Ashmore Elem School

Ashmore Elem School, a micro-enrollment K-5 school in Ashmore, Illinois, one of the schools within Charleston CUSD 1, serves 74 students, covering grades K through 4. That puts it 81% below the typical public school in Illinois, which averages around 381 students.

Charleston CUSD 1 runs 6 schools in total, collectively educating 2,744 students. Ashmore Elem School is one of those campuses.

In terms of who attends, Ashmore Elem School logs that the student body is overwhelmingly White (84%). Other groups include 11% multiracial, 4% Hispanic.

Looking at school resources, Staff filings list 8 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 9.3:1 students per teacher. That figure is tighter than the state norm's 13.9:1 average. An estimated 53% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator.

After controlling for student poverty, Ashmore Elem School is in the bottom 10% of Illinois public schools. The BeatsExpectations model predicts schools with this FRL share to land around 41.1%; Ashmore Elem School posts 22.3%, -18.8 points below that line.

In the broader community, Coles County reports that median household income runs about $56,478, 27% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and the poverty rate sits near 12%. Ashmore Elem School is one of 23 public schools in Coles County (combined enrollment of about 5,973 students).

Kansas Elem School is the nearest neighboring public school, about 4.5 miles from this campus. 2 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. On composite proficiency, Ashmore Elem School comes 8th of 8 in the immediate cluster, below the nearby-schools average of 38.9%.

Geographically, the school is in an outlying area.

Five-year trend. Ashmore Elem School's enrollment has fell 35% since 2018, when it stood at 113 (now 74). The White share of enrollment decreased from 98% to 84% over that span. Class-load math has pulled in: from 14.1:1 in 2018 to 9.3:1 in 2025.

In the discussion threads here, the page collects discussion, questions, and updates around science fair prep, picture-day reminders, and bus-route questions. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.