Prairie Central Jr High School

Prairie Central Jr High School is a 6-8 campus of tight-knit scale in Forrest, Illinois, part of Prairie Central CUSD 8, educateing 250 students in grades 7 through 8. By comparison, Illinois's public schools average about 462 students each, so Prairie Central Jr High School sits 46% leaner than that benchmark.

Prairie Central Jr High School is one of 6 schools operated by Prairie Central CUSD 8, a district that hosts 1,712 students overall.

Demographically, Prairie Central Jr High School lists that the student body is overwhelmingly White (83%); the rest comes out to 10% Hispanic, 5% multiracial.

Looking at the economic backdrop, Prairie Central Jr High School shows 21 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 12.1:1. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 13.0:1, putting Prairie Central Jr High School tighter than the state norm the norm. Roughly 52% of students at Prairie Central Jr High School qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator.

On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), Prairie Central Jr High School tracks the demographic baseline. The model predicts 41.3% given the school's FRL share; actual proficiency is 44.3%.

Across the wider county, Livingston County reports that the typical household earns roughly $73,790 per year, 19% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and roughly 8% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Prairie Central Jr High School is one of 24 public schools in Livingston County (combined enrollment of about 5,273 students).

Nearest neighbor: Prairie Central Upper Elementary, around 0.4 miles off. Counting just inside five miles, 2 other public schools cluster around Prairie Central Jr High School. On composite proficiency, Prairie Central Jr High School comes 3rd of 8 in the immediate cluster, ahead of the nearby-schools average of 41.7%.

Prairie Central Jr High School operates from a rural location.

Over the past 7-year window. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Prairie Central Jr High School has shrank 5%, going from 263 students in 2018 to 250 in 2025. Over the same period, the Hispanic share grew from 2% to 10%.

On this page, posts here usually surface around fundraisers, lost-and-found posts, and report-card season. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.