Summary:
The four schools in Taylorville CUSD 3 include two elementary schools, a junior high and a senior high, with 2,172 students altogether. The clearest overall finding is that the schools’ reported academic results differ considerably: Memorial Elementary School has the lowest reported proficiency, while Taylorville Junior High School shows a notable ELA strength.
Taylorville Junior High School stands out in ELA: its 2025–26 all-grades result was 63%, compared with 56% statewide, and eighth-grade ELA was 83% versus 63% statewide—a 20-point advantage. That strength is not consistent across subjects and grades: junior-high all-grades math was 35%, 5 points below the state, and grades 5–7 math results were also below state results. At the other end, Memorial Elementary School had 2025–26 all-grades results of 36% in ELA and 25% in math, respectively 21 and 15 points below the state. Taylorville Senior High School paired a strong 98% graduation rate with 11th-grade ACT proficiency below state results in ELA, math and science.
Recent IAR results show Memorial losing ground relative to the state: from 2024–25 to 2025–26, its ELA fell 4 points and math fell 6, while state results rose in both subjects. Junior-high all-grades ELA fell 6 points, narrowing its state advantage; math fell 1 point as the state improved, widening the gap. SchoolDigger lists the junior high at the 55th percentile and Memorial at the 11th in 2025–26, down from 76th and 41st, respectively, in 2023–24. Staffing and income figures add context, not explanations: student-teacher ratios range from 13.8 at the junior high to 17.6 at Memorial, and 2024–25 free/reduced lunch eligible shares were 59.9% at Memorial and 60.0% at North Elementary School. Memorial’s chronic absenteeism was also comparatively low at 15%, below the state’s 24%. North has no supplied test scores, and the schools’ tested grades do not overlap, so a matched-grade ranking across all four schools is not available.
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