Summary:
Schools in ZIP code 62345 include one listed school, Western Junior High School, serving grades 6–8 and enrolling 146 students. Its 2025–26 results are mixed: all-grades English Language Arts (ELA) proficiency was 57%, about 1 point above Illinois, while eighth-grade science was 59%, 7 points above the state. The clearest concern is math: proficiency was 24% compared with 40% statewide, a 16-point shortfall that widened from 10 points the previous year.
There is no second school in this list to compare, so Western Junior High is both the highest and lowest school locally; its subject and grade-level differences are more useful than a school-to-school ranking. ELA varied sharply by grade in 2025–26: sixth grade was 44%, 15 points below the state, while seventh grade was 60%, 2 points above, and eighth grade was 69%, 6 points above. The school’s 25-point spread across grades was much wider than the state’s 6-point spread. Eighth-grade science was a relative strength at 59%, compared with 52% statewide, although that advantage has narrowed.
Changes over time reinforce the math concern, while ELA improved without pulling farther ahead of the state. From 2024–25 to 2025–26, the school’s math result fell from 28% to 24% as the state’s rose from 39% to 40%; the school-state gap widened by 5 points. ELA rose from 54% to 57%, close to the state’s increase from 53% to 56%. Science remained above the state, but the advantage shrank by 8 points, from 15 to 7. SchoolDigger’s reported percentile fell from 60 in 2024–25 to 48 in 2025–26, and its rating changed from 3 stars to 2. Context figures include a student-teacher ratio of 13.8 and 56% free/reduced lunch eligible in 2024–25; chronic absenteeism was 27% in 2025–26, compared with 23% in Western CUSD 12 and 24% statewide. These context measures do not establish why test results differ.
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