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If you had an hour of school board time for Ball Elementary School, what would you bring up?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
552
Elementary
DISTRICT 542 · STATE 381
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·BALL CHATHAM CUSD 5·NCES 170492000182
Ball Elementary School
1015 New City Rd, Chatham, IL 62629 · (217) 483-2414 · Sangamon County
GRADES PK–04ELEMENTARY41-RURALREGULAR SCHOOL552 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
18.3:1
30 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 16.9:1 · STATE 13.9:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
23%
126 students
DISTRICT 25% · STATE 56%
Community
5
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other elementary schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-K | 132 | 24% |
| Kindergarten | 59 | 11% |
| Grade 1 | 96 | 17% |
| Grade 2 | 85 | 15% |
| Grade 3 | 77 | 14% |
| Grade 4 | 103 | 19% |
This year's kindergarten class (59) is 43% smaller than its 4th grade class (103).
Student demographics
35%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 42% · STATE 69% · US 70%
Student head counts by race/ethnicity from federal NCES enrollment data. District, state, and US figures are each group's share of all public school students in that area (US excludes territories). Very small groups may be suppressed in the source, so categories do not always sum exactly to total enrollment.
Gender split
School pathway
Students here typically continue to
Based on grade levels within Ball Chatham CUSD 5. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
IAR + ISA 2024-25 . % Proficient (Levels 4-5)English Language Arts
73.2%
IL avg 51.0% . +23.9pp since 2023
Math
67.9%
IL avg 37.9% . +19.1pp since 2023
What this means: On the IAR + ISA, Illinois's statewide test, about 73 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 68 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Illinois schools, those numbers are about 51 and 38. Reading and writing scores are up about 24 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 19 points.
IAR + ISA results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 73.2% | 67.9% |
| 2023-24 | 49.3% | 48.8% |
% Proficient (Levels 4-5), all students and all tested grades.
Source: IAR + ISA. All students, all grades. See all years and grades →
BeatsExpectations
Demographically-adjusted score · methodologyTier
AS EXPECTED
Performing as predicted given the school's student profile
Actual proficiency
65.6%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
58.3%
based on IL schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+7.3pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 66% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 58% typical for Illinois schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations measures results against demographically similar schools rather than by raw scores, and this school falls within the typical range, neither among Illinois's top nor bottom 10%.
BeatsExpectations runs a per-state regression of proficiency on free/reduced-lunch share, then scores each school by residual. How this is calculated →
Schools most like Ball Elementary School
Ball Elementary School's state test result (65.6% proficient) is higher than 5 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ball Elementary School this school | 552 | 22.8% | 65.6% |
| Prairie Grove Elementary School Crystal Lake | 552 | 21.9% | 58.3% |
| Husmann Elementary School Crystal Lake | 518 | 24.7% | 44.3% |
| Heyworth Elementary School Heyworth | 472 | 24.2% | 56.5% |
| Central School Lemont | 591 | 19.0% | 59.4% |
| Albert Cassens Elementary Glen Carbon | 477 | 19.5% | 51.9% |
Matched among Illinois elementary schools on enrollment, the share of students from low-income families (eligible for free or reduced-price lunch), and racial and ethnic makeup. Proficient is the average share of students meeting the state standard across all of the school's state tests in 2023-24 and 2024-25, the same combined score our test-score rankings use. Online schools and schools serving specialized populations are not matched.
Where Ball Elementary School ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Illinois | In Sangamon County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 65.6% | #193 of 1,925 | #3 of 34 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 67.9% | #251 of 2,077 ▲ 78 | #4 of 34 no change |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 73.2% | #272 of 2,077 ▲ 232 | #2 of 34 ▲ 3 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 552 | #370 of 2,419 | #2 of 37 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 18.3:1 | #1,936 of 2,035 | #32 of 33 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 35.3% | #1,271 of 2,042 | #22 of 33 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 22.8% | #1,909 of 2,132 | #32 of 37 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -15.5% | #637 of 1,461 | #8 of 23 |
Ranked against other public elementary schools. Online schools are left out of every list, and test-score lists leave out schools that serve specialized populations. Each rank links to the full list. Arrows under a test-score rank show places moved since the prior test year, among schools tested both years.
4-year change
SY 2020-21 vs SY 2024-25Enrollment
552
-54 (-9%) vs 2020
+22% since 1990-91, when it was 452
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
Enrollment and staffing by year
| School year | Students | Teachers (FTE) | Students per teacher | Free and reduced lunch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 552 | 30.3 | 18.3:1 | 23% (126) |
| 2023-24 | 609 | 34.5 | 17.6:1 | 24% (148) |
| 2022-23 | 607 | 36 | 16.9:1 | 27% (165) |
| 2020-21 | 606 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 2017-18 | 653 | 32.5 | 20.1:1 | 21% (137) |
| 2015-16 | 643 | 32 | 20.1:1 | 22% (142) |
| 2010-11 | 704 | 40 | 17.6:1 | 14% (98) |
| 2000-01 | 1,057 | 48 | 22.0:1 | N/A |
| 1990-91 | 452 | 21 | 21.5:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Ball Elementary School.
Since 2017-18: students down 15% (653 to 552); teachers down 7% (32.5 to 30.3).
About Ball Elementary School
Ball Elementary School is a mid-sized elementary school in Chatham, Illinois, under Ball Chatham CUSD 5. It had 552 students in 2024-25, spanning pre-K through 4. Elementary schools in Illinois average about 381 students, which makes this school 45% bigger than average.
Ball Chatham CUSD 5 has 4,516 students in 6 schools, and Ball Elementary School is one of those schools.
White students are 80% of those enrolled at Ball Elementary School. Other reported shares: 7% multiracial, 6% Hispanic, and 6% Black. That is in line with Sangamon County, where about 78% of residents are White. A diversity index of 35% means there is a 35% chance two randomly chosen students at Ball Elementary School are from different groups.
For every teacher at Ball Elementary School, there are about 18.3 students; the school has 30.3 full-time-equivalent teachers. The average for elementary schools in Illinois is 13.9:1, so this school has more students per teacher. There are 126 students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, 23% of enrollment. Across public schools in Sangamon County, the average is 48%.
The allk12 BeatsExpectations score for Ball Elementary School is +7.3 points: 65.6% actual, 58.3% predicted.
In the wider Sangamon County area, the median household earns about $75,357 a year, about 37% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and roughly 9% of residents are in poverty. Across Sangamon County, 77 public schools serve about 27,345 students.
The closest school to Ball Elementary School is Glenwood Intermediate School, located about 1.4 miles away. In all, 6 other public schools sit within five miles of Ball Elementary School. Its average proficiency rate of 65.6% is above the 42.7% average for nearby schools.
Ball Elementary School is coded as Rural: Fringe in federal locale data.
Enrollment in 2024-25 stood at 552, compared with 606 in 2020-21.
The discussion board for Ball Elementary School is open to topics like pickup and drop-off, after-school programs, and teacher feedback. Teachers and staff are welcome to share updates too.
Sangamon County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
194,947
Census ACS
Median income
$75,357
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
37%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
9%
Below federal line
Schools in county
77
27,345 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Ball Chatham CUSD 5
- Glenwood High SchoolHigh · 1,484 students
- Glenwood Middle SchoolMiddle · 735 students
- Glenwood Intermediate SchoolMiddle · 672 students
- Glenwood Elementary SchoolElementary · 573 students
- Chatham Elementary SchoolElementary · 500 students
Other schools in Chatham
- Glenwood High SchoolHigh · 1,484 students
- Glenwood Middle SchoolMiddle · 735 students
- Glenwood Intermediate SchoolMiddle · 672 students
- Glenwood Elementary SchoolElementary · 573 students
- Chatham Elementary SchoolElementary · 500 students
Other Ball Elementary schools
One other US public school is named Ball Elementary. Ball Elementary School is the largest of the 2.
- Ball Elementary SchoolBall, LA · 387 students
Nearby schools
- Glenwood Intermediate School1.4 mi · 672
- Glenwood Middle School1.7 mi · 735
- Glenwood High School3.4 mi · 1,484
- Glenwood Elementary School3.6 mi · 573
- Chatham Elementary School4.3 mi · 500
- Edwin A Lee Elementary School4.7 mi · 204
Frequently asked questions
About Ball Elementary SchoolHow large is Ball Elementary School?
Ball Elementary School enrolls approximately 552 students in grades PK-04.
Is Ball Elementary School an elementary, middle, or high school?
Ball Elementary School is an elementary school covering grades PK-04.
How many teachers does Ball Elementary School have?
Ball Elementary School employs 30 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 18.3:1.
What is the student diversity at Ball Elementary School?
Student demographics at Ball Elementary School are roughly 80% White, 6% Hispanic, 6% Black, 2% Asian, 7% Two or more.
What district is Ball Elementary School in?
Ball Elementary School is part of Ball Chatham CUSD 5.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.