Best Public Schools in Zip Code 61866

ZIP code 61866 includes six schools—four elementary schools, one junior high and one high school—serving students from elementary grades through high school. The strongest reported elementary results are still well below state benchmarks: in 2025–26, Eastlawn and Broadmeadow averaged 15% proficient in all-grade ELA, 41 points below the state, and 7% in math, 33 points below. Rantoul Township High’s grade 11 ACT results were 22–27 points below state figures across subjects. The clearest takeaway is that even the local leaders have substantial gaps from state benchmarks.

Among schools with comparable reported results, Northview was ahead of Pleasant Acres in all seven same-grade comparisons for 2024–25, by 1–9 percentage points, though both were below state figures. In 2025–26, Broadmeadow led Eastlawn by 9 points in all-grade ELA, 6 in math and 4 in grade 5 science; Eastlawn was 2 points higher in grade 5 ELA. J W Eater had the highest all-grade ELA and math results among the middle and elementary schools reporting that year, at 34% and 13%, but those were still 22 and 27 points below state benchmarks. Subject strengths vary: Rantoul Township High’s strongest ACT result relative to the state was science, while math had the largest gap.

Recent trends are mixed: Eastlawn and Broadmeadow’s average all-grade ELA rose 5 points and math rose 2 points from 2024–25 to 2025–26, narrowing their state gaps by 2 and 1 points, while their average grade 5 science gap widened by 8 points. Rantoul Township High’s grade 11 ACT results fell in all three subjects, by 2–3 points, and its gaps widened. SchoolDigger’s 2025–26 percentile was 1 for Broadmeadow, 6 for J W Eater and 15 for Rantoul Township High; these rankings are not proficiency changes. The 2024–25 free/reduced lunch eligible measure ranged from 85% at Northview to 95% at Pleasant Acres, averaging 90%; among the comparable grade 3–5 schools, Broadmeadow’s measure was 94% versus Eastlawn’s 89%, while Eastlawn had the lower student–teacher ratio, 9.5 versus 11.0. Results span different years and grade bands, so comparisons are most useful when the grades, subject and year match.