The top reported proficiency rate is 47% in Science. The lowest is 32% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Leal Elem School
Leal Elementary is a small, neighborhood school serving kindergarten through fifth grade in Urbana. The school has about mid-range enrollment for its grade band, distributed fairly evenly from kindergarten through fifth grade. The student body is diverse, with roughly equal shares of white and Hispanic students, a substantial share of students from two or more racial backgrounds, and smaller populations of Black, Asian, and Native American students.
State testing data from 2024-25 show that Leal students are struggling with core academic content. In math, proficiency on the state assessment ranges from around 30 percent in grades 4 and 5 down to around 30 percent in grades 3 and 4, a low bar indicating that most students are not yet meeting grade-level standards. In English language arts, the picture is slightly better but still weak: grades 3 and 4 hover around 35-36 percent proficiency, while grade 5 rises to around 45 percent. Science proficiency at grade 5 is similar, around 47 percent. Across all tested subjects and grades, Leal's overall proficiency sits below the midpoint when compared to other schools in Champaign County, suggesting the school faces real academic headwinds relative to its neighbors.
The school is part of Urbana School District 116, which has undergone significant structural changes in the past two years. In 2024, the district redrew elementary attendance boundaries for the first time in more than a decade and converted Yankee Ridge Elementary into a dual-language Spanish and French program. Those attendance changes reassigned roughly one in five elementary students to new schools, affecting which building a family's address feeds into. More recently, the district opened a sixth-grade center in a separate building for the 2025-26 school year, meaning students in that grade no longer stay within their elementary schools. On the instructional side, the district adopted a new core math curriculum that is now in its first year of full implementation, and a new, more rigorous English language arts curriculum rolled out in 2024-25. These are district-wide shifts that will shape what happens in Leal classrooms going forward.
Urbana sits on the edge of the University of Illinois campus, anchored by a historic downtown and the Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District, which connects the city via bus, bike-share, and e-scooter programs. The local economy is dominated by the university and Carle health system, with the recently approved Imagine Urbana Comprehensive Plan setting development priorities around housing, neighborhood revitalization, and public infrastructure. Housing values in the area are modest relative to state and national benchmarks, and rental costs are reasonable, making the community accessible to families at various income levels. The Urbana Free Library and city parks provide community anchors beyond school.
A parent considering Leal should understand that the school is currently showing weak academic performance on state measures, which reflects broader challenges the district is working to address through new curricula and instructional approaches. The recent boundary changes mean that where you live determines which elementary school serves your family, and the new sixth-grade center means sixth graders attend a separate building. The school's enrollment is stable and the community around it offers good walkability and public amenities, but the low proficiency rates merit conversation with the school about what specific supports and instructional strategies are in place to help students catch up.
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