Summary:
Momence CUSD 1 has three schools serving kindergarten through grade 12: Je-Neir Elementary School (K–4), Momence Junior High School (5–8) and Momence High School (9–12), with 970 students combined. The clearest area-wide academic concern is that both younger schools’ average 2025–26 IAR proficiency remains below Illinois results, especially in ELA: the two-school average is 40% in ELA and 31% in math, respectively 17 and 9 percentage points below the state.
Momence Junior High leads the younger schools in both all-grades IAR subjects, with 42% proficient in ELA and 33% in math, compared with 38% and 29% at Je-Neir—a 4-point lead in each subject. The junior high’s sixth-grade math result is a small bright spot: 37%, 1 point above the state. At Momence High School, 11th-grade ACT proficiency is below state results in all three subjects: 29% in ELA, 16% in math and 32% in science, with gaps of 21, 24 and 16 points. Its 92% graduation rate is 2 points above the state, but chronic absenteeism is 38%, compared with 24% statewide.
Recent IAR results improved overall at the younger schools, though not uniformly: ELA rose 6 points at Je-Neir and 13 at the junior high, while Je-Neir math fell 1 point and junior-high math rose 5. SchoolDigger gives all three schools one star; its 2025–26 rankings are 1,440 of 1,737 for Je-Neir, 849 of 1,126 for the junior high and 514 of 620 for the high school. Enrollment is similar, from 315 to 328, as are student-teacher ratios, from 12.6 to 12.8. The free/reduced lunch eligible measure for 2024–2025 is 75% at Je-Neir, 71% at the junior high and 63% at the high school; these figures provide context, not an explanation for school results.
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