Summary:
Fairview Heights has four listed schools spanning prekindergarten through grade eight: two elementary schools and two middle schools. The elementary schools serve different grade ranges, as do the middle schools, so All Grades comparisons are broad rather than fully like-for-like. The clearest area-wide concern is mathematics: the schools’ average is 23%, compared with 40% statewide, a 17-point gap; in ELA, the average is 50% versus 56%, a 6-point gap.
Pontiac Junior High leads All Grades ELA at 58%, about 2 points above the state and 10 points above the other schools’ average of 48%; William Holliday is lowest at 42%, 15 points below the state. In mathematics, Holliday leads at 30%, 9 points above the other schools’ average, though still 10 points below the state. Grant Middle is lowest at 17%, 23 points below the state. Grade-level results add important contrasts: Illini Elementary scores 64% in fourth-grade ELA, 18 points above Holliday; in eighth-grade ELA, Grant’s 67% is 8 points above Pontiac’s 59% and 4 points above the state.
ELA improved at all four schools from 2024–2025 to 2025–2026, and the school average rose 5 points, narrowing its gap with the state from 8 points to 6. Math progress was smaller: the average rose 2 points, while Illini’s result fell 6 points. SchoolDigger’s statewide rank percentiles also offer a different perspective: Pontiac moved from the 52nd to the 36th percentile from 2023–2024 to 2025–2026, despite its recent ELA score increase; Grant moved from the 40th to the 41st. As context, 2024–2025 free/reduced lunch eligible shares were 65% at Holliday, 49% at Illini, 45% at Grant, and 52% at Pontiac; student-teacher ratios ranged from 9.7 at Grant to 14.7 at Pontiac. These measures are observations, not explanations of achievement.
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