Effingham CUSD 40

Effingham CUSD 40 has five schools serving kindergarten through grade 12, with 2,140 students; enrollment ranges from 175 at Early Learning Center to 712 at Effingham High School. The clearest academic bright spot is Effingham Junior High School, whose 2025–26 all-grades IAR ELA result was 69%, compared with 56% statewide—a 13-point lead.

Effingham Junior High School stands out most in eighth grade: ELA proficiency was 82% versus 63% statewide, and science was 70% versus 52%. Its ELA results were above the state in all three grades, although sixth-grade math was below it. At Central Grade School, third-grade ELA was a strong 61% versus 48% statewide, but fifth-grade scores were below state results in ELA (50% versus 55%), math (31% versus 36%) and science (40% versus 48%). Effingham High School’s 11th-grade ACT results were also below the state in ELA, math and science, by 2, 6 and 3 points, respectively. These comparisons are not direct rankings: the schools serve different grades, and two have no supplied test scores.

Results over time are mixed. Effingham Junior High School’s all-grades ELA rose 22 points from the prior year, and its state-relative margin improved by 19 points. By contrast, Central Grade School’s all-grades math fell 3 points, while its fifth-grade science result moved from slightly above the state to 7 points below. Effingham High School’s ACT ELA and math results also declined relative to the state. SchoolDigger rankings put Junior High at the 66th percentile, High School at the 62nd and Central at the 45th; since 2023–24, those rankings rose 11 points at Junior High and fell 16 at High School and 15 at Central. The 2024–25 free/reduced lunch eligible measure ranged from 37% at High School to 54% at South Side Grade School, while student-teacher ratios ranged from 9.9 to 14.2; these figures describe context, not reasons for test results.