The top reported proficiency rate is 44% in Math. The lowest is 41% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Sherrard Elementary School
Sherrard Elementary School serves kindergarten through fourth grade in a small rural village in Mercer County. The school sits on a rural campus outside the village proper, in a farming and commuter community where most working residents drive to jobs in the Quad Cities, about 16 miles away. The enrollment is about 236 students, with a student body that is predominantly white and a small number of students from Hispanic, multiracial, and other backgrounds. Free-or-reduced-price lunch data was not available in the district reporting.
On the most recent state assessments (Illinois Assessment of Readiness), the school shows mixed performance across grades and subjects. In third-grade math, proficiency was at a middling level; in fourth-grade math, it dropped notably lower, with only a modest share of fourth-graders meeting proficiency. Third-grade English language arts proficiency was below math; fourth-grade ELA was similar. The school's overall proficiency index places it above the midpoint among the two other districts in Mercer County. Assessment results for fifth grade and above are not available because the school does not serve those grades. All students who were assessed participated in testing.
The school is part of Sherrard CUSD 200, a small consolidated district spread across four campuses in three villages serving the surrounding rural area. The district has made a recent strategic investment in the elementary school: a major expansion completed in recent years added two classrooms, a dedicated gymnasium (replacing the shared gym-cafeteria arrangement), and spaces for art, music, before-and-after-school programming, and specialized therapist offices. This was the district's first significant capital project in decades and represents a commitment to the elementary building's infrastructure. The district also completed other capital work including roof replacements across buildings and new windows at multiple sites.
Property values in the Sherrard area have risen and the village has modest homeownership. The housing market is below the state benchmark but is appreciating. The village itself has remained small and stable in population for decades; the growth story on the southeast outskirts centers on Fyre Lake, a private residential development with multiple lakes and recreational amenities that may bring new families into the school attendance area.
For families considering this school, the key picture is a small elementary in a rural commuter village with adequate state-test proficiency in third grade and notably lower proficiency in fourth grade, paired with a district that has recently invested in building facilities and maintains tax rates among the lowest in the surrounding region. A parent may want to look into further with the school how fourth-grade math performance is being addressed and what support structures exist for students who are not meeting grade-level benchmarks.
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