Edwards County CUSD 1

The Edwards County CUSD 1 district in Illinois serves students from preschool through 12th grade across 3 schools: 2 elementary schools (Albion Grade School and West Salem Grade School) and 1 high school (Edwards County High School).

Among the district's schools, West Salem Grade School stands out with consistently high performance on state assessments, with 78.8% of students proficient or better in ELA and 47.5% in Math across all grades. The school has also earned a 4-star rating from SchoolDigger, ranking in the top 298 out of 2,056 Illinois elementary schools. In contrast, Edwards County High School has shown signs of improvement, with its ranking rising from 395 out of 697 Illinois high schools in 2023-2024 to 131 out of 698 in 2024-2025, and a high 89.0% four-year graduation rate.

However, the district as a whole faces challenges, such as high rates of chronic absenteeism, ranging from 25.4% to 25.4% across the schools in 2024-2025. Additionally, the district serves a significant population of economically disadvantaged students, with free/reduced lunch rates ranging from 41.1% to 60.67% across the schools. These socioeconomic factors may be contributing to the academic challenges faced by some schools, and the district should consider ways to address these disparities.