Prairie Hill Elementary School - South Beloit, IL

'The Sun Always Shines Over Prairie Hill' is a common refrain heard from staff, parents, and students and is evident in the laughter and positivity that fill our building.

A commitment to collaboration sets Prairie Hill Elementary School apart. It is our best form of professional development and the root of our continued success. Daily common planning times at each grade level are filled with discussions about best practices, problem-solving for student needs, assessments of learning, and pivotal conversations that help us provide the best education possible to each unique student. This collaboration creates a strong cohesion that allows us to respond to educational research, fine-tune our instruction, and observe immediate results. Fruit of our collaborative model include a shift to standards-based instruction, a new math fluency initiative, and a robust curriculum adjustment to explicit phonics instruction. Collaboration is the consistent pulse that feeds our school’s success.

Our commitment to providing a quality educational experience did not waver during the challenges of COVID; it only became stronger. In one of our greatest accomplishments, Prairie Hill scored in the top 2% of all schools in the state in reading and math in 2021. We were the only school in the state that did not have a single student score a one in reading, the level of greatest concern.

Thanks to our strong community, commitment to collaboration, we have built a strong educational setting of which we are very proud. For a school built in 1959, it still shines bright inside and out.