Summary:
Kinderhook, Illinois, has one listed school, Western Junior High School, serving grades 6–8 and enrolling 146 students. With no other listed school to compare, Western is the area’s only point of reference. Its 2025–2026 results were mixed: English language arts (ELA) was near the state level, grade 8 science was above it, and mathematics was substantially below it. Mathematics is the clearest concern: Western’s all-grades proficiency was 24%, compared with 39.6% statewide, a 16-point deficit.
There is no meaningful top-versus-bottom school comparison in this one-school list, but the subject and grade results show where Western stands out. In 2025–2026, all-grades ELA was 57% at Western versus 56.3% statewide, while grade 8 science was 58.6% versus 51.9%, a 7-point advantage. Those positive comparisons do not hold across every grade: grade 6 ELA was 44.1%, compared with 58.7% statewide, a 15-point deficit; grades 7 and 8 were above their state comparisons. Chronic absenteeism was also higher than the state and district figures: 26.7% at Western, versus 23.5% statewide and 22.6% in Western CUSD 12.
Mathematics fell further behind the state, while ELA stayed close and science remained above the state by a narrower margin. Western’s all-grades math result declined from 28.1% in 2024–2025 to 24% in 2025–2026, while the state increased from 38.5% to 39.6%; the state-relative deficit widened from 10 to 16 points. ELA rose from 53.9% to 57%, tracking the state’s increase from 53.1% to 56.3%. Grade 8 science was 60% in 2024–2025 and 58.6% in 2025–2026, while the state rose from 45.4% to 51.9%. SchoolDigger gave Western 2 stars and ranked it at the 48th percentile in 2025–2026, down from the 60th percentile in each of the prior two listed years. Context figures include a 13.8:1 student-teacher ratio and 55.5% free/reduced lunch eligible in 2024–2025. Because only one school is listed, these figures cannot establish a pattern across schools in the area.
Thank you for your feedback!