The top reported proficiency rate is 32% in English language arts. The lowest is 24% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Frances Willard Elem School
Frances Willard Elementary serves grades PreK through 6 in Rock Island, a mid-sized Mississippi River city that is experiencing slow population decline. The school enrolls a diverse student body, with a majority of students from Black households, sizable groups of Asian and Hispanic students, and smaller numbers of white and multiracial students. The school's overall enrollment sits in the low hundreds across its grade bands.
Academically, Frances Willard's state testing results show persistent challenges across tested subjects and grades. In math, proficiency rates fall below a quarter of students in fifth and sixth grade, and third and fourth grades show modest performance in the low-to-mid range. English language arts results are similarly low across tested grades, with only sixth grade reaching above a third of students proficient. Science testing in fifth grade shows proficiency well below a quarter of students. These results place the school above the midpoint of overall proficiency when compared to the district's other schools, but the absolute performance levels indicate that a majority of students are not meeting state standards across subjects. A parent may want to look into what intervention and support strategies the school is using for students who are not yet proficient, and what the school's trajectory looks like over time.
The district is undergoing significant changes that will affect all its schools. A facilities management plan is openly evaluating school consolidation given aging buildings and declining enrollment, which means families should expect possible boundary shifts and closures over the next several years. More immediately, the district has adopted new science-of-reading aligned curricula (CKLA in K–2 and Expeditionary Learning through eighth grade) as part of a districtwide "Reading Revolution" initiative, and several schools have already moved up in state accountability ratings as a result. This is a substantive shift in how reading is taught at Frances Willard, and parents will see more structured daily reading time and different instructional methods than in prior years.
The broader Rock Island community context is one of modest means and limited growth. Median household income regionally is in the low-to-mid range, and home values and rents in the 61201 zip code are below the state benchmark, making housing relatively affordable. The city's population has declined gradually since its mid-20th-century peak, with development now focused on infill projects rather than expansion. The Mississippi riverfront downtown, Augustana College, and the MetroLINK transit system are civic anchors, and the public library system is active. Employment is anchored by Rock Island Arsenal (federal), longstanding insurance and financial service firms in downtown, and Augustana College, along with area health systems and the school district itself.
Frances Willard's location on 9th Street places it in a residential neighborhood away from downtown, and the school serves the immediate area's families. With a small-to-moderate enrollment spread across seven grade levels, the school operates within the district's K–8 structure rather than a separate elementary/middle split. The school's racial and ethnic composition reflects the city's own diversity, and that peer environment is a plain fact of the school rather than a matter of design.
The data presented here are from the 2024–25 school year and do not include measures such as chronic absenteeism, discipline referrals, or teacher turnover, which could provide additional context on school environment and student support. No prior-year test results are available to show whether proficiency is rising, stable, or falling, or to place current performance in a trajectory. A parent visiting the school, speaking with staff, and asking about reading instruction, math support, and response-to-intervention systems would develop a clearer picture of what daily learning looks like and what targeted help is available for students working below grade level.
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