Brown County High School

Located at 500 E Main St, in Mount Sterling, Illinois, Brown County High School is a very small high school that instructs 224 students (grades 9 through 12), part of Brown County CUSD 1. Compared to the state average of about 834 students per school, that is 73% smaller than typical.

Within Brown County CUSD 1, which oversees 3 schools and 673 students, Brown County High School is one campus in the system.

Looking at the student body, Brown County High School shows that 92% of students identify as White, making the school strongly White-majority. Beyond that, the school reports 4% Hispanic, 2% multiracial. That is meaningfully more White than the county at large, where the share is closer to 75%.

Looking at school resources, Staff filings list 18 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 12.7:1 students per teacher. That figure is tighter than the state norm's 13.8:1 average. About 32% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment. Set against Brown County (around 41%), the school's rate is meaningfully below typical.

On a demographically-adjusted basis, Brown County High School performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 53.0%, the actual is 45.5%, a residual of -7.4 points.

In the surrounding community, the surrounding county (Brown County) records that the typical household earns roughly $67,917 per year, about 13% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 7%. In all, Brown County runs 3 public schools (combined enrollment of about 673 students), of which Brown County High School is one.

Brown County Middle School is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.0 miles from this campus. Within five miles, there are 2 other public schools. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Brown County High School at 2nd of 7; the average score across the group is 36.1%.

Geographically, the school is in a rural area.

Looking at the recent track record. Brown County High School's enrollment has ticked up 15% since 2018, when it stood at 195 (now 224). Over the same period, the White share shrank from 96% to 92%. The student-to-teacher ratio grew from 10.2:1 in 2018 to 12.7:1 today.

In the discussion threads here, recent activity here tends to focus on science fair prep, picture-day reminders, and bus-route questions. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.