Summary:
Herscher, Illinois, has two schools in Herscher CUSD 2: Herscher High School, serving grades 9–12 with 542 students, and Herscher Intermediate School, serving grades 2–5 with 391 students. Their different grade spans and assessments mean their test scores do not establish an overall winner. Across the supplied 2025–26 results, math is the area’s relative strength: average school-to-state gaps were 1 percentage point below the state in math, compared with 6 points below in ELA and 8 points below in science.
Herscher High stands out in 11th-grade ACT math, where 43% were proficient, 3 percentage points above the state’s 40%; its grade 9 PreACT math was also above the state by 3 points. Herscher Intermediate was 2 points above the state in all-grades IAR math, at 41% versus 40%. The clearest gaps were grade-specific: Intermediate’s grade 4 math was 6 points below the state, while its all-grades ELA was 7 points below. At High, grade 10 science was 11 points below the state, and grade 9 science was 10 points below.
SchoolDigger’s latest statewide rankings put High at the 45th percentile and Intermediate at the 37th; both have fallen since 2023–24, by 31 and 17 percentile points, respectively. Test-score changes are mixed but tilt less favorably: across 11 matched comparisons, the school-to-state gap worsened in seven, improved in three and was nearly unchanged in one, with an average change of 2 points in the unfavorable direction. Attendance differs sharply: Intermediate’s chronic absenteeism was 10% in 2025–26, compared with 24% at High. High’s graduation rate was 93%, 3 points above the state. In 2024–25, High had a 15:1 student–teacher ratio and 30% free/reduced lunch eligible; Intermediate had a 13:1 ratio and 35% free/reduced lunch eligible. These figures describe school context, not causes of outcomes.
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