Is Thomas Paine Elementary School a good school?

Thomas Paine Elementary School ranks in the bottom 7.5% of Illinois elementary schools.

How many students attend Thomas Paine Elementary School?

In the 2022-23 school year, 251 students attended Thomas Paine Elementary School.

What is the racial makeup of Thomas Paine Elementary School?

Students at Thomas Paine Elementary School are 39% White, 35% African American, 13% Two or more races, 8% Hispanic, 5% Asian.

What schools do graduates of Thomas Paine Elementary School attend?

Students who attend Thomas Paine Elementary School usually go on to attend: Middle : Urbana Middle School High : Urbana High School

Thomas Paine Elementary School

Summary:

Thomas Paine Elementary School is a public elementary school in Urbana, Illinois, serving 251 students from kindergarten to 5th grade. The school is part of the Urbana School District 116, which is ranked 767 out of 813 school districts in Illinois and has a 0-star rating from SchoolDigger.

Thomas Paine Elementary School consistently ranks in the bottom half of Illinois elementary schools, with a statewide ranking between 1070 and 2031 over the past 10 years. The school's performance on standardized tests is significantly below the state and district averages, with only 9% of students proficient or better in English Language Arts, compared to 12.5% for the Urbana School District and 41.2% for the state of Illinois. The school's performance is particularly low for certain student subgroups, such as African American students, White students, and students from low socioeconomic backgrounds, who rank in the bottom 30-40% of their respective subgroups in the state. Additionally, Thomas Paine Elementary School has experienced a significant increase in chronic absenteeism, rising from 14.6% in the 2019-2020 school year to 41.8% in the 2023-2024 school year.

Compared to nearby schools, Thomas Paine Elementary School performs significantly worse than Leal Elementary School, which is ranked in the top half of Illinois elementary schools and has much higher academic proficiency rates. Other nearby schools, such as M.L. King Jr. Elementary and Dr. Preston L. Williams Jr. Elementary, also outperform Thomas Paine Elementary School on academic measures. The nearby Champaign-based schools, such as Stratton Elementary and South Side Elementary, generally have higher academic proficiency rates and lower chronic absenteeism compared to Thomas Paine Elementary.

Detail:

Public K-5

1801 James Cherry Dr
Urbana, IL 61802-5584

(217) 384-3602

District: Urbana School District 116

SchoolDigger Rank:
1912^th of 2,067 Illinois Elementary Schools

Per Pupil Expenditures: $16,012

Students who attend Thomas Paine Elementary School usually attend:

Middle:	Urbana Middle School
High:	Urbana High School

Student/teacher ratio: 12.4

Number of students: 251

Racial breakdown:

White:

39.0%

African American:

35.1%

Two or more races:

12.7%

Free/discounted lunch recipients: 70.5%

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Performance Trends

Compare Details Thomas Paine Elementary School ranks worse than 92.5% of elementary schools in Illinois. It also ranks 3^rd among 5 ranked elementary schools in the Urbana School District 116. (See more...)

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

Chronic absenteeism in a high 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

Compare Details Thomas Paine Elementary School has the largest elementary school student body size in the Urbana School District 116. (See more...)

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Teachers

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Finance

Compare Details The average total spent per student at Thomas Paine Elementary School is $16,012, which is the 2^nd highest among 5 elementary schools in the Urbana School District 116.

Schooldigger 2024 Rankings:

Thomas Paine Elementary School:

SchoolDigger ranks Thomas Paine Elementary School 1912^th of 2067 Illinois public elementary schools. (See Thomas Paine Elementary School in the ranking list.)

Elementary School Test Score Ratings by Student Subgroup:

Special Education students:

Low Socio Economic Status students:

Female students:

Disabled students:

Male students:

African American students:

White students:

Urbana School District 116:

SchoolDigger ranks Urbana School District 116 767^th of 813 Illinois school districts. (See district ranking list.)

Average Parent Rating:

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Rank History for Thomas Paine Elementary School

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Rank History for all students at Thomas Paine Elementary School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Elementary Schools	IL State Percentile
2003	36.26	1453^rd	2020	28.1%
2004	35.23	1493^rd	2030	26.5%
2005	55.49	1111^th	2022	45.1%
2006	39.20	1522^nd	2086	27.0%
2007	46.23	1393^rd	2095	33.5%
2008	59.85	1044^th	2092	50.1%
2009	47.37	1332^nd	2120	37.2%
2010	55.52	1155^th	2139	46.0%
2011	50.53	1272^nd	2147	40.8%
2012	32.51	1634^th	2166	24.6%
2013	27.78	1634^th	2167	24.6%
2014	34.95	1426^th	2093	31.9%
2015	33.73	1304^th	2052	36.5%
2016	36.95	1244^th	2046	39.2%
2017	44.11	1070^th	2044	47.7%
2018	36.40	1262^nd	2037	38.0%
2019	30.02	1450^th	2086	30.5%
2021	15.62	1728^th	1948	11.3%
2022	26.56	1478^th	2082	29.0%
2023	18.71	1723^rd	2077	17.0%
2024	13.55	1912^th	2067	7.5%

See the entire list of Illinois Elementary School Rankings!

Rank History for Special Education students at Thomas Paine Elementary School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Elementary Schools	IL State Percentile
2022	35.01	654^th	1113	41.2%
2023	27.66	847^th	1156	26.7%
2024	21.24	1043^rd	1195	12.7%

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

Rank History for Low Socio Economic Status students at Thomas Paine Elementary School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Elementary Schools	IL State Percentile
2018	33.06	1236^th	1765	30.0%
2019	26.61	1468^th	1816	19.2%
2021	14.98	1506^th	1514	0.5%
2022	28.90	1318^th	1763	25.2%
2023	14.46	1754^th	1808	3.0%
2024	10.88	1786^th	1793	0.4%

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

Rank History for Female students at Thomas Paine Elementary School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Elementary Schools	IL State Percentile
2018	34.05	1284^th	1964	34.6%
2019	27.33	1485^th	2019	26.4%
2022	21.11	1561^st	1970	20.8%
2023	12.87	1842^nd	1957	5.9%
2024	17.04	1682^nd	1942	13.4%

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

Rank History for Disabled students at Thomas Paine Elementary School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Elementary Schools	IL State Percentile	SchoolDigger Rating
2023	33.22	562^nd	907	38.0%
2024	25.67	712^th	886	19.6%

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

Rank History for Male students at Thomas Paine Elementary School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Elementary Schools	IL State Percentile
2018	39.46	1129^th	1972	42.7%
2019	33.75	1309^th	2019	35.2%
2021	10.71	1702^nd	1707	0.3%
2022	30.88	1289^th	1977	34.8%
2023	25.55	1440^th	1984	27.4%
2024	12.50	1865^th	1959	4.8%

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

Rank History for African American students at Thomas Paine Elementary School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Elementary Schools	IL State Percentile
2018	51.83	251^st	698	64.0%
2019	30.65	521^st	711	26.7%
2022	34.96	427^th	684	37.6%
2023	22.91	627^th	692	9.4%
2024	20.12	625^th	655	4.6%

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

Rank History for White students at Thomas Paine Elementary School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Elementary Schools	IL State Percentile
2018	32.39	1028^th	1463	29.7%
2019	26.54	1134^th	1462	22.4%
2021	8.20	1283^rd	1308	1.9%
2022	25.33	1143^rd	1425	19.8%
2023	11.24	1348^th	1419	5.0%
2024	6.61	1364^th	1392	2.0%

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

Review counts

All ratings (Avg rating: 5)

100%

Reviews:

by a parent
Friday, May 22, 2015

Both of my kids have gone to Thomas Paine Elementary School and it's been a great experience! They have such wonderful and caring staff and a very involved PTA. Close Quote

Enrollment information for Thomas Paine Elementary School

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Year	White	African American	Asian	Hispanic	American Indian	Pacific Islander	Two or More Races	Not Specified	Total
1988	475	60	13	4	n/a	n/a	n/a	0	552
1989	488	60	13	3	n/a	n/a	n/a	0	564
1990	434	117	7	1	n/a	n/a	n/a	0	559
1991	426	115	13	0	0	n/a	n/a	0	554
1992	349	96	14	2	0	n/a	n/a	0	461
1993	338	89	10	3	2	n/a	n/a	0	442
1994	320	99	15	1	1	n/a	n/a	0	436
1995	292	83	9	1	0	n/a	n/a	0	385
1996	292	83	9	1	0	n/a	n/a	0	385
1997	282	102	7	1	0	n/a	n/a	0	392
1998	263	82	10	1	0	n/a	n/a	0	356
1999	265	115	12	4	2	n/a	n/a	0	398
2000	234	99	18	4	2	n/a	n/a	0	357
2001	223	93	15	8	1	n/a	n/a	0	340
2002	180	96	20	4	0	n/a	n/a	0	300
2003	180	96	20	4	0	n/a	n/a	0	300
2004	155	123	12	12	0	n/a	n/a	0	302
2005	131	101	13	2	0	n/a	n/a	28	275
2006	142	92	12	2	2	n/a	n/a	23	273
2007	156	101	11	10	1	n/a	n/a	21	300
2008	139	81	15	10	1	n/a	n/a	30	276
2009	124	78	17	10	0	n/a	n/a	35	264
2010	134	71	15	11	1	n/a	n/a	32	264
2011	159	80	14	12	0	0	26	0	291
2012	151	86	15	15	0	0	26	0	293
2013	148	88	15	17	1	0	31	0	300
2014	146	82	13	17	1	0	30	0	289
2015	150	91	13	18	1	0	39	0	312
2016	144	101	18	17	1	0	38	0	319
2017	137	98	15	13	1	0	37	0	301
2018	140	112	15	22	0	0	39	0	328
2019	126	108	5	18	1	0	35	0	293
2020	122	121	6	19	2	1	44	0	315
2021	106	96	7	14	1	0	33	0	257
2022	104	95	8	17	0	0	36	0	260
2023	98	88	12	21	0	0	32	0	251

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 Thomas Paine Elementary School

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Year	# Students	Full-time Teachers	Student/Teacher ratio	% Free/Discounted Lunch
1988	552	27.5	20.0	n/a
1989	564	28.5	19.7	n/a
1990	559	25.6	21.8	n/a
1991	554	33.0	16.7	n/a
1992	461	26.4	17.4	n/a
1993	442	33.0	13.4	n/a
1994	436	34.1	12.8	n/a
1995	385	33.9	11.4	n/a
1996	385	33.9	11.4	n/a
1997	392	33.8	11.6	n/a
1998	356	33.2	10.7	n/a
1999	398	35.8	11.1	n/a
2000	357	35.2	10.1	n/a
2001	340	25.5	13.3	n/a
2002	300	21.9	13.7	42
2003	300	21.9	13.7	42
2004	302	18.4	16.4	55.3
2005	275	19.4	14.2	66
2006	273	20.4	13.4	65.6
2007	300	17.0	17.6	69.5
2008	276	17.0	16.2	70.3
2009	264	19.9	13.3	80.3
2010	264	24.8	10.6	70.7
2011	291	22.8	12.7	66
2012	293	21.8	13.3	62.5
2013	300	23.8	12.5	63.3
2014	289	24.1	11.9	66.4
2015	312	24.0	13.0	68.3
2016	319	25.0	12.7	61.1
2017	301	24.0	12.5	65.4
2018	328	25.0	13.1	67.7
2019	293	25.0	11.7	75.1
2020	315	27.0	11.6	74.6
2021	257	n/a	n/a	n/a
2022	260	25.0	10.4	65.4
2023	251	20.1	12.4	70.5

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 Thomas Paine Elementary School

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Year	# Students	Full-time Teachers	Student/Teacher ratio	% Free/Discounted Lunch
1988	552	27.5	20.0	n/a
1989	564	28.5	19.7	n/a
1990	559	25.6	21.8	n/a
1991	554	33.0	16.7	n/a
1992	461	26.4	17.4	n/a
1993	442	33.0	13.4	n/a
1994	436	34.1	12.8	n/a
1995	385	33.9	11.4	n/a
1996	385	33.9	11.4	n/a
1997	392	33.8	11.6	n/a
1998	356	33.2	10.7	n/a
1999	398	35.8	11.1	n/a
2000	357	35.2	10.1	n/a
2001	340	25.5	13.3	n/a
2002	300	21.9	13.7	42
2003	300	21.9	13.7	42
2004	302	18.4	16.4	55.3
2005	275	19.4	14.2	66
2006	273	20.4	13.4	65.6
2007	300	17.0	17.6	69.5
2008	276	17.0	16.2	70.3
2009	264	19.9	13.3	80.3
2010	264	24.8	10.6	70.7
2011	291	22.8	12.7	66
2012	293	21.8	13.3	62.5
2013	300	23.8	12.5	63.3
2014	289	24.1	11.9	66.4
2015	312	24.0	13.0	68.3
2016	319	25.0	12.7	61.1
2017	301	24.0	12.5	65.4
2018	328	25.0	13.1	67.7
2019	293	25.0	11.7	75.1
2020	315	27.0	11.6	74.6
2021	257	n/a	n/a	n/a
2022	260	25.0	10.4	65.4
2023	251	20.1	12.4	70.5

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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