Summary:
Edwards County CUSD 1 has two elementary schools: Albion Grade School, serving prekindergarten through grade 8, and West Salem Grade School, serving kindergarten through grade 8. In 2025–26, both schools were above the state in all-grade ELA and math, with an unweighted area average of 76% in ELA and 43% in math. The most important shared finding is that the area’s advantage over the state was much stronger in ELA—20 percentage points, compared with 3 points in math.
West Salem led the all-grade results, with 78% proficient in ELA and 44% in math, compared with Albion at 74% and 41%—gaps of 3 and 3 points. But grade-level results give families a more mixed picture: Albion led in grade 3 math by 18 points and had the area’s highest reported ELA result in grade 8, at 93% compared with the state’s 63%. West Salem led grade 5 math by 31 points, with 69% proficient versus Albion’s 38%, and also led in grade 5 ELA. West Salem’s school results are unavailable for grades 6–8 math and grades 5 and 8 science, so those school-to-school comparisons cannot be made.
Results moved in different directions from 2024–25 to 2025–26: Albion gained 5 points in ELA and 3 in math, while West Salem fell 1 point in ELA and 3 in math; the state improved in both subjects. SchoolDigger ranks West Salem 325th of 1,737 schools, in the 81st percentile with 4 stars, and Albion 625th, in the 64th percentile with 3 stars. West Salem is smaller, with 171 students versus Albion’s 427, and has a lower 2024–25 student-teacher ratio of 12.3 versus 14. Its 2024–25 free/reduced lunch eligible share was higher, at 54% compared with 47% at Albion; these are contextual differences and do not explain the score pattern.
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