Summary:
South Central CUD 401 has three schools serving prekindergarten through grade 12: an elementary school, a middle school, and a high school. In 2025–2026, both schools with all-grades IAR results were below state proficiency rates. Their average was 41% in English Language Arts, 16 percentage points below the state, and 21% in math, 18 points below. The largest area-wide proficiency gap in the available all-grades results is in math.
The schools’ relative strengths differ by subject. South Central Middle School had the higher all-grades IAR English Language Arts result, at 42% versus 39% at South Central Elementary-Kinmundy; both were below the state’s 56%. Elementary led in math, with 25% proficient compared with 17% at the middle school, while the state rate was 40%. At South Central High School, 11th-grade ACT science was a relative strength: 41% proficient, 7 points below the state. ACT English Language Arts was 27%, 23 points below the state; the ACT math result was suppressed by the state.
Recent results show both improvement and setbacks: middle-school English Language Arts rose 15 points from 2024–2025, while elementary English Language Arts fell 4 points and math fell 7. High-school ACT science increased 18 points, but 9th-grade PreACT science declined 9 points. SchoolDigger’s 2025–2026 statewide percentile rankings were 19 for elementary, 17 for middle, and 24 for high school; the district ranked in the 8th percentile and received 0 stars. For context, 2024–2025 student–teacher ratios ranged from 9.6 at the high school to 11.6 at the elementary school. In 2024–2025, free/reduced lunch eligible shares were 47% at the high school, 56% at the middle school, and 60% at the elementary school; these are context, not an explanation for test results. High-school chronic absenteeism was 29% in 2025–2026, above the state’s 24%.
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