Summary:
Zip code 61790 has two University High School and Thomas Metcalf School, both part of ISU Laboratory Schools: University serves grades 9–12, and Metcalf serves pre-K–8. Both schools were above state proficiency results in every reported 2025–2026 comparison, and both had lower chronic absenteeism than the state—4% at University and 7% at Metcalf, versus 24% statewide. The clearest shared strength is that students at both schools had stronger reported results than state figures, alongside much lower absenteeism.
University High stands out for consistently large advantages over state results: its 2025–2026 gaps ranged from 21 to 36 percentage points across ACT and PreACT subjects. Metcalf also performed above the state overall, with all-grades IAR results 26 points higher in ELA and 22 points higher in math. Its grade-level math results varied, however: grade 5 was 5 points above the state, while grade 7 was 37 points above. SchoolDigger placed University at the 97th percentile and Metcalf at the 83rd percentile in 2025–2026. Because the schools serve different grades and report different exams, their proficiency results cannot be fairly ranked head-to-head.
Recent changes were mixed rather than uniformly improving or declining. At Metcalf, the all-grades ELA advantage over the state widened by 7 points from 2024–2025 to 2025–2026, while its math advantage narrowed by 4 points. University’s test gaps widened in some comparisons and narrowed in others. University also reported a 97% graduation rate, compared with 90% statewide. The schools’ 2024–2025 student-teacher ratios were 15 at University and 8.6 at Metcalf. Their free/reduced lunch eligible measures were 2% at University in 2021–2022 and 7% at Metcalf in 2024–2025; these different-year figures are context, not an explanation of results.
Thank you for your feedback!