Summary:
The 61739 zip code is home to a single public high school, Prairie Central High School, which serves grades 9-12 and has an enrollment of 518 students. The school is part of the Prairie Central CUSD 8 district, which is ranked 409 out of 811 districts in Illinois and has a 2-star rating from SchoolDigger.
Prairie Central High School has seen a decline in its statewide ranking, dropping from 232 out of 699 Illinois high schools in 2022-2023 to 297 out of 698 in 2024-2025. The school's academic performance is mixed, with some areas, like PreACT Secure ELA, performing better than the state average, while others, like ACT Math and SAT Math, are significantly below the state average. The school also faces challenges with a high chronic absenteeism rate of 25.4% and relatively high spending per student at $16,334.
Despite these challenges, Prairie Central High School maintains a respectable 89.0% four-year graduation rate and a 2.4% dropout rate. However, the school's performance on standardized tests, such as the ACT, PreACT Secure, and SAT, indicates that there is room for improvement in student achievement. The school's socioeconomic factors, with 43.63% of students receiving free or reduced-price lunch, may also be impacting academic outcomes.
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