Best Public Schools in Payson, IL

The city of Payson, Illinois is home to two schools: Seymour Elementary School and Seymour High School, both part of the Payson CUSD 1 district. While the elementary school has a 3-star rating and outperforms the district and state in 5th grade English Language Arts and science proficiency, the high school has a 2-star rating and struggles with lower test scores and a high chronic absenteeism rate.

Seymour Elementary School stands out for its strong academic performance, ranking 978 out of 2,067 Illinois elementary schools. The school excels in 5th grade English Language Arts, with 63% of students scoring proficient or better, compared to the state average of 39.1%. Additionally, 63% of students scored proficient or better on the ISA science assessment, outpacing the district and state averages. In contrast, Seymour High School ranks 398 out of 697 Illinois high schools, with a lower 2-star rating, and underperforms the district and state in 8th grade English Language Arts proficiency.

While both schools have similar spending per student and student-teacher ratios, the data reveals significant differences in their performance. Seymour High School stands out with a relatively high 4-year graduation rate of 76.3%, but its chronic absenteeism rate of 21.9% is more than double that of the elementary school. The overall district ranking of 601 out of 813 in Illinois, with a 1-star rating, suggests that the challenges faced by these two schools may be reflective of broader district-level issues that need to be addressed.