Elementary Schools in Kewanee CUSD 229

The three elementary schools in Kewanee CUSD 229 serve kindergarten through grade 8: Belle Alexander Elementary School serves kindergarten–grade 1, Irving Elementary School serves grades 2–3, and Neponset Grade School serves pre-K–grade 8; together, they enroll 620 students. Belle has no listed test results, so the reported all-grades results cover only Irving and Neponset, whose grade spans differ. The clearest same-grade contrast—and the most important achievement finding—is third-grade math: Neponset had 100% proficiency and Irving had 32%, a 68-percentage-point difference; Neponset was 51 points above the state’s 49%, while Irving was 17 points below.

Neponset stands out at the top of the reported results, while Irving is lower. In 2025–26, Neponset’s all-grades proficiency was 72% in ELA and 60% in math—16 and 20 points above state results, respectively. Irving had 33% in ELA and 32% in math, 23 and 7 points below the state; the gap between the schools was 39 points in ELA and 28 in math. Neponset also exceeded the state in each reported, unsuppressed grade-level result, including 100% in eighth-grade ELA versus 63% statewide. SchoolDigger ranked Neponset 304th of 1,737 Illinois schools, at the 82nd percentile with 4 stars in 2025–26.

Recent changes were less favorable at Irving: its ELA result fell 5 points and math fell 13 points from 2024–25 to 2025–26. Neponset’s ELA was nearly unchanged, while its math fell 2 points; fifth-grade science was a notable exception, dropping 17 points to 69%, though still 21 points above the state. School context also differs: in 2024–25, free/reduced lunch eligible shares were 78% at Irving and 73% at both Neponset and Belle. Neponset had the lowest student–teacher ratio, 10.7, compared with 12.8 at Belle and 15.3 at Irving. Chronic absenteeism was above the state’s 24% at all three schools: 25% at Irving, 29% at Neponset, and 32% at Belle.