Summary:
The middle-school list for Bismarck Henning CUSD contains one school, Bismarck-Henning Junior High School, serving grades 5–8 with 246 students. Its 2025–2026 results show a clear difference between subjects: all-grade ELA proficiency was 62%, 6 percentage points above Illinois, while math proficiency was 26%, 13 points below the state. Compared with the district, the school was 4 points lower in ELA and 9 points lower in math. The most important finding is that ELA is a relative strength, but mathematics is the school’s largest academic concern.
With only one school in the area, there are no local school-to-school standouts; differences within the school are more revealing. Sixth grade had the strongest relative results: ELA proficiency was 78%, 19 points above the state, and math was 42%, 6 points above. By contrast, seventh-grade math was 23%, 17 points below the state, while fifth-grade ELA was 47%, 8 points below. Science results were mixed: fifth-grade proficiency was 49%, 2 points above the state, while eighth-grade science was 48%, 4 points below. Chronic absenteeism was comparatively low at 7%, versus 11% in the district and 24% statewide.
Results improved over the two reported years, though math remains behind the state. All-grade ELA rose from 57% to 62%, and its state-relative advantage grew from 4 to 6 points. Math increased from 23% to 26%; its deficit narrowed by 2 points, but remained 13 points. Fifth-grade science improved while staying above the state, whereas eighth-grade science improved more slowly than the state and fell further behind. SchoolDigger gives the school three stars; its statewide percentile was 51 in 2023–2024, 55 in 2024–2025, and 52 in 2025–2026. The student–teacher ratio was 13.6 in 2024–2025, and 44% of students were free/reduced lunch eligible in 2024–2025; these are context, not explanations for results. The state suppressed the 2025–2026 eighth-grade math result, and there is no second local school for comparison.
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