Washington Elem School

As a moderately sized elementary school in Sterling, Illinois, Washington Elem School educates 394 students from grades 3 through 5, operated by Sterling CUSD 5.

Sterling CUSD 5 comprises 6 schools with combined enrollment of 3,253 students; Washington Elem School is among them.

On the student-mix side, Washington Elem School logs that the largest single group is White, at 57% of enrollment; the rest comes out to 34% Hispanic, 6% multiracial. That is visibly less White than the county at large, where the share is closer to 85%.

Looking at school resources, The school currently runs with 32 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 12.3:1. The state averages around 13.9:1, so this campus is tighter than the state norm typical. About 61% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal.

With demographic context factored in, Washington Elem School performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 36.3%, the actual is 41.5%, a residual of +5.1 points.

In the area at large, community-level numbers for Whiteside County indicate the typical household earns roughly $67,500 per year, about 21% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 8%. Across Whiteside County's 50 public schools (combined enrollment of about 8,445 students), Washington Elem School is one campus in the mix.

Sterling High School is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.8 miles from this campus. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools. Among the 7 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Washington Elem School ranks 2nd on composite proficiency, above the local average of 37.3%.

The school occupies a small-town site.

Five-year trend. Washington Elem School's enrollment has showed little movement since 2018, when it stood at 403 (now 394). The Hispanic share of enrollment declined from 43% to 34% over that span. Class-load math has tightened: from 20.1:1 in 2018 to 12.3:1 in 2025.

On allk12, the feed for Washington Elem School typically covers science fair prep, picture-day reminders, and bus-route questions. Contributors range from current parents to recent graduates and teachers.