Summary:
Forrest has two middle-grade schools in Prairie Central CUSD 8: Prairie Central Upper Elementary, serving grades 5–6, and Prairie Central Junior High School, serving grades 7–8. Enrollment is 216 and 250, respectively, and student-teacher ratios are similar at 11.7 and 12.1. The most important pattern is that Upper Elementary’s grade 5–6 results are above state results, while Junior High’s ELA results are below the state in both grades and its grade 8 math result is especially low.
Prairie Central Upper Elementary stands out most positively: in 2025–2026, grade 5 results were above the state in ELA, math, and science, and grade 6 ELA and math were also higher. Grade 6 ELA reached 80%, compared with 59% statewide, a 21-point advantage; grade 6 math was 51% versus 36%, a 15-point lead. Prairie Central Junior High School is the main concern, particularly in grade 8 math: 21% were proficient versus 35% statewide, a 14-point shortfall. Grade 8 ELA was 56% versus 63%, while grade 7 math was essentially at the state result (39.8% versus 39.6%). These schools serve different grades, so their all-grades scores are not a like-grade comparison.
Recent results show mixed movement. From 2024–2025 to 2025–2026, Upper Elementary ELA rose by 2 points, while Junior High ELA fell by 7 points, moving from 9 points above the state to 1 point below. Junior High math improved by 7 points, narrowing its state gap from 17 points to 11; Upper Elementary math fell by 3 points, and its lead narrowed from 11 points to 7. SchoolDigger’s Junior High ranking also declined, from the 61st percentile and 3 stars in 2024–2025 to the 35th percentile and 2 stars in 2025–2026. For context, the 2024–2025 free/reduced lunch eligible share was 52% at Junior High and 44% at Upper Elementary; these are observations, not explanations for results. Results cover only two years, and the schools’ different grade spans limit direct school-to-school comparisons.
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