Winchester Elem School, Winchester IL

Original Research by School Decision on Winchester Elem School

Winchester Elem School is a small school serving pre-kindergarten through eighth grade in Winchester, a rural county seat in Scott County, Illinois. The school enrolls a student body that is predominantly white, with small populations of Hispanic and multiracial students. About a quarter of the student body attends the pre-kindergarten and kindergarten grades, while the upper grades (third through eighth) are closer in size to one another.

The school's academic performance shows uneven results across grades and subjects. In English language arts, third-grade students reach roughly half proficiency, and fourth and fifth graders sit slightly below that mark. Performance strengthens markedly in grades six through eight, where the majority of students demonstrate proficiency in reading and writing. Mathematics presents a steeper challenge. Third-graders perform above half, but from fourth grade onward, proficiency rates decline sharply. By eighth grade, only a small fraction of students reach proficiency in math. Science results are mixed: fifth graders show low-to-moderate proficiency, while eighth graders perform at about the midpoint. State testing data shows full or near-full participation across all grades and subjects, indicating the school is administering assessments as required.

In the comparison set of Scott County districts, Winchester Elem's overall proficiency index places it at the top end among the county's small number of districts. The school does not hold a Title I designation, meaning it serves a population below the federal threshold for supplemental federal funding based on poverty. Free-and-reduced-price-lunch data was not available, so a reader may want to ask the school about the economic context of its student body.

The school sits a few blocks from Winchester's historic downtown square, within walking distance of the county courthouse and the commercial center. Winchester itself is on a long, slow population decline rather than a growth arc. The town was founded as a county seat and has roots deep in agriculture; the local economy now rests on farming, agricultural cooperatives, county and school employment, and small local businesses. Housing stock is predominantly older, with most homes built well before recent decades, and home values sit below both the state and national median. The town has no fixed-route public transit and is accessed primarily by car, including via the I-72 exit.

The district brief turned up no recent referendums, curriculum shifts, or major property-tax changes, suggesting the district is operating under stable budgeting and governance. A parent or resident evaluating this school should understand it as a small, grounded institution in a stable but contracting town, with math proficiency as an area a parent may want to look into further with the school, and with stronger language arts and science outcomes that suggest the school has particular strength in literacy.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 362%

School 62% · District 62%

▲ 16 pts above state median

Grade 440%

School 40% · District 40%

▲ 4 pts above state median

Grade 542%

School 42% · District 42%

▲ 13 pts above state median

Grade 632%

School 32% · District 32%

▲ 9 pts above state median

Grade 730%

School 30% · District 30%

▲ 2 pts above state median

Grade 815%

School 15% · District 15%

▼ 7 pts below state median

English language arts

Grade 349%

School 49% · District 49%

▲ 5 pts above state median

Grade 446%

School 46% · District 46%

▼ 2 pts below state median

Grade 549%

School 49% · District 49%

▼ 4 pts below state median

Grade 678%

School 78% · District 78%

▲ 28 pts above state median

Grade 765%

School 65% · District 65%

▲ 14 pts above state median

Grade 867%

School 67% · District 67%

▲ 14 pts above state median

Science

Grade 542%

School 42% · District 42%

▲ 6 pts above state median

Grade 850%

School 50% · District 50%

▲ 10 pts above state median

This schoolWinchester CUSD 1, 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.