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What's the one class at Carl Sandburg Middle Sch every student should take?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
430
Middle
DISTRICT 473 · STATE 462
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·FREEPORT SD 145·NCES 171590001904
Carl Sandburg Middle School
1717 W Eby St, Freeport, IL 61032 · (815) 232-0340 · Stephenson County
GRADES 05–06MIDDLE32-TOWNTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL430 STUDENTS
F
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 3% of Illinois public middle 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 middle schools
Student : Teacher
11.5:1
38 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 12.8:1 · STATE 13.0:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
68%
293 students
DISTRICT 61% · STATE 56%
Community
4
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other middle schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Grade 5 | 203 | 47% |
| Grade 6 | 223 | 52% |
| Grade 7 | 3 | 1% |
| Grade 8 | 1 | 0% |
Student demographics
73%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 71% · 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 Freeport SD 145. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
IAR + ISA 2024-25 . % Proficient (Levels 4-5)English Language Arts
25.4%
IL avg 51.0% . +8.1pp since 2023
Math
13.9%
IL avg 37.9% . +4.9pp 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 14 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 8 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 5 points.
IAR + ISA results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 25.4% | 13.9% |
| 2023-24 | 17.3% | 9.0% |
% 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
18.3%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
32.2%
based on IL schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-13.9pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 18% of students here test proficient in math and reading, below the roughly 32% 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 Carl Sandburg Middle School
Carl Sandburg Middle School's state test result (18.3% proficient) is higher than 0 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Carl Sandburg Middle School this school | 430 | 68.1% | 18.3% |
| Washington Jr High School Rock Island | 529 | 64.5% | 28.7% |
| Bradley Central Middle School Bradley | 364 | 65.9% | 31.9% |
| Geo T Wilkins Jr High School Justice | 508 | 67.1% | 43.7% |
| Freeport Middle School Freeport | 515 | 58.8% | 23.6% |
| Momence Jr High School Momence | 327 | 71.3% | 31.9% |
Matched among Illinois middle 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 Carl Sandburg Middle School ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Illinois |
|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 18.3% | #535 of 578 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 13.9% | #549 of 640 ▲ 5 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 25.4% | #602 of 640 ▼ 5 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 430 | #342 of 691 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 11.5:1 | #127 of 558 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 73.3% | #10 of 560 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 68.1% | #116 of 581 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -10.2% | #243 of 440 |
Ranked against other public middle 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
430
-70 (-14%) vs 2020
-42% since 1990-91, when it was 746
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 | 430 | 37.5 | 11.5:1 | 68% (293) |
| 2023-24 | 437 | 34 | 12.8:1 | 73% (319) |
| 2022-23 | 397 | 32 | 12.4:1 | 65% (260) |
| 2020-21 | 500 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 2017-18 | 479 | 36.2 | 13.2:1 | 58% (280) |
| 2015-16 | 486 | 36 | 13.5:1 | 59% (286) |
| 2010-11 | 397 | 34 | 11.7:1 | 53% (211) |
| 2000-01 | 722 | 44 | 16.4:1 | N/A |
| 1990-91 | 746 | 40 | 18.6:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Carl Sandburg Middle School.
Since 2017-18: students down 10% (479 to 430); teachers up 4% (36.2 to 37.5).
About Carl Sandburg Middle School
A medium-sized middle school in Freeport, Illinois, Carl Sandburg Middle School is part of Freeport SD 145. The school's enrollment of 430 students covers grades 5 through 6.
Freeport SD 145 counts 3,703 students in its 8 schools, and Carl Sandburg Middle School is one of them.
No single group makes up more than half of enrollment at Carl Sandburg Middle School. The largest is White students, at 36%. The next largest groups are 28% Black, 19% Hispanic, and 16% multiracial. In Stephenson County overall, about 80% of residents are White. Pick two students at random and there is a 73% chance they belong to different racial or ethnic groups; that figure is the school's diversity index.
Dividing enrollment by its 37.5 full-time-equivalent teachers gives a ratio of about 11.5:1. That is 1.5 students per teacher below the 13.0:1 average for middle schools in Illinois. Carl Sandburg Middle School reports 68% of students eligible for free or reduced-price meals. That rate is above the 50% average among public schools in Stephenson County.
allk12 grades Carl Sandburg Middle School an F. The grade compares the school only with Illinois public middle schools, because each state gives its own test.
Carl Sandburg Middle School is 13.9 points below expectations on state tests, given its student poverty level, placing it in the bottom 10% in Illinois.
Carl Sandburg Middle School is located in Stephenson County, where the median household income is $64,043, 21% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and about 9% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Carl Sandburg Middle School is one of 23 public schools in the county.
The nearest public school is Empire Elementary School, at about 0.5 miles. Inside a five-mile radius, there are 7 other public schools. The nearest schools with test data average 26.1%, higher than Carl Sandburg Middle School's 18.3%.
Federal data place Carl Sandburg Middle School in the Town: Distant locale, which means it is in a town some distance from an urbanized area.
Over 4 years, Carl Sandburg Middle School's enrollment dropped 14%, to 430.
Questions about enrollment questions, class placement, and PTA news can be posted here. Questions from prospective families are welcome too.
Stephenson County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
43,768
Census ACS
Median income
$64,043
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
21%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
9%
Below federal line
Schools in county
23
6,092 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Freeport SD 145
- Freeport High SchoolHigh · 1,165 students
- Freeport Middle SchoolMiddle · 515 students
- Blackhawk Elementary SchoolElementary · 361 students
- Jones-Farrar Intl BaccalaureateElementary · 350 students
- Lincoln-Douglas Elementary SchoolElementary · 325 students
- Empire Elementary SchoolElementary · 295 students
Other schools in Freeport
- Freeport High SchoolHigh · 1,165 students
- Freeport Middle SchoolMiddle · 515 students
- Blackhawk Elementary SchoolElementary · 361 students
- Jones-Farrar Intl BaccalaureateElementary · 350 students
- Lincoln-Douglas Elementary SchoolElementary · 325 students
- Empire Elementary SchoolElementary · 295 students
Other Carl Sandburg Middle schools
3 other US public schools in 2 states are named Carl Sandburg Middle. Carl Sandburg Middle School is the 4th largest of the 4.
- Carl Sandburg Middle SchoolMundelein, IL · 529 students
- Carl Sandburg Middle SchoolRolling Meadows, IL · 468 students
- Carl Sandburg Middle SchoolOLD BRIDGE, NJ · 926 students
Nearby schools
- Empire Elementary School0.5 mi · 295
- Lincoln-Douglas Elementary School0.8 mi · 325
- Jones-Farrar Intl Baccalaureate1.0 mi · 350
- Freeport High School1.3 mi · 1,165
- Freeport Middle School1.3 mi · 515
- Blackhawk Elementary School1.6 mi · 361
Frequently asked questions
About Carl Sandburg Middle SchoolWhat is the total enrollment at Carl Sandburg Middle School?
Carl Sandburg Middle School enrolls approximately 430 students in grades 05-06.
What age range does Carl Sandburg Middle School serve?
Carl Sandburg Middle School serves students from grade 05 through grade 06.
How many teachers does Carl Sandburg Middle School have?
Carl Sandburg Middle School employs 38 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 11.5:1.
What is the student diversity at Carl Sandburg Middle School?
Student demographics at Carl Sandburg Middle School are roughly 36% White, 19% Hispanic, 28% Black, 1% Asian, 16% Two or more.
What district is Carl Sandburg Middle School in?
Carl Sandburg Middle School is part of Freeport SD 145.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.