pts below county median

Grade 40%

School 0% · District 0%

▼ 37 pts below state median · ▼ 34 pts below county median

Grade 617%

School 17% · District 17%

▼ 6 pts below state median · ▼ 2 pts below county median

Grade 85%

School 5% · District 5%

▼ 17 pts below state median · ▼ 11 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 325%

School 25% · District 25%

▼ 19 pts below state median · ▼ 15 pts below county median

Grade 429%

School 29% · District 29%

▼ 19 pts below state median · ▼ 21 pts below county median

Grade 650%

School 50% · District 50%

even with state median · ▲ 7 pts above county median

Grade 847%

School 47% · District 47%

▼ 6 pts below state median · even with county median

Science

Grade 847%

School 47% · District 47%

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

This schoolPleasant Hill SD 69, 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.