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Pleasant Plains High School

Pleasant Plains · IL · Pleasant Plains CUSD 8 · Public

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📋 At a glance

Programs & features
  • 📚 6 AP courses offered — Strong
  • 🔢 4 calculus classes · 2 physics · 4 chemistry
Academic signals
  • 🎓 AP rigor: 64th percentile nationally
  • 📝 SAT/ACT participation: Bottom 48% by test-taker volume

Composed from federal CRDC offerings, EDFacts ACGR, and other public data. Full breakdowns below.

💡

How Pleasant Plains High School compares for families

Solid mid-tier academic profile.

  • StatewideAP rigor at the 64th percentile nationally with 6 AP courses.
  • LocallyIL sits right at the US average on NAEP 8th-grade math — local school quality will set your kid apart.
  • vs Similar SchoolsThe closest comparables nearby: A-C Central High School, Porta High School, New Berlin High School and 5 more. See the sidebar to compare side-by-side.
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🎓 Academic rigor

AP + advanced-course offerings

Strong — solid AP program + advanced courses

64th percentile nationally

50th 90th ↑ this school
Less rigorMore rigorMost rigor
AP courses offered
6
Math ✓ · Science ✓
Advanced math classes
4
4 calculus · 0 advanced
Lab science classes
6
2 physics · 4 chemistry
Other rigor signals
No dual-enrollment or gifted program reported

Source: federal Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC 2020-21). CRDC reports what's offered + enrolled — it doesn't collect AP exam pass rates (College Board owns that data and doesn't release it school-level).

SAT / ACT participation

CRDC federal data · 2020-21

Bottom 48% by test-taker volume

50th 90th
SAT/ACT test-takers
64
11th-12th graders who took 1+ college admissions test
Test-taking intensity
15.4
takers per 100 students in grades 9-12
Compared against
18,426
US high schools reporting SAT/ACT participation

Source: federal Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC 2020-21). Volume — not score — is what's reported here. A higher count means more students at this school are entering the college admissions pipeline. Note: 2020-21 was COVID-disrupted; some districts (especially those that stayed remote longer) report unusually low or zero takers.

👩‍🏫 Teacher workforce · federal CRDC

Teacher experience & reliability

% inexperienced teachers (1st-2nd yr)
6.5%
Strong: experienced corps. New teachers rotate through but most have ≥3 years in.
% chronic teacher absence (≥10 days/yr)
6.5%
Around the national average. Worth watching.

Source: federal Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC 2017-18 — the most recent vintage that publishes per-school teacher quality fields; the 2020-21 sweep had them suppressed). "Inexperienced" = teachers in their first or second year. "Chronic absence" = teachers absent 10+ days/year.

Chronic absenteeism

Share of students absent 15+ days
9.9%
Below 10% — strong attendance culture. Chronic absence is a leading indicator of dropout and disengagement; a low rate signals families staying connected to the school.
Students absent 15+ days
41
Federal definition: absent (excused or unexcused) for at least 15 of ~180 school days — about 10% of the school year.

Why this matters to enrollment: A low chronic-absence rate is the cleanest school-level signal of strong family connection, classroom culture, and student engagement — all upstream drivers of enrollment stability. For school leaders: an Enrollment Trend Audit traces this dynamic forward →

Source: U.S. Department of Education, Civil Rights Data Collection 2020–2021. Rate = students chronically absent ÷ 2024 total enrollment.

Counselor capacity

Student : Counselor
208:1
Below the ASCA 250:1 recommendation — strong capacity for college planning, course selection, and student supports.
Counselor FTE
2.0
Full-time-equivalent school counselors on staff.
Teacher FTE
36
Full-time-equivalent classroom teachers.

Source: U.S. Department of Education, Civil Rights Data Collection 2020-2021. Counselor ratio = the school's most recent total enrollment ÷ counselor FTE. The American School Counselor Association (ASCA) recommends a 250:1 maximum; the US national median across schools with on-staff counselors is roughly 430:1.

Enrollment trend & projection

Grade 12 went from 115 in 2021 to 111 in 2024 — over 3 years.
-3.5%

Total enrollment + grade 12, NCES Common Core of Data (2021–2024).

If the recent trend holds…

At its recent rate of -0.2%/year, projecting from 2024's 416 students:

2025
415
2027
414
2029
413

≈ 3 fewer students by 2029 — a real revenue/relevance risk worth getting ahead of.

An extrapolation of the recent trajectory, not a forecast of the school's plans; ignores one-off shocks.

Revenue at risk

At $19,904 per student in district revenue, the 3 students projected to be lost by 2029 represent ≈ $59,712/year in funding at risk.

District total revenue ÷ enrollment, NCES F-33. Public funding largely follows enrollment, so a shrinking class is a recurring budget hit.

Nearby high schools — the local competition

The closest high schools families here also consider, and where their enrollment is heading.

SchoolTypeMilesHS enrollmentTrend
A-C Central High School
Ashland
Public 5.1 96 -17.2%
Porta High School
Petersburg
Public 9.9 279 +4.1%
New Berlin High School
New Berlin
Public 10.3 256 -0.4%
Athens Sr High School
Athens
Public 12.2 299 -10.2%
Calvary Academy
Springfield
Private 13.4 280 +2.2%
Springfield Learning Academy
Springfield
Public 13.7
Sacred Heart Griffin High School
Springfield
Private 14.0 510 -20.9%
Douglas School
Springfield
Public 14.5

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