McLean County

Five public schools serve McLean County: three elementary schools, a middle school and a high school. The 2025–2026 results show the area averaging about 50% proficient across matched tests, compared with about 43% statewide, though results differ by grade and school. The most important finding is that elementary outcomes vary sharply even when comparing the same grades and subjects.

In the seven grade-and-subject results available for all three elementary schools, Calhoun Elementary School averaged 66% proficient, ahead of Marie Gatton Phillips Elementary at 49% and Livermore Elementary School at 40%—a 26-point gap between the highest and lowest averages. Calhoun led in every reported comparable result; in fifth-grade Editing and Mechanics, it scored 87%, versus an average of 48% at the other two schools. Livermore had the lowest result in all six comparisons where all three schools had scores, and in nine of the ten comparisons where it could be compared with at least one other school. Phillips generally fell between the two.

Results improved overall, but not at every level: across 41 matched tests, the school average rose from 48% in 2024–2025 to 50% in 2025–2026, while the state average stayed near 43%. McLean County High School made the largest turnaround, moving from a 35% average to 52% and scoring above the state in all six tested subjects. McLean County Middle School declined from 54% to 49%, though it remained above the state overall; its sixth- and seventh-grade reading stood out, while eighth-grade reading was below the state. SchoolDigger ranked Calhoun and the high school at the 86th statewide percentile in 2025–2026; Phillips rose from the 41st to 64th percentile, Livermore from the 32nd to 37th, and the middle school shifted from the 73rd to 72nd.