1
What's the vibe like in the hallways at Cooper Middle School right now?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
732
Middle
DISTRICT 658 · STATE 462
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·WHEELING CCSD 21·NCES 174221004230
Cooper Middle School
1050 Plum Grove Cir, Buffalo Grove, IL 60089 · (847) 520-2750 · Cook County
GRADES 06–08MIDDLE21-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL732 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
12.9:1
57 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 11.2:1 · STATE 13.0:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
56%
410 students
DISTRICT 59% · STATE 56%
Community
5
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 6 | 232 | 32% |
| Grade 7 | 269 | 37% |
| Grade 8 | 231 | 32% |
Student demographics
57%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 65% · 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
Test scores
IAR + ISA 2024-25 . % Proficient (Levels 4-5)English Language Arts
54.4%
IL avg 51.0% . +7.5pp since 2023
Math
44.5%
IL avg 37.9% . +10.0pp since 2023
What this means: On the IAR + ISA, Illinois's statewide test, about 54 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 45 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 10 points.
IAR + ISA results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 54.4% | 44.5% |
| 2023-24 | 46.9% | 34.5% |
% 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
50.6%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
39.2%
based on IL schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+11.4pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 51% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 39% 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 Cooper Middle School
Cooper Middle School's state test result (50.6% proficient) is higher than 3 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cooper Middle School this school | 732 | 56.0% | 50.6% |
| Simmons Middle School Oak Lawn | 725 | 61.2% | 42.0% |
| Woodrow Wilson Middle School Moline | 860 | 63.1% | 31.5% |
| Friendship Jr High School Des Plaines | 633 | 61.5% | 47.9% |
| Liberty Intermediate School Bourbonnais | 714 | 53.5% | 51.9% |
| J Giles Elementary School Norridge | 499 | 43.1% | 50.9% |
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 Cooper Middle School ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Illinois | In Cook County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 50.6% | #192 of 578 | #29 of 116 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 44.5% | #199 of 640 ▼ 5 | #52 of 146 ▼ 1 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 54.4% | #357 of 640 ▼ 27 | #77 of 146 ▼ 6 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 732 | #118 of 691 | #31 of 148 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 12.9:1 | #271 of 558 | #83 of 138 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 57.0% | #190 of 560 | #50 of 138 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 56.0% | #228 of 581 | #74 of 117 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +7.8% | #62 of 127 | #22 of 40 |
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
732
+32 (+5%) vs 2020
+32% since 1990-91, when it was 555
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 | 732 | 56.7 | 12.9:1 | 56% (410) |
| 2023-24 | 694 | 53.4 | 13.0:1 | 50% (347) |
| 2022-23 | 675 | 49 | 13.8:1 | 39% (266) |
| 2020-21 | 700 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 2017-18 | 679 | 50.6 | 13.4:1 | 39% (263) |
| 2015-16 | 685 | 52 | 13.2:1 | 32% (222) |
| 2010-11 | 695 | 62 | 11.2:1 | 32% (222) |
| 2000-01 | 720 | 62 | 11.6:1 | N/A |
| 1990-91 | 555 | 38 | 14.6:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Cooper Middle School.
Since 2017-18: students up 8% (679 to 732); teachers up 12% (50.6 to 56.7).
About Cooper Middle School
A high-enrollment middle school in Buffalo Grove, Illinois, Cooper Middle School is part of Wheeling CCSD 21. The school enrolls 732 students, from grades 6 through 8. An average school in this group (middle schools in Illinois) has about 462 students.
Wheeling CCSD 21 has 6,298 students spread across 12 schools.
White students are the majority at Cooper Middle School, with 60% of enrollment. Other groups make up 24% Hispanic, 10% Asian, 3% multiracial, and 2% Black. Cook County as a whole is about 44% White, so the school's share is higher. Pick two students at random and there is a 57% chance they belong to different racial or ethnic groups; that figure is the school's diversity index.
Teachers at the school number 56.7 full-time equivalents, and the ratio is 12.9:1. That is close to the 13.0:1 average for middle schools in Illinois. Roughly 56% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch. Compared with the 66% average for public schools in Cook County, the school's rate is lower.
After adjusting for student poverty, Cooper Middle School lands between the top and bottom 10% of Illinois schools. Its average proficiency rate on state tests is 50.6%; the prediction is 39.2%.
Recent Census Bureau figures for Cook County show that the median household income is $83,498, the share of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher is 43%, and roughly 10% of residents are in poverty. Besides Cooper Middle School, Cook County has 1,405 other public schools.
Henry W Longfellow Elementary School is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.3 miles away. Within five miles of Cooper Middle School, there are at least 8 other public schools. On proficiency, Cooper Middle School is ahead of the 46.3% nearby average, ranking 3rd of 5.
Federal data place Cooper Middle School in the Suburb: Large locale, which means it is in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population of 250,000 or more.
Compared with 2020-21, the school had 32 more students in 2024-25.
Families, students, and staff can use this page to discuss school safety, transportation, and start times at Cooper Middle School. Alumni can share how the school prepared them.
Cook County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
5,182,090
Census ACS
Median income
$83,498
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
43%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
10%
Below federal line
Schools in county
1,406
697,934 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Wheeling CCSD 21
- Jack London Middle SchoolMiddle · 628 students
- Oliver W Holmes Middle SchoolMiddle · 615 students
- Eugene Field Elementary SchoolElementary · 613 students
- Joyce Kilmer Elementary SchoolElementary · 590 students
- Booth Tarkington Elementary SchoolElementary · 540 students
- Robert Frost Elementary SchoolElementary · 532 students
Other schools in Buffalo Grove
- Buffalo Grove High SchoolHigh · 2,021 students
- Aptakisic Junior High SchoolMiddle · 940 students
- Meridian SchoolElementary · 702 students
- Twin Groves Middle SchoolMiddle · 625 students
- Joyce Kilmer Elementary SchoolElementary · 590 students
- Henry W Longfellow Elementary SchoolElementary · 510 students
Other Cooper Middle schools
4 other US public schools in 5 states are named Cooper Middle. Cooper Middle School is the 3rd largest of the 5.
- Cooper Middle SchoolAustell, GA · 1,000 students
- Cooper MiddleMcLean, VA · 997 students
- Cooper MiddleFresno, CA · 538 students
- Cooper Middle SchoolOklahoma City, OK · 501 students
Nearby schools
- Henry W Longfellow Elementary School0.3 mi · 510
- Buffalo Grove High School0.7 mi · 2,021
- Joyce Kilmer Elementary School1.1 mi · 590
- Ivy Hall Elementary School1.2 mi · 482
- Willow Grove Early Learning Center1.3 mi · 360
- Edgar A Poe Elementary School1.6 mi · 317
Frequently asked questions
About Cooper Middle SchoolWhat is the total enrollment at Cooper Middle School?
Cooper Middle School enrolls approximately 732 students in grades 06-08.
What age range does Cooper Middle School serve?
Cooper Middle School serves students from grade 06 through grade 08.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Cooper Middle School?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Cooper Middle School is approximately 12.9:1 (57 FTE teachers).
What is the racial breakdown of students at Cooper Middle School?
At Cooper Middle School, the student body is approximately 60% White, 24% Hispanic, 2% Black, 10% Asian, 3% Two or more.
Is Cooper Middle School public or private?
Cooper Middle School is a public K-12 school, overseen by Wheeling CCSD 21.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.