Summary:
Zip code 61812 has two schools serving kindergarten through grade 12: Armstrong-Ellis Elementary School serves kindergarten through grade 8, and Armstrong High School serves grades 9–12. They are small schools, enrolling 81 and 114 students, respectively. The clearest current academic strength is at Armstrong-Ellis, which is above state benchmarks in both reported subjects, while the high school trails the state on most of its reported ELA and science measures.
Armstrong-Ellis stands out in 2025–26: its all-grades ELA result was 73%, compared with 56% statewide, a 17-point advantage; in math, it scored 50% versus 40%, 10 points above the state. By contrast, the five reported ELA and science comparisons at Armstrong High were 2 to 9 points below their state benchmarks. Its only available math comparison, ninth-grade PreACT, was just above the state result: 42.3% versus 42.1%. Chronic absenteeism also favors the elementary school: 13%, compared with 25% at the high school and 24% statewide. The schools serve different grades and have different reported tests, so their raw proficiency scores are not directly comparable.
Recent results show different directions: Armstrong-Ellis improved, while the high school’s comparable ELA and science results generally declined. From 2024–25 to 2025–26, elementary ELA rose 6 points and math rose 17; its advantage over the state grew by 3 points in ELA and 16 in math. At the high school, comparable ELA and science scores fell by 3 to 10 points. SchoolDigger’s rankings were uneven, too: the high school moved from the 23rd percentile in 2023–24 to the 62nd in 2024–25, then to the 44th in 2025–26; the elementary school rose from the 52nd to the 61st percentile, then returned to the 52nd. In 2024–25, student-teacher ratios were similar—7.7 at the elementary school and 8.1 at the high school—and free/reduced lunch eligible shares were 41% and 38%, respectively; these are context, not explanations for school results.
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