Enrollment
258
Elementary
DISTRICT 227 · STATE 381
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·ROCK FALLS ESD 13·NCES 173435003522
Merrill Elementary School
600 4th Ave, Rock Falls, IL 61071 · (815) 625-4634 · Whiteside County
GRADES 03–05ELEMENTARY32-TOWNTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL258 STUDENTS
B-
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 52% of Illinois public elementary schools
- C+Test scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- B+Beats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- ·Three-year trend Not available for this school, so the grade uses the other parts.
Grades compare a school only with schools in the same state, because every state gives its own test. How grades work · Top-graded Illinois public elementary schools
Student : Teacher
13.2:1
20 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 17.7:1 · STATE 13.9:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
78%
201 students
DISTRICT 77% · STATE 56%
Community
0
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 91 | 35% |
| Grade 4 | 73 | 28% |
| Grade 5 | 94 | 36% |
Student demographics
48%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 53% · 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
Merrill Elementary School→Rock Falls Middle School
Feeds from
Based on grade levels within Rock Falls ESD 13. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
IAR + ISA 2024-25 . % Proficient (Levels 4-5)English Language Arts
43.4%
IL avg 51.0% . +13.9pp since 2023
Math
31.1%
IL avg 37.9% . +7.5pp since 2023
What this means: On the IAR + ISA, Illinois's statewide test, about 43 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 31 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 14 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 8 points.
IAR + ISA results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 43.4% | 31.1% |
| 2023-24 | 29.5% | 23.6% |
% 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
34.8%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
26.5%
based on IL schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+8.3pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 35% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 27% 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 Merrill Elementary School
Merrill Elementary School's state test result (34.8% proficient) is higher than 2 of the 3 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Merrill Elementary School this school | 258 | 77.9% | 34.8% |
| Dillon Elementary School Rock Falls | 278 | 78.4% | N/A |
| Irving Elementary School Kewanee | 242 | 77.7% | 33.3% |
| Belle Alexander Elementary School Kewanee | 241 | 73.0% | N/A |
| Lincoln Elementary School Sterling | 277 | 70.4% | 40.8% |
| Maple Elementary School Loves Park | 313 | 74.8% | 31.9% |
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 Merrill Elementary School ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Illinois | In Whiteside County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 34.8% | #1,097 of 1,925 | #10 of 10 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 31.1% | #1,240 of 2,077 ▼ 200 | #10 of 10 ▼ 1 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 43.4% | #1,232 of 2,077 ▼ 29 | #9 of 10 ▼ 1 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 258 | #1,790 of 2,419 | #8 of 14 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 13.2:1 | #949 of 2,035 | #7 of 13 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 48.3% | #956 of 2,042 | #6 of 13 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 77.9% | #559 of 2,132 | #2 of 14 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -17.0% | #574 of 1,461 | #5 of 9 |
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
258
+8 (+3%) vs 2020
-4% since 1990-91, when it was 268
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 | 258 | 19.6 | 13.2:1 | 78% (201) |
| 2023-24 | 239 | 20.3 | 11.8:1 | 77% (184) |
| 2022-23 | 246 | 20.6 | 12.0:1 | 77% (189) |
| 2020-21 | 250 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 2017-18 | 311 | 20.4 | 15.3:1 | 71% (222) |
| 2015-16 | 318 | 21 | 15.1:1 | 79% (252) |
| 2010-11 | 362 | 19 | 19.1:1 | 58% (210) |
| 2000-01 | 271 | 18 | 15.1:1 | N/A |
| 1990-91 | 268 | 14 | 19.1:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Merrill Elementary School.
Since 2017-18: students down 17% (311 to 258); teachers down 4% (20.4 to 19.6).
About Merrill Elementary School
Merrill Elementary School runs as a small elementary school in Rock Falls, Illinois. The school counted 258 students in 2024-25, covering grades 3 through 5. That is 32% below the average of about 381 students for elementary schools in Illinois.
Merrill Elementary School is in Rock Falls ESD 13, a district with 927 students across 4 schools.
The share of White students at Merrill Elementary School is 65%, a majority. The school is also 30% Hispanic and 3% multiracial. That is lower than the 85% White share among all Whiteside County residents. Its diversity index, the chance that two randomly chosen students belong to different racial or ethnic groups, is 48%.
The school had 19.6 full-time-equivalent teachers in 2024-25. Its student-to-teacher ratio is 13.2:1. The gap from the 13.9:1 average for elementary schools in Illinois is 0.8 students per teacher. The school reported 78% of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch in 2024-25. The gap from the 55% average for public schools in Whiteside County is 23 points.
Among Illinois public elementary schools, Merrill Elementary School outscored 52%, which works out to a B- on the allk12 Grade.
On BeatsExpectations, Merrill Elementary School is 8.3 points above its prediction, a result in the middle 80% of Illinois schools.
For Whiteside County, Census Bureau data show median household income comes to about $67,500, the share of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher is 21%, and about 8% of people live in poverty. There are 50 public schools in the county, enrolling about 8,445, Merrill Elementary School among them.
Of the public schools around it, Merrill Elementary School is closest to Rock Falls Township High School, about 0.7 miles away. There are at least 8 other public schools within five miles. Ranking the closest schools with test data puts Merrill Elementary School at 5th of 7.
For locale, NCES codes Merrill Elementary School as Town: Distant.
Since 2020-21, enrollment has grown 3%, from 250 to 258.
People can post here about special education services, counseling, and support programs and other school topics. Members of the school community can share what they know.
Whiteside County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
54,947
Census ACS
Median income
$67,500
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
21%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
8%
Below federal line
Schools in county
50
8,445 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Rock Falls ESD 13
- Dillon Elementary SchoolElementary · 278 students
- Rock Falls Middle SchoolMiddle · 246 students
- Riverdale PreSchool CenterElementary · 145 students
Other schools in Rock Falls
- Rock Falls Township High SchoolHigh · 530 students
- Dillon Elementary SchoolElementary · 278 students
- Rock Falls Middle SchoolMiddle · 246 students
- East Coloma - Nelson Elementary SchoolElementary · 214 students
- Montmorency CCSD #145Elementary · 209 students
- Riverdale PreSchool CenterElementary · 145 students
Other Merrill Elementary schools
5 other US public schools in 5 states are named Merrill Elementary. Merrill Elementary School is the 2nd largest of the 6.
- Merrill Elementary SchoolRaynham, MA · 310 students
- Merrill ElementaryOshkosh, WI · 256 students
- Merrill ElementaryBeloit, WI · 224 students
- Merrill Elementary SchoolMERRILL, MI · 196 students
- Merrill Elementary SchoolMerrill, OR · 184 students
Nearby schools
- Rock Falls Township High School0.7 mi · 530
- Rock Falls Middle School1.0 mi · 246
- Dillon Elementary School1.0 mi · 278
- East Coloma - Nelson Elementary School1.4 mi · 214
- Lincoln Elementary School1.6 mi · 277
- Jefferson Elementary School1.8 mi · 450
Frequently asked questions
About Merrill Elementary SchoolHow many students attend Merrill Elementary School?
Merrill Elementary School enrolls approximately 258 students in grades 03-05.
Is Merrill Elementary School an elementary, middle, or high school?
Merrill Elementary School is an elementary school covering grades 03-05.
How many students per teacher at Merrill Elementary School?
Approximately 13.2:1 students per teacher at Merrill Elementary School.
How diverse is Merrill Elementary School?
Merrill Elementary School reports a student body of 65% White, 30% Hispanic, 1% Black, 0% Asian, 3% Two or more.
Who oversees Merrill Elementary School?
Merrill Elementary School is overseen by Rock Falls ESD 13 in Whiteside County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.