Summary:
ZIP code 61115 has six schools: five elementary schools, including an early education center, and one high school; Marquette serves grades 1–3, while Machesney, Olson Park and Ralston serve grades 1–5. The clearest takeaway is that elementary results vary widely: in 2025–26, Olson Park Elementary School scored 69% in all-grades ELA and 53% in math, compared with 39% and 26% at Machesney Elementary School; state results were 56% and 40%.
Olson Park is the strongest tested elementary school: it was above the state in all seven reported grade-specific comparisons, including fifth-grade science at 71% versus 48%. Machesney was below the state in all seven, including fifth-grade science at 39%. Ralston Elementary School sits between them in many results, with the second-highest reported all-grades math score (40%) and fifth-grade science score (61%). Marquette Elementary School scored 33% in all-grades math; its current ELA results are suppressed, and the early education center has no test scores in the data. At Harlem High School, 11th-grade ACT proficiency was below state results in ELA, math and science, by 13, 11 and 12 percentage points, respectively.
Trends are mixed, with fifth-grade science the strongest improvement: the three elementary schools with results rose from a 38% average in 2024–25 to 57% in 2025–26, while the state went from 41% to 48%. Elementary ELA averages also improved, from 49% to 54%, but math fell from 40% to 38%. Harlem’s ACT results rose in all three subjects, by 1 point in ELA, 4 in math and 5 in science, but remained below the state. SchoolDigger’s percentile rankings rose for Olson Park, from 68 to 74, while Machesney’s fell from 35 to 16. In 2024–25, free/reduced lunch eligible shares were 55% at Olson Park and 64% at Machesney; their student–teacher ratios were 15.4 and 12.8. These are useful contrasts, not explanations of test results.
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