Summary:
The Carthage Education Service District 317 in Illinois is home to two schools - Carthage Primary School and Carthage Middle School. While both schools serve the Carthage community, the data indicates that Carthage Middle School is the academic standout, consistently outperforming the primary school and the district/state averages on key metrics.
Carthage Middle School has a 3-star rating from SchoolDigger and ranks in the top 35% of Illinois middle schools, significantly higher than the 2-star rating and lower ranking of Carthage Primary School. This academic advantage is reflected in the middle school's stronger proficiency rates on the Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR) exams in both English Language Arts and Mathematics, as well as on the Illinois Science Assessment (ISA). For example, in the 2024-2025 school year, 65.5% of Carthage Middle School students were proficient or better in ELA, compared to only 36.9% at the primary school.
While both schools face the challenge of high chronic absenteeism rates, Carthage Middle School appears to have other advantages that contribute to its superior performance, including a lower student-teacher ratio of 12.1 compared to 20 at the primary school. Additionally, Carthage Middle School spends slightly more per student than the primary school, which may also be a factor in its stronger academic outcomes. Understanding the drivers behind this performance gap could provide valuable insights for improving educational experiences across the entire Carthage Education Service District 317.
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