Summary:
Spring Garden Community Consolidated School District 178 has two schools serving grades K–8: Spring Garden Elementary School (K–4) and Spring Garden Middle School (5–8). In 2025–2026, both schools’ all-grades results were below state results in English language arts (ELA) and mathematics; because the schools serve different grades, these overall figures are not a same-grade comparison. The clearest area-wide concern is that the two-school average fell further behind the state in both subjects: the ELA gap widened from 7 to 12 percentage points, and the mathematics gap from 13 to 15 points.
Spring Garden Elementary School had the higher 2025–2026 all-grades results in both subjects: 45% in ELA versus 43% at the Middle School, and 34% in mathematics versus 16%. Both schools were below the state averages of 56% in ELA and 40% in mathematics, but the mathematics gap between the schools was much larger than the ELA gap. Grade-level results show some brighter spots: fourth-grade ELA at Elementary was 57%, just above the state’s 56%, while eighth-grade ELA at the Middle School was 68% versus 63% statewide. The Middle School’s eighth-grade science result, 52%, was essentially level with the state’s 52%.
Recent trends were mixed. Elementary mathematics rose 3 percentage points from 2024–2025 to 2025–2026, while its ELA fell 5 points; Middle School ELA fell 1 point and mathematics fell 3. In contrast, Middle School eighth-grade science improved 19 points, from 33% to 52%, moving from below the state result to essentially level with it. SchoolDigger gives both schools two stars: Elementary was at the 42nd percentile in 2024–2025, and Middle at the 44th percentile in 2025–2026; the district was ranked 495 of 738, at the 33rd percentile. As context, 2024–2025 free/reduced lunch eligible rates were 65% at Elementary and 47% at Middle; student–teacher ratios were 11.7 and 11.3, respectively. These measures describe the schools but do not explain their test results.
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