The top reported proficiency rate is 22% in English language arts. The lowest is 10% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Shawnee Elementary School
Shawnee Elementary School is a small, rural public school in Wolf Lake, an unincorporated community in Union County in the southern Illinois floodplain near the Mississippi River. The school serves children from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade in a setting of farms, forest, and sparse settlement along State Route 3. Enrollment is small, with roughly equal numbers of students across the grade bands, and the student body is predominantly white, reflecting the demographic makeup of the surrounding agricultural area.
The school's recent state test results show weak performance across the subjects tested. In mathematics, third grade achieved modest proficiency, while fourth and fifth grades scored substantially lower. English language arts results followed a similar pattern: third-grade proficiency was quite low, fourth grade improved noticeably, and fifth grade declined again. Science proficiency in fifth grade was very low. The state's assessment scoring criteria changed this year, which means direct year-to-year comparison is not possible; a parent may want to ask the school directly about how students performed in prior years and what instructional supports are in place. Participation rates were high, indicating that nearly all students took the assessments.
Positioned against other districts in Union County, Shawnee Elementary's overall proficiency falls into the bottom quartile. The school does not report data on free-or-reduced-price lunch eligibility, English learners, special education enrollment, or chronic absenteeism, so those aspects of the student population and school operations remain opaque from the available records.
Wolf Lake itself is a shrinking, aging rural community with no downtown. The area's economy rests on agriculture and two industrial employers, Dyno Nobel and Schaefer Enterprises. Civic life revolves around access to the Shawnee National Forest and its wilderness areas to the east rather than around town amenities. The school sits at a campus location on the highway; there is no walkable school neighborhood in the conventional sense.
The district has not reported recent major policy changes or strategic initiatives in publicly available sources, so whether specific academic or operational improvements are underway is unclear from outside. A parent considering this school should connect directly with the school and district to understand their current priorities, intervention strategies for students scoring below proficiency, and any targeted efforts to improve student outcomes.
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