Moulton Elementary School, Shelbyville IL

Original Research by School Decision on Moulton Elementary School

Moulton Elementary School serves grades four through eight in Shelbyville, a small county-seat city in rural Shelby County, Illinois. The school occupies a campus on the west side of town along with Shelbyville High School, both institutions of the local public district. The enrollment is modest, with roughly equal cohorts across the five grade levels served.

The student body is predominantly white, with small numbers of students from other racial or ethnic backgrounds. Free-or-reduced-price lunch data and special education or English learner enrollment counts were not available, so a parent looking to understand the composition of economic need or specific support populations at the school should reach out to the district directly.

On state assessments administered in the current school year, Moulton shows a split profile across subjects and grades. In reading and language arts, performance is notably stronger, particularly in the upper grades. Sixth and seventh graders achieved proficiency rates well above the halfway point; eighth graders also performed solidly. Fourth graders showed proficiency near two-thirds. Fifth grade was lower at roughly mid-range. In mathematics, the pattern reverses. Fourth grade math proficiency sits in the mid-range, but performance declines sharply in grades five through eight. Sixth grade math proficiency falls to under one-fifth of students, the lowest result across the school. Science proficiency data was available only for fifth and eighth grades; eighth grade showed slightly better than half the students meeting standards, while fifth grade was lower at under mid-range.

Relative to other districts in Shelby County, Moulton's overall proficiency index places it below the midpoint. The state assessment has undergone scoring adjustments across subjects this year, which can affect comparability with prior years; the school's test-taking participation was high and nearly universal.

The broader setting is a slow-population-decline rural community with civic life anchored to the historic downtown courthouse square, outdoor recreation centered on Lake Shelbyville and the General Dacey Trail, and major employment from Good Shepherd Hospital, agribusiness, and county government. A bond referendum approved in March will build a new pre-kindergarten through fourth grade facility to replace Main Street Elementary, a change that will reshape the district's footprint and affect local property taxes going forward.

A parent considering Moulton should weigh the school's relative strength in reading and language arts against the need for closer attention to mathematics support in the middle grades. The specific resources available for students below proficiency, the composition of interventions, and the types of small-group or one-on-one instruction offered are details the school can provide and are worth exploring directly with administration.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 444%

School 44% · District 44%

▲ 7 pts above state median

Grade 537%

School 37% · District 37%

▲ 7 pts above state median

Grade 619%

School 19% · District 19%

▼ 5 pts below state median

Grade 741%

School 41% · District 41%

▲ 12 pts above state median

Grade 828%

School 28% · District 28%

▲ 5 pts above state median

English language arts

Grade 470%

School 70% · District 70%

▲ 21 pts above state median

Grade 556%

School 56% · District 56%

▲ 4 pts above state median

Grade 680%

School 80% · District 80%

▲ 30 pts above state median

Grade 782%

School 82% · District 82%

▲ 30 pts above state median

Grade 877%

School 77% · District 77%

▲ 23 pts above state median

Science

Grade 544%

School 44% · District 44%

▲ 7 pts above state median

Grade 851%

School 51% · District 51%

▲ 12 pts above state median

This schoolShelbyville CUSD 4, 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.