Reed-Custer High School

Set in Braidwood, Illinois, Reed-Custer High School is a cozy high school, part of Reed Custer CUSD 255U. It serves 397 students across grades 9 through 12. That puts it 52% leaner than the typical public school in Illinois, which averages around 834 students.

Reed Custer CUSD 255U comprises 3 schools with combined enrollment of 1,393 students; Reed-Custer High School is among them.

On demographics, Reed-Custer High School logs that the student body is overwhelmingly White (83%). Other groups include 13% Hispanic, 4% multiracial. That is visibly more White than the county at large, where the share is closer to 62%.

On the income-and-resources front, On paper, Reed-Custer High School has 34 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 11.6:1. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 13.8:1, putting Reed-Custer High School tighter than the state norm the norm. Around 42% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment.

On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), Reed-Custer High School is in the bottom 10% of Illinois public schools. The BeatsExpectations model predicts schools with this FRL share to land around 47.4%; Reed-Custer High School posts 33.1%, -14.3 points below that line.

In the surrounding community, census data for Will County shows the typical household earns roughly $109,984 per year, roughly 38% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 6%. In all, Will County runs 209 public schools (combined enrollment of about 113,008 students), of which Reed-Custer High School is one.

The closest other public school is Reed-Custer Middle School, roughly 0.1 miles away. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around Reed-Custer High School. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Reed-Custer High School at 7th of 8; the average score across the group is 50.0%.

The campus sits in a town-based setting.

Five-year trend. Over the past 7-year window, the student count ticked down 17%: 477 students in 2018 compared to 397 in 2025. Hispanic enrollment moved from 7% to 13% across the same window. Class-load math has narrowed: from 12.7:1 in 2018 to 11.6:1 in 2025.

Within the allk12 community for this school, the page collects discussion, questions, and updates around school events, parent volunteer needs, and clubs. The community welcomes input from current and former families.