Willow Grove Elem School, Centralia IL

Original Research by School Decision on Willow Grove Elem School

Willow Grove Elementary School is a PK-8 school in Centralia, Illinois, serving a small enrollment spread across pre-kindergarten through eighth grade. Located in a working-class city that has faced decades of population decline but is now seeing sporadic revitalization investment, the school operates as a traditional public elementary-middle building within its own small district.

The most pressing academic picture is flat to below-average performance across tested grades and subjects. In English language arts, results vary significantly by grade: third grade proficiency is quite low, fourth grade sits at about half, fifth grade improves modestly to just under two-fifths, seventh grade approaches just over half, and eighth grade falls back to two-fifths. Math shows similarly mixed patterns, with fourth grade performing best at near two-thirds proficiency, but third grade at just half, fifth grade dropping to just under a third, and both seventh and eighth grades at two-fifths. Science assessment data is available only for fifth and eighth grades, with both showing proficiency rates in the low-to-mid range. Across all tested grades and subjects, the school's overall proficiency index places it in the bottom quartile among Clinton County school districts. Grade six data is sparse, which may reflect a transition year or smaller cohort size that affects reporting thresholds. A parent may want to look into what instructional or student-support changes the school is pursuing in response to these results.

The enrollment is genuinely small, with a total just over small by traditional standards and distributed unevenly across grades, ranging from only a handful of pre-K students to peaks of a few dozen in early elementary. The student body is predominantly white, with a small share of Hispanic students, another small share identifying as two or more races, and a handful of Black students. No data on free-or-reduced-price lunch eligibility, English learners, or special education enrollment was available. The school serves all grades from pre-K through eighth, so students do not transition to a separate high school within the district; they move into a high school outside this system.

Centralia itself is a post-industrial city with a long history tied to the Illinois Central Railroad, coal mining, and agriculture. It has been losing population over decades, though recent years have brought some revitalization efforts: downtown apartment conversions, specialty retail and restaurants, and a major hospital renovation plan. The median home value is well below state and national benchmarks, making the housing market affordable, though the city's economic base remains modest and distributed across healthcare, manufacturing, education, and direct service work. The city center is walkable to a degree, with a historic downtown, several parks including one with hiking trails and a bell tower carillon, and a community library. Public transit exists but is limited. The overall setting is small-town and residential, not affluent.

The school likely serves predominantly local families with limited choice; it is the community's elementary-middle option within the district. Without data on per-pupil spending, class size, special programs, or staffing depth, a fuller picture of how the school is resourced or what instructional approach it takes is not available. The district itself is very small and focused solely on this one school. The state changed its proficiency cut scores in the most recent assessment cycle, making year-over-year trend analysis unreliable, so it is not clear whether current results represent recent decline, stability, or improvement. A family considering Willow Grove should speak directly with school leadership about academic support structures, their response to assessment results, and what the near-term outlook is.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 350%

School 50% · District 50%

▲ 4 pts above state median · ▼ 13 pts below county median

Grade 469%

School 69% · District 69%

▲ 32 pts above state median · ▲ 5 pts above county median

Grade 531%

School 31% · District 31%

▲ 2 pts above state median · ▼ 22 pts below county median

Grade 740%

School 40% · District 40%

▲ 11 pts above state median · ▼ 12 pts below county median

Grade 840%

School 40% · District 40%

▲ 17 pts above state median · ▼ 8 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 319%

School 19% · District 19%

▼ 25 pts below state median · ▼ 40 pts below county median

Grade 450%

School 50% · District 50%

▲ 2 pts above state median · ▼ 22 pts below county median

Grade 538%

School 38% · District 38%

▼ 15 pts below state median · ▼ 29 pts below county median

Grade 753%

School 53% · District 53%

▲ 2 pts above state median · ▼ 25 pts below county median

Grade 840%

School 40% · District 40%

▼ 13 pts below state median · ▼ 41 pts below county median

Science

Grade 538%

School 38% · District 38%

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

Grade 830%

School 30% · District 30%

▼ 10 pts below state median · ▼ 34 pts below county median

This schoolWillow Grove SD 46, 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.