Pepper Ridge Elementary School

Pepper Ridge Elementary School is a compact K-5 school in Bloomington, Illinois, overseen by McLean County USD 5. The school hosts 287 students in grades K through 5. Enrollment runs roughly 25% smaller than the state mean of about 381.

McLean County USD 5 runs 24 schools in total, collectively educating 12,407 students. Pepper Ridge Elementary School is one of those campuses.

Looking at the student body, Pepper Ridge Elementary School records that 62% of the student body identifies as White. Other groups include 16% Hispanic, 13% Black, 9% multiracial. That is considerably less White than the county at large, where the share is closer to 78%.

In terms of school funding signals, Staff filings list 26 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 11.3:1 students per teacher. The state averages around 13.9:1, so this campus is tighter than the state norm typical. Around 53% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment. Set against McLean County (around 40%), the school's rate is somewhat above typical.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, Pepper Ridge Elementary School performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 41.1%, the actual is 44.2%, a residual of +3.1 points.

Zooming out to the county, census data for McLean County shows median household earnings sit near $79,905, 47% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and roughly 7% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Pepper Ridge Elementary School is one of 60 public schools in McLean County (combined enrollment of about 23,759 students).

Fox Creek Elementary School is the nearest neighboring public school, about 1.4 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around Pepper Ridge Elementary School. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Pepper Ridge Elementary School at 1st of 6; the average score across the group is 22.6%.

The campus sits in an urban setting.

Trend over the last 7 years. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Pepper Ridge Elementary School has shrank 19%, going from 354 students in 2018 to 287 in 2025. Over the same period, the Hispanic share grew from 5% to 16%. The student-to-teacher ratio fell from 12.3:1 in 2018 to 11.3:1 today.

On allk12, members of the Pepper Ridge Elementary School community share and discuss open house dates, ride-share offers, and field-trip permission slips. Contributors range from current parents to recent graduates and teachers.