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What's the most underrated thing about Thomas Elementary School that outsiders don't know?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
400
Elementary
DISTRICT 397 · STATE 381
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·CARBONDALE ESD 95·NCES 170834000448
Thomas Elementary School
1025 N Wall St, Carbondale, IL 62901 · (618) 457-6226 · Jackson County
GRADES 02–03ELEMENTARY41-RURALTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL400 STUDENTS
D
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 8% of Illinois public elementary schools
- DTest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- DBeats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- ·Three-year trend Not available for this school, so the grade uses the other parts.
Grades compare a school only with schools in the same state, because every state gives its own test. How grades work · Top-graded Illinois public elementary schools
Student : Teacher
13.8:1
29 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 13.9:1 · STATE 13.9:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
75%
300 students
DISTRICT 75% · STATE 56%
Community
4
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other elementary schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Grade 2 | 188 | 47% |
| Grade 3 | 212 | 53% |
Student demographics
65%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 66% · 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
Students here typically continue to
Feeds from
Based on grade levels within Carbondale ESD 95. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
IAR + ISA 2024-25 . % Proficient (Levels 4-5)English Language Arts
25.0%
IL avg 51.0% . +12.4pp since 2023
Math
18.2%
IL avg 37.9% . +5.7pp since 2023
What this means: On the IAR + ISA, Illinois's statewide test, about 25 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 18 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 12 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 6 points.
IAR + ISA results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 25.0% | 18.2% |
| 2023-24 | 12.6% | 12.5% |
% 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
AS EXPECTED
Performing as predicted given the school's student profile
Actual proficiency
18.6%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
28.2%
based on IL schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-9.6pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 19% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 28% typical for Illinois schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations measures results against demographically similar schools rather than by raw scores, and this school falls within the typical range, neither among Illinois's top nor bottom 10%.
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 Thomas Elementary School
Thomas Elementary School's state test result (18.6% proficient) is higher than 0 of the 3 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thomas Elementary School this school | 400 | 75.0% | 18.6% |
| Union Elementary School Belleville | 432 | 78.0% | 36.5% |
| Parrish Elementary School Carbondale | 466 | 79.4% | N/A |
| Lewis School Carbondale | 325 | 72.3% | 23.9% |
| Pershing Early Learning Center Decatur | 416 | 81.5% | N/A |
| Whittier Primary School Peoria | 366 | 79.5% | 24.1% |
Matched among Illinois elementary 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 Thomas Elementary School ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Illinois | In Jackson County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 18.6% | #1,648 of 1,925 | #7 of 7 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 18.2% | #1,654 of 2,077 ▼ 144 | #5 of 7 ▲ 1 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 25.0% | #1,806 of 2,077 ▲ 41 | #7 of 7 no change |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 400 | #996 of 2,419 | #5 of 12 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 13.8:1 | #1,156 of 2,035 | #5 of 8 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 65.0% | #356 of 2,042 | #2 of 8 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 75.0% | #627 of 2,132 | #5 of 10 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +22.0% | #101 of 615 | N/A |
Ranked against other public elementary 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
400
+55 (+16%) vs 2020
+41% since 1990-91, when it was 283
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 | 400 | 29.1 | 13.8:1 | 75% (300) |
| 2023-24 | 366 | 27 | 13.6:1 | 72% (262) |
| 2022-23 | 305 | 26.7 | 11.4:1 | 52% (159) |
| 2020-21 | 345 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 2017-18 | 328 | 21.5 | 15.3:1 | 40% (132) |
| 2015-16 | 323 | 24 | 13.5:1 | 58% (187) |
| 2010-11 | 285 | 18 | 15.8:1 | 76% (218) |
| 2000-01 | 285 | 21 | 13.6:1 | N/A |
| 1990-91 | 283 | 19 | 14.9:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Thomas Elementary School.
Since 2017-18: students up 22% (328 to 400); teachers up 35% (21.5 to 29.1).
About Thomas Elementary School
Thomas Elementary School is an elementary school located in Carbondale, Illinois, in Jackson County. The school runs grades 2 through 3 and enrolls 400 students.
Thomas Elementary School sits within Carbondale ESD 95, which has 4 schools and 1,648 students.
The student body at Thomas Elementary School is 51% Black. The rest of enrollment is 25% White, 12% Hispanic, and 10% multiracial. Among all residents of Jackson County, the Black share is about 14%. A diversity index of 65% means there is a 65% chance two randomly chosen students at Thomas Elementary School are from different groups.
Thomas Elementary School has 29.1 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of about 13.8:1. The 13.9:1 average for elementary schools in Illinois is close to this figure. A common income measure, free or reduced-price lunch eligibility, is 75% at Thomas Elementary School. The average for public schools in Jackson County is similar, at 73%.
Thomas Elementary School holds a D allk12 Grade, placing it above 8% of Illinois public elementary schools.
A school with Thomas Elementary School's lunch-eligibility share in Illinois is predicted to score 28.2%. Thomas Elementary School scores 18.6%, 9.6 points below that line.
Jackson County is the school's county. There, the median household earns about $48,763 a year, a bachelor's degree or higher is held by about 36% of adults, and the share of residents below the poverty line is 11%. Public schools in Jackson County number 32, with about 6,811 students.
Carbondale Comm High School, about 1.3 miles away, is the closest public school. A five-mile radius around the school includes 6 other public schools. By average proficiency, Thomas Elementary School is 7th among 7 schools close by.
On the NCES locale scale, the school is Rural: Fringe.
Between 2020-21 and 2024-25, Thomas Elementary School had a net gain of 55 students, or 16%.
Use the discussion section to ask about open houses, carpools, and field trips at Thomas Elementary School. Current and former families are welcome to add their experience.
Jackson County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
53,064
Census ACS
Median income
$48,763
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
36%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
11%
Below federal line
Schools in county
32
6,811 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Carbondale ESD 95
- Parrish Elementary SchoolElementary · 466 students
- Carbondale Middle SchoolMiddle · 457 students
- Lewis SchoolElementary · 325 students
Other schools in Carbondale
- Carbondale Comm High SchoolHigh · 1,023 students
- Unity Point Elementary SchoolElementary · 620 students
- Parrish Elementary SchoolElementary · 466 students
- Carbondale Middle SchoolMiddle · 457 students
- Lewis SchoolElementary · 325 students
- Giant City Elementary SchoolElementary · 218 students
Other Thomas Elementary schools
6 other US public schools in 6 states are named Thomas Elementary. Thomas Elementary School is the 4th largest of the 7.
- Thomas ElementaryFresno, CA · 859 students
- Thomas Elementary SchoolFranklinton, LA · 721 students
- Thomas Elementary SchoolPLANO, TX · 687 students
- Thomas Elementary SchoolABILENE, TX · 378 students
- Thomas Elementary SchoolThomas, OK · 260 students
Nearby schools
- Carbondale Comm High School1.3 mi · 1,023
- Lewis School1.4 mi · 325
- Carbondale Middle School1.4 mi · 457
- Parrish Elementary School2.4 mi · 466
- Unity Point Elementary School4.7 mi · 620
- Giant City Elementary School4.9 mi · 218
Frequently asked questions
About Thomas Elementary SchoolHow many students attend Thomas Elementary School?
Thomas Elementary School enrolls approximately 400 students in grades 02-03.
What age range does Thomas Elementary School serve?
Thomas Elementary School serves students from grade 02 through grade 03.
How many teachers does Thomas Elementary School have?
Thomas Elementary School employs 29 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 13.8:1.
How diverse is Thomas Elementary School?
Thomas Elementary School reports a student body of 25% White, 12% Hispanic, 51% Black, 2% Asian, 10% Two or more.
Is Thomas Elementary School public or private?
Thomas Elementary School is a public K-12 school, overseen by Carbondale ESD 95.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.