Is Gard Elementary School a good school?

Gard Elementary School ranks in the bottom 7.4% of Illinois elementary schools.

How many students attend Gard Elementary School?

In the 2022-23 school year, 473 students attended Gard Elementary School.

What is the racial makeup of Gard Elementary School?

Students at Gard Elementary School are 38% Hispanic, 26% White, 16% Two or more races, 13% African American, 3% Pacific Islander, 2% Asian.

What schools do graduates of Gard Elementary School attend?

Students who attend Gard Elementary School usually go on to attend: High : Beardstown Junior/Senior High School

Gard Elementary School

Summary:

Gard Elementary School is a public elementary school located in Beardstown, Illinois, serving grades K-4 with a total enrollment of 473 students. The school is part of the Beardstown CUSD 15 district, which is ranked 801 out of 813 districts in Illinois and has a 0-star rating from SchoolDigger. Gard Elementary School has consistently ranked in the bottom 10% of Illinois elementary schools over the past decade.

Gard Elementary School significantly underperforms compared to the state and district averages in academic proficiency. In the 2023-2024 school year, only 7.2% of students were proficient or better in English Language Arts, compared to 11.2% for the Beardstown CUSD 15 district and 41.2% for the state of Illinois. The school's math proficiency rates are also very low, with only 5.3% of 3rd graders and 6.8% of 4th graders meeting or exceeding standards. Gard Elementary School has also struggled with high chronic absenteeism rates, ranging from 23.3% in 2021-2022 to 41.9% in 2020-2021, which are significantly higher than the state average.

When comparing Gard Elementary School to nearby schools, it becomes clear that the school is an outlier in terms of academic performance and other key metrics. For example, North Jacksonville School, which is 19.95 miles away, outperforms Gard Elementary School in both English Language Arts and Math proficiency by a significant margin. Similarly, Brown County Elementary School and Triopia Grade School, which are 18.13 and 11.79 miles away, respectively, have much higher academic achievement levels.

Detail:

Public K-4

400 E 15th St
Beardstown, IL 62618-2054

(217) 323-1364

District: Beardstown CUSD 15

SchoolDigger Rank:
1914^th of 2,067 Illinois Elementary Schools

Per Pupil Expenditures: $11,078

Students who attend Gard Elementary School usually attend:

High:

Beardstown Junior/Senior High School

Student/teacher ratio: 12.1

Number of students: 473

Racial breakdown:

Hispanic:

38.5%

White:

26.4%

Two or more races:

16.5%

Free/discounted lunch recipients: 73.6%

See top rated Illinois elementary schools

Compare Gard Elementary School to nearby elementary schools!

Performance Trends

Compare Details Gard Elementary School ranks worse than 92.6% of elementary schools in Illinois. (See more...)

Compare Details In 2024 the calculated Average Standard Score was 13.55. (See more...)

Chronic absenteeism in a school refers to a situation where students repeatedly miss school, with the threshold often defined as missing 10% or more of school days for any reason, excused or unexcused.

Student Body

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Teachers

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Finance

Compare Details The average total spent per student at Gard Elementary School is $11,078.

Schooldigger 2024 Rankings:

Gard Elementary School:

SchoolDigger ranks Gard Elementary School 1914^th of 2067 Illinois public elementary schools. (See Gard Elementary School in the ranking list.)

Elementary School Test Score Ratings by Student Subgroup:

English Language Learner students:

Low Socio Economic Status students:

Female students:

Male students:

Hispanic students:

White students:

Beardstown CUSD 15:

SchoolDigger ranks Beardstown CUSD 15 801^st of 813 Illinois school districts. (See district ranking list.)

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Rank History for Gard Elementary School

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Rank History for all students at Gard Elementary School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Elementary Schools	IL State Percentile
2003	43.76	1327^th	2020	34.3%
2004	33.80	1518^th	2030	25.2%
2005	32.61	1537^th	2022	24.0%
2006	43.08	1445^th	2086	30.7%
2007	45.57	1404^th	2095	33.0%
2008	21.97	1744^th	2092	16.6%
2009	36.29	1536^th	2120	27.5%
2010	18.63	1837^th	2139	14.1%
2011	10.35	1990^th	2147	7.3%
2012	15.34	1938^th	2166	10.5%
2013	11.81	1987^th	2167	8.3%
2014	12.89	1893^rd	2093	9.6%
2015	11.99	1950^th	2052	5.0%
2016	9.61	1983^rd	2046	3.1%
2017	9.87	1969^th	2044	3.7%
2018	12.84	1885^th	2037	7.5%
2019	13.18	1927^th	2086	7.6%
2021	12.38	1895^th	1948	2.7%
2022	14.59	1878^th	2082	9.8%
2023	16.48	1816^th	2077	12.6%
2024	13.55	1914^th	2067	7.4%

See the entire list of Illinois Elementary School Rankings!

Rank History for English Language Learner students at Gard Elementary School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Elementary Schools	IL State Percentile
2018	18.30	704^th	718	1.9%
2019	29.11	631^st	743	15.1%
2021	24.69	524^th	537	2.4%
2022	23.42	727^th	768	5.3%
2023	29.12	653^rd	788	17.1%
2024	30.17	641^st	826	22.4%

See the entire list of Best Illinois Elementary Schools for English Language Learner Students!

Rank History for Special Education students at Gard Elementary School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Elementary Schools	IL State Percentile
2018	18.89	751^st	763	1.6%
2019	31.03	813^th	1194	31.9%
2021	19.33	625^th	640	2.3%
2022	22.20	1023^rd	1113	8.1%

See the entire list of Best Illinois Elementary Schools for Special Education Students!

Rank History for Low Socio Economic Status students at Gard Elementary School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Elementary Schools	IL State Percentile
2018	19.04	1605^th	1765	9.1%
2019	16.15	1710^th	1816	5.8%
2021	18.82	1420^th	1514	6.2%
2022	22.67	1487^th	1763	15.7%
2023	27.91	1388^th	1808	23.2%
2024	20.27	1582^nd	1793	11.8%

See the entire list of Best Illinois Elementary Schools for Low Socio Economic Status Students!

Rank History for Female students at Gard Elementary School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Elementary Schools	IL State Percentile
2018	12.42	1841^st	1964	6.3%
2019	9.52	1958^th	2019	3.0%
2021	11.39	1633^rd	1680	2.8%
2022	15.08	1771^st	1970	10.1%
2023	16.64	1724^th	1957	11.9%
2024	14.10	1792^nd	1942	7.7%

See the entire list of Best Illinois Elementary Schools for Female Students!

Rank History for Male students at Gard Elementary School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Elementary Schools	IL State Percentile
2018	15.11	1782^nd	1972	9.6%
2019	19.82	1691^st	2019	16.2%
2021	11.94	1672^nd	1707	2.1%
2022	15.19	1795^th	1977	9.2%
2023	17.53	1694^th	1984	14.6%
2024	13.91	1808^th	1959	7.7%

See the entire list of Best Illinois Elementary Schools for Male Students!

Rank History for African American students at Gard Elementary School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Elementary Schools	IL State Percentile	SchoolDigger Rating
2018	35.62	433^rd	698	38.0%
2019	17.71	693^rd	711	2.5%

See the entire list of Best Illinois Elementary Schools for African American Students!

Rank History for Hispanic students at Gard Elementary School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Elementary Schools	IL State Percentile
2018	15.14	899^th	938	4.2%
2019	20.43	864^th	955	9.5%
2021	18.39	721^st	742	2.8%
2022	21.09	855^th	954	10.4%
2023	21.29	869^th	970	10.4%
2024	16.12	911^th	959	5.0%

See the entire list of Best Illinois Elementary Schools for Hispanic Students!

Rank History for White students at Gard Elementary School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Elementary Schools	IL State Percentile
2018	6.98	1436^th	1463	1.8%
2019	6.52	1434^th	1462	1.9%
2021	4.88	1304^th	1308	0.3%
2022	5.23	1417^th	1425	0.6%
2023	8.76	1375^th	1419	3.1%
2024	6.77	1362^nd	1392	2.2%

See the entire list of Best Illinois Elementary Schools for White Students!

Data source: test scores: Illinois State Board of Education, rankings: SchoolDigger.com

As you review the school rankings data, please be aware that some of the information from certain demographics is missing. The reason for this omission is that the data has been redacted from the source data itself due to low population samples in these specific demographic groups.

Redacting data from low population samples is a necessary step to ensure the reliability and accuracy of the results, as small sample sizes may not be representative of the broader population. Additionally, this measure helps protect the privacy of individuals belonging to these demographic groups.

Data source: Illinois State Board of Education

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Enrollment information for Gard Elementary School

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Year	White	African American	Asian	Hispanic	American Indian	Pacific Islander	Two or More Races	Not Specified	Total
1989	438	n/a	1	3	n/a	n/a	n/a	0	442
1990	460	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	0	460
1991	454	0	2	6	0	n/a	n/a	0	462
1992	482	1	4	5	0	n/a	n/a	0	492
1993	473	1	5	4	0	n/a	n/a	0	483
1994	439	3	0	7	0	n/a	n/a	0	449
1995	389	1	1	6	0	n/a	n/a	0	397
1996	389	1	1	6	0	n/a	n/a	0	397
1997	413	2	0	14	0	n/a	n/a	0	429
1998	356	4	2	45	2	n/a	n/a	0	409
1999	329	2	2	71	0	n/a	n/a	0	404
2000	332	4	2	88	0	n/a	n/a	0	426
2001	304	5	2	135	4	n/a	n/a	0	450
2002	296	3	5	169	0	n/a	n/a	0	473
2003	296	3	5	169	0	n/a	n/a	0	473
2004	283	3	3	203	1	n/a	n/a	0	493
2005	174	5	4	214	0	n/a	n/a	0	397
2006	222	3	1	259	3	n/a	n/a	18	506
2007	212	11	2	223	0	n/a	n/a	42	490
2008	246	15	1	207	0	n/a	n/a	38	507
2009	250	15	1	217	0	n/a	n/a	53	536
2010	190	13	1	221	0	n/a	n/a	52	477
2011	194	21	0	288	2	0	17	0	522
2012	186	38	1	316	0	0	10	0	551
2013	189	44	2	314	1	0	14	0	564
2014	173	49	5	316	0	0	11	0	554
2015	192	56	2	290	0	0	10	0	550
2016	176	64	2	274	0	0	8	0	524
2017	172	59	2	281	1	0	10	0	525
2018	167	75	2	285	6	0	0	0	535
2019	145	63	3	267	2	0	10	0	490
2020	151	66	3	228	4	3	25	0	480
2021	130	56	8	224	4	4	37	0	463
2022	129	57	9	210	3	5	53	0	466
2023	125	62	9	182	3	14	78	0	473

Data source: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Dept of Education.

About Enrollment/Ethnicity

For more information about how the Department of Education defines ethnicity, see Defining Race and Ethnicity Data, National Center for Education Statistics

Students eligible for free or discounted lunch at Gard Elementary School

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Year	# Students	Full-time Teachers	Student/Teacher ratio	% Free/Discounted Lunch
1989	442	28.1	15.7	n/a
1990	460	28.1	16.3	n/a
1991	462	28.1	16.4	n/a
1992	492	29.4	16.7	n/a
1993	483	28.3	17.1	n/a
1994	449	28.3	15.9	n/a
1995	397	32.8	12.1	n/a
1996	397	32.8	12.1	n/a
1997	429	30.8	13.9	n/a
1998	409	30.8	13.3	n/a
1999	404	31.0	13.0	n/a
2000	426	31.9	13.4	n/a
2001	450	31.9	14.1	n/a
2002	473	33.9	14.0	69.6
2003	473	33.9	14.0	69.6
2004	493	35.0	14.1	75.1
2005	397	27.0	14.7	75.6
2006	506	35.0	14.5	79.3
2007	490	38.0	12.9	83.3
2008	507	38.0	13.3	84.4
2009	536	42.1	12.7	89.2
2010	477	38.0	12.5	96.7
2011	522	37.5	13.8	80.7
2012	551	42.0	13.1	82.9
2013	564	40.7	13.8	85.5
2014	554	42.0	13.1	83
2015	550	42.0	13.0	84
2016	524	36.0	14.5	81.5
2017	525	35.5	14.7	82.1
2018	535	35.5	15.0	79.8
2019	490	35.0	13.9	79.4
2020	480	36.0	13.3	98.5
2021	463	n/a	n/a	n/a
2022	466	39.0	11.9	98.5
2023	473	39.0	12.1	73.6

Data source: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Dept of Education.

About Students eligible for discounted/free lunch:

The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) provides low-cost or free meals to students in U.S. public and nonprofit private schools based on household income. Those with incomes below 130% of the poverty line receive free lunch, while those between 130% and 185% qualify for reduced-price lunch. The percentage of students receiving free or reduced-price lunch serves as a marker for poverty, as it reflects the socioeconomic status of families in a given school or district. A higher FRPL rate typically indicates a higher concentration of low-income families, suggesting that the school or district may face additional challenges in providing adequate resources and support for student success.

Student/Teacher Ratio Gard Elementary School

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Year	# Students	Full-time Teachers	Student/Teacher ratio	% Free/Discounted Lunch
1989	442	28.1	15.7	n/a
1990	460	28.1	16.3	n/a
1991	462	28.1	16.4	n/a
1992	492	29.4	16.7	n/a
1993	483	28.3	17.1	n/a
1994	449	28.3	15.9	n/a
1995	397	32.8	12.1	n/a
1996	397	32.8	12.1	n/a
1997	429	30.8	13.9	n/a
1998	409	30.8	13.3	n/a
1999	404	31.0	13.0	n/a
2000	426	31.9	13.4	n/a
2001	450	31.9	14.1	n/a
2002	473	33.9	14.0	69.6
2003	473	33.9	14.0	69.6
2004	493	35.0	14.1	75.1
2005	397	27.0	14.7	75.6
2006	506	35.0	14.5	79.3
2007	490	38.0	12.9	83.3
2008	507	38.0	13.3	84.4
2009	536	42.1	12.7	89.2
2010	477	38.0	12.5	96.7
2011	522	37.5	13.8	80.7
2012	551	42.0	13.1	82.9
2013	564	40.7	13.8	85.5
2014	554	42.0	13.1	83
2015	550	42.0	13.0	84
2016	524	36.0	14.5	81.5
2017	525	35.5	14.7	82.1
2018	535	35.5	15.0	79.8
2019	490	35.0	13.9	79.4
2020	480	36.0	13.3	98.5
2021	463	n/a	n/a	n/a
2022	466	39.0	11.9	98.5
2023	473	39.0	12.1	73.6

Data source: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Dept of Education.

About Student-Teacher Ratio

Student/teacher ratio is calculated by dividing the total number of students by the total number of full-time equivalent teachers. Please note that a smaller student/teacher ratio does not necessarily translate to smaller class size. In some instances, schools hire teachers part time, and some teachers are hired for specialized instruction with very small class sizes. These and other factors contribute to the student/teacher ratio. Note: For private schools, Student/teacher ratio may not include Pre-Kindergarten.

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