Steeleville Elem School, Steeleville IL

Original Research by School Decision on Steeleville Elem School

Steeleville Elementary School serves pre-kindergarten through eighth grade in a small village in southern Illinois. The school enrolls students across all ten of these grade bands, with a stable enrollment of just under three hundred students. The student body is predominantly white, with a small representation of other racial and ethnic groups. Free-or-reduced-price lunch eligibility data was not available; enrollment counts for students with an Individual Education Plan or English learner status were also not reported.

The school's academic performance on state assessments shows an uneven profile across grades and subjects. In math, proficiency ranges from about one-eighth at the fourth grade level to about four-tenths in third and seventh grade. Fourth grade math is a particular soft spot. English language arts performance is somewhat stronger overall; third grade shows similar proficiency to third grade math, but eighth grade reaches about one-half, and seventh grade performs at that level as well. Fourth grade ELA, like fourth grade math, runs below other grade bands. Science results are available only for fifth and eighth grades: fifth grade shows proficiency near one-quarter, while eighth grade reaches about one-half. Participation rates across all tested grades are very high, generally between mid-nineties and one hundred percent, suggesting that absences or refusals on test day are not a significant issue.

When positioned against other districts in Randolph County, the school's overall proficiency index—an average across all tested subjects and grades—sits above the county midpoint. That comparison is worth keeping in mind: despite the mixed grade-level picture, the school's aggregate standing is not in the lower tier of county district performance.

The school campus sits apart from the commercial core of Steeleville, located on South Sparta Street where the village's civic and educational facilities cluster. The village itself is a small, established community with modest population decline over recent years, an affordable housing market, and a small-town atmosphere centered on a Broadway commercial strip. The dominant local employer is a food manufacturing operation; banking, health care, and municipal services are also present. No recent large development or major district initiatives were identified in available sources, and the district brief uncovered no parent-facing policy changes or referenda within recent years.

Parents considering this school should look into the fourth grade performance dip in both math and ELA to understand whether it reflects a specific cohort effect, a curriculum or instructional pattern, or something else the school is tracking and addressing. The school's profile is that of a small-town elementary through middle school with service to its immediate community, higher participation in testing, and performance that holds at or slightly above the county level despite variable grade-level results.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 342%

School 42% · District 42%

▼ 4 pts below state median

Grade 413%

School 13% · District 13%

▼ 24 pts below state median

Grade 519%

School 19% · District 19%

▼ 10 pts below state median

Grade 617%

School 17% · District 17%

▼ 7 pts below state median

Grade 744%

School 44% · District 44%

▲ 15 pts above state median

Grade 830%

School 30% · District 30%

▲ 8 pts above state median

English language arts

Grade 342%

School 42% · District 42%

▼ 2 pts below state median

Grade 422%

School 22% · District 22%

▼ 26 pts below state median

Grade 532%

School 32% · District 32%

▼ 20 pts below state median

Grade 638%

School 38% · District 38%

▼ 12 pts below state median

Grade 750%

School 50% · District 50%

▼ 1 pts below state median

Grade 857%

School 57% · District 57%

▲ 3 pts above state median

Science

Grade 526%

School 26% · District 26%

▼ 11 pts below state median

Grade 852%

School 52% · District 52%

▲ 13 pts above state median

This schoolSteeleville CUSD 138, 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.