The top reported proficiency rate is 55% in English language arts. The lowest is 49% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Bristol Grade School
Bristol Grade School is a small early-childhood and primary school serving about two-thirds of the grades it could, with enrollment concentrated in prekindergarten through third grade. The school sits in Bristol, an unincorporated community now absorbed into Yorkville after the two merged, on the north side of the Fox River in Kendall County. Bristol Township, the county's smallest by area, has filled with suburban subdivisions over the past several years, creating a low-walkability car-oriented landscape of cul-de-sacs and ranch homes alongside still-visible farmland. Commuters rely on Routes 34 and 47 or demand-response transit, and civic life centers in downtown Yorkville to the south.
The Bristol area is experiencing explosive growth. Yorkville has added residents at one of the largest rates in Illinois in recent years, with new subdivisions including Bristol Bay, Grande Reserve, Timber Ridge Estates, and Caledonia. Bristol Bay alone is a large master-planned community with hundreds of single-family homes, townhomes, and condominiums, plus Bristol Bay Elementary School. This growth has put enormous strain on school capacity district-wide. Yorkville CUSD 115 enrollment has tripled in the past decade, and voters rejected a major bond referendum in March 2026 that would have funded two new schools. The district is now preparing a downsized proposal for November, leaving facility and tax questions unsettled for the near term.
Bristol Grade School's testing results come only from third grade, since the school serves only prekindergarten through third grade. On the Illinois Assessment of Readiness in 2024-25, about half the third-grade class reached proficiency in math, while reading proficiency came in at roughly mid-range. Participation rates were very high, exceeding 95 percent, suggesting the results reflect what students actually achieved. The school's proficiency index across tested grades and subjects sits above the midpoint among Kendall County districts, though the limited grade band makes this comparison less direct than it would for a school serving more tested grades.
State assessment data do not extend above third grade because Illinois tests only grades three and above, and Bristol Grade School only serves through grade three. This means no state testing results exist for the grade levels the school actually serves beyond third grade, a gap that reflects the school's grade configuration rather than any test gap for those grades.
Enrollment is small and diverse. The school serves about two-thirds students across five grade bands, with nearly equal numbers in most grades. The student body is less than half white, with Hispanic students making up a substantial share and Black and multiracial students also represented; Asian enrollment is modest. Free-or-reduced-price lunch eligibility data were not available, and special education and English learner enrollment counts and rates were not reported, leaving some socioeconomic and support-service context unspecified.
The broader school environment reflects district-level changes parents directly experience. Beginning in 2024-25, Yorkville CUSD 115 implemented a new Learning and Grading Plan shifting grades to reflect mastery of standards rather than behaviors like attendance or participation. Mandatory final exams and experiences, counting as a substantial share of high school grades, rolled in starting that same year across all high school courses. These are pedagogical changes that reshape homework expectations, retake policies, and how report cards are weighted, even at elementary and middle-school levels as the district cascades the framework downward.
The housing market in the Bristol-Yorkville area shows strong property values and rapid appreciation. Median home prices sit well above the national benchmark, and monthly mortgage costs are in the middle range for a household with median county income, though mortgage rates in the current environment are in the mid-six-percent range. Rents as a share of income remain manageable by national standards. This is a suburban growth market with active new construction, making housing costs a live question for families moving into the district or considering staying as capacity pressures build.
A parent considering Bristol Grade School should look at the district's capacity constraints and unresolved facility situation directly with the school, since the March referendum defeat and pending November proposal may affect classroom conditions and future school assignments in coming years.
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