Summary:
Bushnell has three public schools serving prekindergarten through grade 12: Bushnell-Prairie City Elementary School (PK–4), Bushnell-Prairie City Junior High School (grades 5–8), and Bushnell-Prairie City High School (grades 9–12). Together they enroll 602 students, and the schools are part of Bushnell Prairie City CUSD 170. The clearest area-wide concern in the 2025–2026 results is IAR English Language Arts: the two schools with all-grades results averaged 28% proficient, compared with 56% statewide, an average gap of 29 points.
The schools’ relative strengths depend on the subject: Junior High leads in IAR ELA at 37%, 19 points above Elementary’s 18%, while Elementary leads in math at 31%, 11 points above Junior High’s 20%. Both schools are below state rates in both subjects, with the largest individual gap at Elementary in ELA—18% versus 56% statewide, or 38 points. Among high-school results, grade 9 is closer to state: PreACT Secure ELA is 59% versus 62%, and science is 44% versus 47%. High School also stands out for attendance concerns: chronic absenteeism is 42%, compared with 24% statewide; the rates at Elementary and Junior High are 21% and 19%.
Recent IAR math results moved closer to state levels, while ELA did not: the average math gap narrowed from 21 points in 2024–2025 to 15 points in 2025–2026, while the ELA gap widened from 26 to 29 points. High School’s grade 9 PreACT Secure scores rose year over year—by 13 points in ELA, 18 in math, and 23 in science—but grade 11 ACT ELA fell by 9 points. SchoolDigger rankings also varied: High School moved from the 22nd to the 30th percentile, while Junior High moved from the 34th to the 11th between 2024–2025 and 2025–2026. For context, the 2024–2025 free/reduced lunch eligible share was 65% at Elementary, 58% at Junior High, and 57% at High School; student-teacher ratios that year were 9.9, 9.4, and 7.3, respectively. These figures describe different measures and grade spans, so no single school is strongest on every measure.
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