Summary:
ZIP code 61561 has two schools: Sowers Elementary School, serving grades K–4, and Roanoke-Benson High School, serving grades 9–12. Both schools generally performed above their state benchmarks in 2025–2026, and both had low chronic absenteeism: about 4%, compared with 24% statewide. The main exception—and the most important area to watch—is the high school’s ninth-grade math result, which was below the state result.
Sowers stands out in elementary math: its all-grades result was 72%, versus 40% statewide, a 33-point advantage; fourth-grade math was 81%, 39 points above the state. Roanoke-Benson High was strongest in English Language Arts, with 10th-grade results of 79% versus 54% statewide and 11th-grade results of 71% versus 50%. Its ninth-grade math result was 38%, 5 points below the state’s 42%; it was the only listed current-year result below its state comparison. The high school’s 11th-grade math result was modestly above the state, by 3 points.
Results changed unevenly: state-comparison margins narrowed in 8 of 11 matched subject-and-grade comparisons, while all three 10th-grade PreACT margins widened. The clearest reversal was ninth-grade math, whose margin shifted from 16 points above state results to 5 points below; 10th-grade math moved from 1 point above to 12 points above. SchoolDigger gives both schools four stars, ranking Sowers at the 86th percentile and the high school at the 83rd. In 2024–2025, Sowers had a 11.5 student-teacher ratio and 22% free/reduced lunch eligible; the high school’s figures were 9.2 and 19%. These are context, not explanations for results. Because the schools serve different grades and take different tests, their scores are not direct school-to-school comparisons.
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