Summary:
ZIP code 61820 in Champaign has one high school, Central High School, serving grades 9–12 and enrolling 1,666 students. Its strongest recent test results are in science, but its graduation and attendance figures are the most important concerns: in 2025–2026, 79% of students graduated, 11 points below the state rate, while 38% were chronically absent, 14 points above the state rate.
Because Central is the only school listed, there is no meaningful top-to-bottom comparison among schools. Within Central, science is the clearest academic strength: 2025–2026 results were above the state in all three grades, by 9 points in grade 11, 6 in grade 10, and 3 in grade 9. Mathematics was also above the state in grade 11 by 8 points and grade 10 by 1 point, but below it in grade 9 by 2 points. ELA was 4 points above the state in grade 11 and below it in grades 9 and 10; averaged across the three grades, it was essentially even with the state. The graduation and attendance concerns sit alongside a dropout rate of 4%, 2 points above the statewide rate.
Results over time are mixed, with grade 10 showing the sharpest declines: from 2024–2025 to 2025–2026, its ELA score fell 12 points, science fell 11, and mathematics fell 6. Grade 9 improved in ELA by 3 points and mathematics by 5, while science was nearly unchanged; grade 11 results were also relatively steady. SchoolDigger’s ranking moved from 149th of 697 schools and the 79th percentile in 2023–2024 to 211th of 620 and the 66th percentile in 2025–2026. The school’s student-teacher ratio was 13.2 in 2024–2025, and 44% of students were free/reduced lunch eligible that year. These are contextual figures, not explanations of outcomes; as the sole school in the list, Central cannot be compared with local peers here.
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