Schools in Hamilton, IL

Hamilton, Illinois, has two schools serving prekindergarten through grade 8 and grades 9–12: Hamilton Elementary School enrolls 384 students, and Hamilton High School enrolls 193, for 577 altogether. Their results point to different strengths rather than one clear schoolwide leader: elementary ELA is above the state, while high school results include strong gains but persistent science shortfalls. Because the schools serve different grades and take different tests, their proficiency rates are not direct school-to-school comparisons. The most important finding is that results vary substantially by subject and grade.

Hamilton Elementary stands out for ELA: 60% of students were proficient in 2025–26, compared with 56% statewide, a 3-point advantage. Its grade 6 ELA result was 11 points above the state, while grade 8 science was 11 points below. Elementary math overall was 2 points below the state; grade 3 math was 7 points above, but grade 4 was 10 points below. At Hamilton High, grade 11 ACT ELA was 3 points above the state, while grade 11 ACT science was 22 points below; grade 10 PreACT math was 14 points below. SchoolDigger places both in the middle portion of its statewide rankings: Elementary is 930 of 1,737 (46th percentile, 2 stars), and High is 360 of 620 (42nd percentile, 2 stars).

Over time, elementary comparisons mostly weakened, while most high school comparisons improved. Elementary’s ELA advantage narrowed from 11 points in 2024–25 to 3 in 2025–26, and math shifted from 4 points above the state to 2 below; science fell below the state in both matched grades. High school grade 9 and 10 PreACT math rose by 18 and 13 points, respectively, and grade 11 ACT ELA rose by 21 points, but all three high school science results remained below the state. Context also differs: in 2024–25, free/reduced lunch eligible students made up 56% at Elementary and 47% at High, and student-teacher ratios were 12.0:1 and 11.1:1. In 2025–26, chronic absenteeism was 16% at Elementary and 35% at High, compared with 24% statewide.