Galena

Galena’s five schools serve prekindergarten through grade 12: two elementary schools, a middle school and two high schools. Test scores are available for Galena High, Galena Middle School and Liberty Elementary; the three-school averages give each school equal weight. Those averages are below state results in every subject: 44% in ELA versus 46% statewide, 35% in math versus 41%, and 28% in science versus 38%. The clearest area-wide concern is the science gap, at 10 percentage points.

The all-grades leaders vary by subject. Liberty Elementary leads ELA at 51%, 7 points ahead of Galena Middle School and 17 ahead of Galena High. Galena Middle School leads math at 40% and science at 34%, though both results remain below state figures. Galena High has the lowest ELA and math results of the three, and Liberty Elementary has the lowest science result, at 23%—15 points below the state.

Recent ELA and math results have moved away from the state trend: the three-school average fell 3 points in ELA and 4 in math from 2024–25 to 2025–26, while state results rose 1 and 2 points, respectively. A different signal comes from SchoolDigger’s rankings: Galena Middle School leads the schools in all-grades math and science but its statewide percentile rank fell 27 points, from 78 to 51, between 2023–24 and 2025–26. Attendance is a separate concern at Galena Virtual School, where the reported dropout rate is 63% and chronic absenteeism is 67%; its enrollment is just 19, so those rates may be sensitive to a small number of students. Reported student-teacher ratios at the three tested schools range from 11.6 to 13.0, while subject leaders differ, so the ratios do not point to one school leading across the board.