Best Public Schools in Wolf Lake, IL

Wolf Lake has three schools in Shawnee Elementary School (prekindergarten–grade 5), Shawnee Junior High School (grades 6–8), and Shawnee High School (grades 9–12), all part of Shawnee CUSD 84. The schools are small, enrolling 62 to 136 students each. The latest results show an uneven picture: Junior High’s ELA is close to the state result, but available math results remain well below it, and High School attendance is a notable concern.

Shawnee Junior High School stands out in 2025–2026 all-grades ELA, with 54% proficient compared with 56% statewide, a 2-point gap. Shawnee Elementary School had a much lower all-grades ELA result of 32%, 25 points below the state, but its fifth graders reached 63%, 8 points above the state’s fifth-grade result. Math is a weaker point: Junior High had 18% proficient, 22 points below the state. Among High School’s 2024–2025 results, grade 9 and 10 PreACT ELA were above state results by 3 and 6 points, while math was far below in every reported grade, by 29 to 39 points. High School’s chronic absenteeism was 35% in 2025–2026, compared with 24% statewide.

Junior High’s results improved notably: from 2024–2025 to 2025–2026, all-grades ELA rose 16 points and grade 8 science rose 35 points, bringing science to 50%, just 2 points below the state. Elementary’s fifth-grade ELA result is a bright spot, but its all-grades result shows why the grade-specific picture matters. SchoolDigger’s latest reported statewide ranks were 47th percentile for Junior High, 7th for Elementary, and 33rd for High School; these are rankings, not test scores. As context, all three schools reported free/reduced lunch eligible in 2024–2025: 81% at Junior High, 60% at Elementary, and 53% at High School. Student-teacher ratios were 12.4, 17.8, and 8.4, respectively; neither income measures nor ratios explain the test results. Some school results are unavailable, so not every school or subject can be compared.