Best Public Schools in Sparta, IL

Sparta, Illinois, has two public schools serving 1,044 students: Sparta Lincoln School serves pre-K through grade 8, and Sparta High School serves grades 9–12. The clearest concern is the high school’s grade 11 results: students meeting proficiency were 13% in ACT math and 22% in science, compared with 40% and 48% statewide—gaps of 27 and 26 percentage points.

Sparta Lincoln stands out in grade 7 ELA and grade 8 science: its 65% in grade 7 ELA was 8 points above the state, and its 59% in grade 8 science was 7 points higher. Its all-grades results were less strong, though: ELA was 49% versus 56% statewide, and math was 28% versus 40%. The high school’s clearest bright spot was grade 9 science, at 47%, essentially level with the state. SchoolDigger places both schools in the lower part of their statewide rankings: Lincoln is 1,324th of 1,737 (24th percentile), and the high school is 505th of 620 (19th percentile).

Results changed in different directions by grade. At the high school, grade 9 proficiency rose from 2024–2025 to 2025–2026 by 12 points in ELA, 15 in math, and 26 in science, while grade 11 results fell in all three subjects. Lincoln’s all-grades results rose slightly, but its gaps with the state widened by about 1 point in both ELA and math. SchoolDigger’s percentile rankings also fell from 2023–2024 to 2025–2026: 35th to 24th for Lincoln and 41st to 19th for the high school. The schools have similar student-teacher ratios—13.8 and 14.0—and, in 2024–2025, free/reduced lunch eligible shares of 66% and 63%; these are contextual figures, not explanations for achievement differences.