Enrollment
216
High
DISTRICT 225 · STATE 834
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·PAYSON CUSD 1·NCES 173099003226
Seymour High School
420 W Brainard St, Payson, IL 62360 · (217) 656-3355 · Adams County
GRADES 07–12HIGH42-RURALTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL216 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
11.1:1
19 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 11.0:1 · STATE 13.8:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
49%
106 students
DISTRICT 50% · STATE 56%
Community
0
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other high schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Grade 7 | 32 | 15% |
| Grade 8 | 34 | 16% |
| Grade 9 | 37 | 17% |
| Grade 10 | 35 | 16% |
| Grade 11 | 37 | 17% |
| Grade 12 | 41 | 19% |
Student demographics
16%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 15% · 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
Feeds from
Based on grade levels within Payson CUSD 1. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
IAR + ISA 2024-25 . % Proficient (Levels 4-5)English Language Arts
33.3%
IL avg 51.0% . +12.8pp since 2023
Math
7.6%
IL avg 37.9% . -9.1pp since 2023
What this means: On the IAR + ISA, Illinois's statewide test, about 33 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 8 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 13 points since 2023, while math scores are down about 9 points.
IAR + ISA results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 33.3% | 7.6% |
| 2023-24 | 20.5% | 16.7% |
% 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
UNDERPERFORMING
Bottom 10% of IL schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
26.5%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
43.2%
based on IL schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-16.7pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 26% of students here test proficient in math and reading, below the roughly 43% typical for Illinois schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations compares each school with others at the same poverty level, not by raw scores, so a school lands here when its results trail those comparable schools, which is not the same as having low scores. A higher-scoring school can still fall in this tier if similar schools score higher still.
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 Seymour High School
Seymour High School's state test result (26.5% proficient) is higher than 0 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seymour High School this school | 216 | 49.1% | 26.5% |
| Midwest Central High School Manito | 235 | 47.7% | 37.8% |
| Warren Jr/Sr High School Warren | 191 | 49.7% | 51.1% |
| Villa Grove High School Villa Grove | 194 | 47.9% | 42.9% |
| Cambridge Jr/Sr High School Cambridge | 237 | 48.1% | 47.0% |
| Altamont High School Altamont | 222 | 51.4% | 44.1% |
Matched among Illinois high 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 Seymour High School ranks
Among high schools| Measure | This school | In Illinois |
|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 26.5% | #397 of 573 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 7.6% | #66 of 75 ▼ 21 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 33.3% | #59 of 75 ▲ 4 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 216 | #521 of 708 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 11.1:1 | #56 of 528 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 15.6% | #425 of 537 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 49.1% | #304 of 578 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -12.2% | #133 of 358 |
Ranked against other public high 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
216
-32 (-13%) vs 2020
-1% since 1990-91, when it was 219
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 | 216 | 19.4 | 11.1:1 | 49% (106) |
| 2023-24 | 229 | 17.4 | 13.2:1 | 48% (111) |
| 2022-23 | 223 | 17.5 | 12.7:1 | 49% (109) |
| 2020-21 | 248 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 2017-18 | 246 | 19 | 12.9:1 | 44% (108) |
| 2015-16 | 217 | 18 | 12.1:1 | 40% (86) |
| 2010-11 | 232 | 21 | 11.1:1 | 36% (84) |
| 2000-01 | 267 | 24 | 11.1:1 | N/A |
| 1990-91 | 219 | 15 | 14.6:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Seymour High School.
Since 2017-18: students down 12% (246 to 216); teachers up 2% (19 to 19.4).
About Seymour High School
Seymour High School is a high school in Payson, Illinois, reachable at (217) 656-3355. The school has 216 students in 2024-25 across grades 7 through 12. High schools in Illinois have about 834 students on average; enrollment here is 74% lower.
Seymour High School is one of 2 schools in Payson CUSD 1, which enrolls 449 students in total.
Roughly 92% of students at Seymour High School are White. Enrollment also includes 6% multiracial. Adams County residents are about 91% White, a similar share. On the diversity index, which measures the chance that two random students are from different groups, Seymour High School scores 16%.
Based on 19.4 full-time-equivalent teachers, Seymour High School has a ratio of 11.1:1. Compared with the 13.8:1 average for high schools in Illinois, this school's ratio is lower. Eligibility for free or reduced-price lunch stands at 49%.
On BeatsExpectations, which compares test results with what a school's student poverty level would predict, Seymour High School ranks in the bottom 10% in Illinois. Its average proficiency rate across its state test results is 26.5%, against a prediction of 43.2%.
The school is in Adams County, where median household income comes to about $66,220, 28% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and about 9% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Adams County counts 23 public schools with about 8,717 students.
Seymour Elementary School is the nearest public school to Seymour High School, about 0.2 miles away. Seymour High School is one of several public schools in the area, with at least 8 others within ten miles. Among 9 nearby schools that report test results, Seymour High School ranks 9th on proficiency.
The school's setting, by NCES definition, is Rural: Distant: in rural territory some distance from an urban area.
Between 2020-21 and 2024-25, Seymour High School had a net loss of 32 students, or 13%.
People can post here about open houses, carpools, and field trips and other school topics. Parents, students, alumni, and staff are welcome to post.
Adams County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
64,754
Census ACS
Median income
$66,220
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
28%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
9%
Below federal line
Schools in county
23
8,717 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other Seymour High schools
6 other US public schools in 7 states are named Seymour High. Seymour High School is the 5th largest of the 7.
- Seymour High SchoolSeymour, TN · 693 students
- Seymour High SchoolSeymour, CT · 604 students
- Seymour HighSeymour, WI · 590 students
- SEYMOUR HIGHSEYMOUR, MO · 226 students
- Seymour High SchoolSEYMOUR, TX · 157 students
Nearby schools
- Seymour Elementary School0.2 mi · 233
- Lincoln-Douglas Elementary School8.3 mi · 588
- Sarah Atwater Denman Elementary School8.4 mi · 501
- Liberty High School8.9 mi · 253
- Liberty Elementary School8.9 mi · 336
- A. D. STOWELL ELEM.9.5 mi · 221
Frequently asked questions
About Seymour High SchoolHow many students attend Seymour High School?
Seymour High School enrolls approximately 216 students in grades 07-12.
What age range does Seymour High School serve?
Seymour High School serves students from grade 07 through grade 12.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Seymour High School?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Seymour High School is approximately 11.1:1 (19 FTE teachers).
What is the racial breakdown of students at Seymour High School?
At Seymour High School, the student body is approximately 92% White, 1% Hispanic, 2% Black, 6% Two or more.
What district is Seymour High School in?
Seymour High School is part of Payson CUSD 1.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.