Summary:
The Pope County CUD 1 district in Illinois operates two schools: Pope County Elementary School and Pope County High School. The district as a whole is struggling, ranking 614th out of 811 districts in Illinois and receiving only 1 out of 5 stars from SchoolDigger.
At the elementary school, there are signs of improvement, with the school's statewide ranking moving from 1157th out of 2067 Illinois elementary schools in 2023-2024 to 907th out of 2056 in 2024-2025. However, the school still lags the state average in ELA and Math proficiency across most grade levels, with the exception of 3rd grade where scores are above average. The high school, on the other hand, has seen its statewide ranking decline from 446th out of 699 Illinois high schools in 2022-2023 to 538th out of 698 in 2024-2025, indicating a need for more support.
Both schools face significant challenges, including high chronic absenteeism rates of 25.4%, low ACT/SAT proficiency rates compared to the state, and high percentages of students qualifying for free/reduced lunch (50.49% at the elementary school and 64.74% at the high school). While the per-student spending levels are relatively high, the district and its schools will likely need to implement targeted interventions and a comprehensive improvement strategy to address these issues and drive better student outcomes.
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