Central School District 104

Central School District 104 has two schools in this list: Dawn Elser Elementary School, serving pre-K through grade 3, and Joseph Arthur Middle School, serving grades 4–8; no high school is included. In 2025–2026, both schools’ all-grades ELA results were below the state’s 56%: 48% at Dawn Elser and 54% at Joseph Arthur. In math, Joseph Arthur was above the state’s 40% with 43%, while Dawn Elser was below it with 37%. The clearest area-wide pattern is that math results were stronger relative to the state than ELA results, although the schools’ average math result was only marginally above the state figure.

Joseph Arthur leads the two-school comparison in both all-grades subjects: its ELA result was 54% versus 48% at Dawn Elser, and its math result was 43% versus 37%—about 6 points higher in each subject. Joseph Arthur’s all-grades math result was 3 points above the state; Dawn Elser’s was 2 points below. Grade-level results reveal important exceptions: Joseph Arthur’s 7th-grade ELA was 42% versus 58% statewide, 15 points lower, while its 4th- and 8th-grade math results were 8 and 10 points above their state figures. Dawn Elser’s 3rd-grade math was 37% versus 49% statewide, 12 points lower, while its 3rd-grade ELA was nearly level with the state. Because the schools serve different grade spans, their all-grades results are not a same-grade comparison.

Year-to-year changes differ sharply: from 2024–2025 to 2025–2026, Dawn Elser’s all-grades math fell 11 points, from 49% to 37%, while Joseph Arthur’s rose 8 points, from 35% to 43%; Joseph Arthur’s ELA also fell from 57% to 54%. SchoolDigger’s ranking history shows Dawn Elser rising from the 39th to the 56th percentile between 2021–2022 and 2023–2024; Joseph Arthur rose from the 38th to 64th percentile, then fell to the 43rd in 2025–2026. The 2024–2025 student–teacher ratios were 10.8 at Dawn Elser and 12.2 at Joseph Arthur. The reported low-income measure was 44% free/reduced lunch eligible at Dawn Elser in 2024–2025 and 63% free/reduced lunch eligible at Joseph Arthur in 2023–2024; these are different school years and are context, not an explanation of results.