North Wamac Grade School, Centralia IL

Original Research by School Decision on North Wamac Grade School

North Wamac Grade School is a small public elementary and middle school serving kindergarten through eighth grade in Centralia, Illinois, a working-class city of roughly 10,000 residents in south-central Illinois. The school's enrollment is modest, with just over 100 students across nine grades, the largest grades being first and third with around 19 students each, while fifth grade is notably smaller. The student body is predominantly white, with a small Hispanic enrollment and a handful of students identifying as Black or multiracial.

The school's academic performance is uneven, and parents should examine the results carefully. In grades three and four, math proficiency runs in the low to mid range, with roughly 6 in 10 students meeting state proficiency standards. English language arts in those grades is weaker: third grade at roughly 4 in 10 proficient and fourth grade climbing to about 5 in 10. By the upper elementary and middle grades, performance declines sharply. In sixth grade, math proficiency drops to below 2 in 10, and in seventh grade sits at roughly 4 in 10, before falling again to 2 in 10 by eighth grade. English results for sixth grade hover around 5 in 10, but seventh grade shows an outlier strength at about 8 in 10 proficient, then eighth grade drops to roughly 3 in 10. In science, the school's eighth-grade results also sit around 3 in 10. Data for fifth grade is not publicly available. When compared with other districts in Clinton County, North Wamac's overall proficiency index places it in the bottom quartile.

The pattern suggests that students enter the school relatively stronger in early grades but face increasing academic difficulty as they move through middle school. A parent may want to look into this further with the school to understand what support is available for students, particularly in sixth and eighth grades where the drop is most pronounced.

The school operates within North Wamac School District 186, a single-school district that serves just this building. Recent district information is sparse, so little is known about strategic priorities or recent changes.

Centralia itself is a historically significant railroad and manufacturing town experiencing steady population decline over recent decades. The community has a walkable downtown centered on Broadway with a historic bell tower, parks including Foundation Park with trails and recreational facilities, and civic anchors like Centralia Regional Library and a community center with an indoor pool. Major employers are SSM Health St. Mary's Hospital, several manufacturers in the industrial park, Kaskaskia College, and retail operations. The town's housing stock is modest in value, with single-family homes predominating and a median age suggesting it is older residential construction. Rental housing includes recent investment through apartment renovations. For families considering the area, Centralia offers small-town walkability, relatively affordable housing compared to state and national benchmarks, and a network of public parks, though the town's trajectory has been toward slower population and economic growth.

See more original research from School Decision →

Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 362%

School 62% · District 62%

▲ 15 pts above state median · ▼ 2 pts below county median

Grade 463%

School 63% · District 63%

▲ 26 pts above state median · even with county median

Grade 618%

School 18% · District 18%

▼ 6 pts below state median · ▼ 30 pts below county median

Grade 736%

School 36% · District 36%

▲ 7 pts above state median · ▼ 17 pts below county median

Grade 820%

School 20% · District 20%

▼ 3 pts below state median · ▼ 28 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 339%

School 39% · District 39%

▼ 5 pts below state median · ▼ 20 pts below county median

Grade 453%

School 53% · District 53%

▲ 5 pts above state median · ▼ 19 pts below county median

Grade 646%

School 46% · District 46%

▼ 5 pts below state median · ▼ 26 pts below county median

Grade 779%

School 79% · District 79%

▲ 27 pts above state median · even with county median

Grade 827%

School 27% · District 27%

▼ 27 pts below state median · ▼ 54 pts below county median

Science

Grade 827%

School 27% · District 27%

▼ 13 pts below state median · ▼ 37 pts below county median

This schoolNorth Wamac SD 186, 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.