The top reported proficiency rate is 13% in English language arts. The lowest is 9% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on M L King Jr Elem School
M L King Jr Elementary is a small neighborhood school serving kindergarten through fifth grade in Urbana. With enrollment distributed across six grade levels, the school draws families from its assigned attendance area in Urbana SD 116, a district that recently restructured its elementary attendance boundaries and grade configuration for the first time in over a decade.
The school's student body is predominantly Black, with substantial Asian representation and smaller shares of white, multiracial, Hispanic, and American Indian students. Specific data on free or reduced-price lunch eligibility, English learner status, or special education enrollment was not available, so parents may want to ask the school directly about the composition and support needs of its population.
The academic picture at M L King Jr is one of substantial challenge. Across the most recent state assessments, proficiency rates are very low. In third-grade math and English language arts, roughly one in five students and one in eight students, respectively, met state proficiency benchmarks. By fourth and fifth grades, proficiency drops sharply: fewer than one in twenty students are proficient in fourth-grade math, and in fifth-grade science, about one in eleven students reached proficiency. Only a handful of students at each tested grade level meet Illinois state standards. On the comparison set of districts in Champaign County, M L King Jr's overall proficiency index places it in the bottom quartile. These results reflect a school where a large majority of students are performing below grade level in core academic areas, a pattern that appears consistent across grades and subjects.
It is worth noting that Illinois changed its proficiency cut scores in 2025, making direct year-to-year comparison with prior results unreliable. A parent may want to inquire whether the school has longitudinal data or internal benchmarks that show whether student learning is moving in any particular direction before and after that score change.
The district context matters here. Urbana SD 116 adopted a new core math curriculum in the most recent school year and rolled out a more rigorous English language arts curriculum in 2024-25. The district also redrew elementary boundaries in 2024 for the first time in over a decade, reassigning about one in five K-4 students, and opened a district-wide sixth-grade center in 2025-26. These are structural and curricular shifts that shape the operating environment. The new math curriculum was highlighted by the district as driving noteworthy K-8 gains in the recent report card, suggesting the district recognizes the need for foundational change in instruction and materials.
M L King Jr's location in Urbana places it in a community with a historic downtown, strong public transit, and the University of Illinois nearby. Housing values and rents in the area are below the Illinois state benchmark, with home prices and rental costs relatively modest for the state, though affordability pressures exist for families renting.
Parents considering this school should understand that it is currently a low-proficiency school where most students are working significantly below grade-level expectations in math and language arts. The district's recent curriculum adoptions and boundary restructuring represent intentional efforts to improve outcomes, but early results suggest this school and district are in an early or intermediate phase of improvement. A parent may want to discuss with the school its specific support and intervention plans, how it tracks individual student progress, and what the school's goals are for the current and coming years.
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