Gavin School District 37

Gavin School District 37 has two schools serving PK–8: Gavin Central Elementary School serves PK–4, and Gavin South Middle School serves grades 5–8. In 2025–2026, both schools scored below the state in all-grades ELA, while their math results differed sharply. The most important difference is math: Central scored 46% and South 29%, a 17-point gap.

Central stands out in math, scoring 6 points above Illinois; South was 11 points below. In ELA, South led Central, with scores of 53% and 50%, respectively, though both were below the state’s 56%—South by 3 points and Central by 7. Grade-level results show why school-wide scores do not tell the whole story: Central’s 4th-grade ELA and math scores were above state results, while its 3rd-grade scores in both subjects were below. At South, ELA was below state in grades 5 and 6 but above it in grades 7 and 8; 8th-grade math was also above state, while 6th-grade math was particularly low. The schools serve different grades, so their all-grades results are not a grade-matched comparison.

Scores rose at both schools between 2024–2025 and 2025–2026: Central gained 15 points in ELA and 4 in math, while South gained 3 points in each subject. Central’s SchoolDigger percentile rose from 25 in 2023–2024 to 45 in 2025–2026; South rose from 40 to 55, then fell to 43. Other context differs, too: Central had a 14.7 student-teacher ratio and 52% free/reduced lunch eligible in 2024–2025; South had a 12.7 ratio and 58% free/reduced lunch eligible that year. Both schools’ 2025–2026 chronic absenteeism rates were about 20%, below the state’s 24%.