Kenilworth School District 38

Kenilworth School District 38 has one listed school, The Joseph Sears School, serving prekindergarten through grade 8, with 471 students. Because it is the district’s only listed school, the data describe that school rather than a range of school choices. The most important finding is that its 2025–26 proficiency rates were well above state results in every reported subject and grade.

The Joseph Sears School is both the highest- and lowest-scoring school in the list simply because it is the only one, so there is no meaningful school-to-school ranking. Against the state, its all-grades results were notably strong: ELA proficiency was 89% versus 56%, and mathematics was 85% versus 40%. Science was also higher than the state rate in both tested grades: 80% versus 48% in grade 5, and 91% versus 52% in grade 8. Within the school, ELA results ranged from 82% in grade 7 to 94% in grade 4; mathematics ranged from 80% in grade 8 to 92% in grade 3.

Results remain strong, but recent changes vary by subject and grade. From 2024–25 to 2025–26, all-grades ELA rose 1 point, while mathematics fell 1 point; the school’s advantage over the state narrowed by 2 points in each subject. Grade 5 science was the clearest setback, falling 8 points as the state rate rose 7 points, narrowing the school’s lead by 15 points. Grade 8 science rose 8 points, and its state-relative lead widened by 2 points. SchoolDigger ranked The Joseph Sears School 31st of 1,737 schools in 2025–26, at the 98th percentile with five stars; its earlier ranks were 26th of 2,056 in 2024–25 and 57th of 2,067 in 2023–24. Other context includes a student-teacher ratio of 8.8 in 2024–25 and a reported free/reduced lunch eligible measure of about 1% in 2021–22. Chronic absenteeism was 6% at the school versus 24% statewide in 2025–26. Since there is only one listed school, these figures cannot show how schools in the district compare with one another.