Summary:
ZIP code 61523 has two elementary schools in Illinois Valley Central Unified School District 321: South Elementary School serves prekindergarten through grade 3, and Chillicothe Elementary Center serves grades 4–5. In 2025–2026, the Center’s All Grades results were 64% in ELA and 58% in math, compared with South’s 58% and 52%; both schools were above the statewide All Grades results of 56% in ELA and 40% in math. Because the schools serve different grades, their All Grades scores are not like-for-like comparisons. The most important finding is that every reported grade-specific test result at both schools was above its state comparison.
The Center’s grade 4 math result is the standout: 72% proficient, 30 percentage points above the state. South’s clearest strength is grade 3 ELA, at 58%, or 11 points above the state. The smallest state advantage was South’s grade 3 math result: 52%, just 3 points above the state. The Center’s grade 5 results were also more modest than its grade 4 results: grade 5 math was 43%, 7 points above the state but 2 points below the district; grade 5 ELA was 59%, 4 points above the state. Grade 5 science was 57%, 9 points above the state.
Recent results moved in opposite directions: from 2024–2025 to 2025–2026, South declined 7 points in ELA and 12 in math, while the Center rose 6 points in ELA and 17 in math; the Center’s grade 5 science result climbed 29 points. SchoolDigger placed the Center at the 66th statewide percentile in 2025–2026, up from the 55th percentile the year before. Attendance also compares favorably with the state: chronic absenteeism was 14% at South and 10% at the Center, versus 24% statewide. For context, in 2024–2025, 53% of South students and 55% of Center students were free/reduced lunch eligible; student-teacher ratios were 16.4 at South and 10.5 at the Center.
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