In the 2023-24 school year, 66% of Mercer County School District 404 students failed the ELA portion of the Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR) test, according to the Illinois State Board of Education.
These students did not meet the required standards of the ELA portion of the IAR compared to the 34% who did.
The total number Mercer County School District 404 students who failed their ELA assessments fell by 5.9% from the previous school year.
Mercer County School District 404 roughly covers schools within Mercer County and has a main office in Aledo.
The Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR) measures how well students in grades 3-8 are progressing toward state standards in English language arts and mathematics.
K-12 enrollment has been declining in Illinois for many years, reflecting the state’s demographic changes. Between the 2019–20 and 2022–23 school years, Illinois public school enrollment declined from approximately 1.98 million to 1.85 million students, a decrease of about 127,000 students or 6.4%. This decline is significantly higher than the typical annual decreases of 0.5% to 1.5% observed in the preceding years, reflecting broader demographic shifts within the state.
| School | District | Students who did not meet met standards (%) |
|---|---|---|
| Apollo Elementary School | Mercer County School District 404 | 74.1% |
| Mercer County Junior High School | Mercer County School District 404 | 63.5% |
| New Boston Elementary School | Mercer County School District 404 | 56.6% |
