The top reported proficiency rate is 40% in English language arts. The lowest is 31% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Memorial Elem School
Memorial Elementary School serves grades three and four in Taylorville, a small county-seat city in rural Central Illinois. The school sits on a grid of residential streets anchored by a historic downtown Courthouse Square, set amid farmland. This is the entry point where students begin formal standardized assessment in the state's testing framework.
The school's enrollment is small, with a total that spans just over a couple hundred students across the two grades it serves. The student body is predominantly white, with small shares of Hispanic and multiracial students and very few students from other racial or ethnic backgrounds. Free and reduced lunch eligibility data was not available, so a parent would want to ask the school directly about the economic profile of the enrollment. Special education and English learner population counts were also not reported.
Academic performance shows proficiency rates below the midpoint when compared to other districts in Christian County. In grade three mathematics, roughly a quarter of students met proficiency; in grade four mathematics, the rate rose to roughly a third. English language arts proficiency was somewhat higher: roughly one-third of grade three students and roughly four-tenths of grade four students met proficiency. Testing participation was very high, above ninety percent in both grades and subjects, which means the results reflect most students in the building. A parent may want to look into what support structures the school has in place for students not yet proficient, particularly in mathematics where the gaps are larger.
The district has implemented a new literacy program across elementary grades called the Tornado Literacy Plan, which brings evidence-based phonics instruction, tiered reading materials, and small-group instruction with aligned teacher training. This is a system-wide pedagogical shift that affects how reading is taught in Memorial's classrooms. The district also reports that all four of its schools, including the two elementary buildings, earned a Commendable designation on the most recent Illinois Report Card, and elementary schools saw rising proficiency in both reading and math. That measured improvement suggests the new literacy approach may be moving performance in a positive direction, though Memorial's current results place it below the county median and warrant close monitoring.
The school operates as a regular public elementary school in Taylorville CUSD 3, a district serving a town of modest size with affordable housing and a local economy anchored by Taylorville Memorial Hospital, the school district itself, and several manufacturing and distribution operations. Civic life clusters around the downtown Courthouse Square with its historic commercial blocks; schools sit on separate sites within residential neighborhoods. The area offers little public transit, so families rely on car travel for school access and daily movement. Manners Park, a large community recreation area with a pond, pool, sports fields, and a historic auditorium, serves as the primary civic anchor outside the downtown.
For a family considering Memorial, the key takeaways are the small, homogeneous enrollment in a quiet, affordable small-town setting, the current academic performance below county averages, and the district's investment in a new literacy framework that may support gains over time. A visit to the school and conversation with teachers about how they support students working toward proficiency would help clarify the instructional environment and the school's approach to catching students who are behind.
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