Centennial Elem School

Centennial Elem School is one of the middle-of-the-pack elementary schools in Streator, Illinois, run under Streator ESD 44, with 482 students on its rolls from grades K through 4. That puts it 27% above the typical public school in Illinois, which averages around 381 students.

Within Streator ESD 44, which oversees 3 schools and 1,511 students, Centennial Elem School is one campus in the system.

On the student-mix side, Centennial Elem School records that 58% of the student body identifies as White. The remainder consists of 24% Hispanic, 10% multiracial, 7% Black. That is considerably less White than the county at large, where the share is closer to 86%.

On the income-and-resources front, Staff filings list 30 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 15.9:1 students per teacher. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 13.9:1, putting Centennial Elem School higher than the state norm the norm. Roughly 79% of students at Centennial Elem School qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. That share is north of LaSalle County's rate of about 53%.

With demographic context factored in, Centennial Elem School tracks the demographic baseline. The model predicts 25.8% given the school's FRL share; actual proficiency is 29.3%.

Across the wider county, community-level numbers for LaSalle County indicate median household income runs about $73,045, roughly 21% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 11%. In all, LaSalle County runs 54 public schools (combined enrollment of about 14,523 students), of which Centennial Elem School is one.

Northlawn Jr High School is the nearest neighboring public school, about 1.1 miles from this campus. 3 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. On composite proficiency, Centennial Elem School comes 6th of 8 in the immediate cluster, below the nearby-schools average of 40.5%.

Geographically, the school is in a town-based area.

Five-year trend. Over the past 7-year window, the student count remained close to its prior level: 479 students in 2018 compared to 482 in 2025. Over the same period, the White share ticked down from 65% to 58%. Class-load math has pulled in: from 17.1:1 in 2018 to 15.9:1 in 2025.

On the community side, recent activity here tends to focus on enrollment questions, classroom assignments, and PTA news. The community welcomes input from current and former families.