Schools in Zip Code 61842

ZIP code 61842 has two schools serving preschool through grade 12: Ruth M Schneider Elementary School (PK–3, 265 students) and Blue Ridge High School (grades 9–12, 155 students), both in Blue Ridge CUSD 18. Together they enroll 420 students. Attendance is a key contrast: chronic absenteeism in 2025–2026 was 16% at Schneider, 8 percentage points below the 24% state rate, but 33% at Blue Ridge High, 10 points above it. The clearest area-wide finding is that the schools’ results differ substantially by subject and indicator, with high-school absenteeism a particular concern.

Schneider’s strongest relative result was math: its 2025–2026 third-grade proficiency was 47%, 2 percentage points below the state’s 49%; its all-grades math result was 47%, 7 points above the state’s 40%. ELA was a sharper concern: third-grade proficiency was 30%, 18 points below the same-grade state result, and the all-grades result was 30%, 27 points below the state. Blue Ridge High’s best current state comparison was ninth-grade PreACT ELA, at 56% versus 62% statewide, still 5 points lower. Its tenth-grade ELA was 49%, 5 points below the state, and eleventh-grade ACT ELA was 46%, 4 points below. Available ACT math and science results were each 7 points below the state. Because the schools serve different grades and use different assessments, their raw scores do not support a fair overall school ranking.

Recent trends are mixed. Schneider’s all-grades ELA fell 19 percentage points from 2024–2025 to 2025–2026, while its state-relative gap widened by 22 points; math fell 3 points, but remained 7 points above the state. At Blue Ridge High, eleventh-grade ACT ELA fell 16 points and its state-relative position worsened by 14 points, while ninth- and tenth-grade PreACT ELA gaps improved by 16 and 5 points, respectively. SchoolDigger’s high-school rating history also declined, from the 65th percentile in 2023–2024 to the 41st in 2025–2026. In context, 2024–2025 student-teacher ratios were 13.4 at Schneider and 7.7 at Blue Ridge High; free/reduced lunch eligible shares that year were 49% and 43%, respectively. Blue Ridge High’s graduation rate was a positive 94% in 2025–2026, compared with 90% statewide.