Pope Co High School

Set in Golconda, Illinois, Pope Co High School is an one-room-style 9-12 campus, overseen by Pope Co CUD 1. It enrolls 142 students across grades 9 through 12. That puts it 83% leaner than the typical public school in Illinois, which averages around 834 students.

Within Pope Co CUD 1, which oversees 2 schools and 442 students, Pope Co High School is one campus in the system.

Demographically, Pope Co High School shows that 95% of students identify as White, making the school strongly White-majority.

On the income-and-resources front, Pope Co High School reports 13 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 11.3:1. That figure is tighter than the state norm's 13.8:1 average. About 58% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment.

On a demographically-adjusted basis, Pope Co High School falls in the UNDERPERFORMING tier of the BeatsExpectations residual. Given its student profile, a typical campus would land near 37.8%; this one comes in at 22.3%, -15.5 points off the demographic line.

In the area at large, the surrounding county (Pope County) records that the typical household earns roughly $60,050 per year, roughly 16% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 9%. Across Pope County's 2 public schools (combined enrollment of about 442 students), Pope Co High School is one campus in the mix.

Pope County Elementary School is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.1 miles from this campus. Among the 9 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Pope Co High School ranks 9th on composite proficiency, behind the local average of 42.8%.

The school occupies a low-density site.

Five-year trend. Over the past 7-year window, the student count stayed largely flat: 139 students in 2018 compared to 142 in 2025. Class-load math has loosened: from 9.4:1 in 2018 to 11.3:1 in 2025.

On the community side, members of the Pope Co High School community share and discuss sports schedules, lunch menu changes, and school spirit week. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.