1
What advice would you give to incoming students at Freeport Middle School?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
515
Middle
DISTRICT 473 · STATE 462
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·FREEPORT SD 145·NCES 171590001903
Freeport Middle School
701 W Empire St, Freeport, IL 61032 · (815) 232-0500 · Stephenson County
GRADES 07–08MIDDLE32-TOWNTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL515 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
14.1:1
37 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 12.8:1 · STATE 13.0:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
59%
303 students
DISTRICT 61% · 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 7 | 263 | 51% |
| Grade 8 | 252 | 49% |
Student demographics
71%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
Freeport Middle School→Freeport High School
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
27.1%
IL avg 51.0% . +6.8pp since 2023
Math
14.9%
IL avg 37.9% . +5.0pp since 2023
What this means: On the IAR + ISA, Illinois's statewide test, about 27 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 15 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 7 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 5 points.
IAR + ISA results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 27.1% | 14.9% |
| 2023-24 | 20.3% | 9.9% |
% 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
23.6%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
37.5%
based on IL schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-14.0pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 24% of students here test proficient in math and reading, below the roughly 38% 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 Freeport Middle School
Freeport Middle School's state test result (23.6% proficient) is higher than 2 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Freeport Middle School this school | 515 | 58.8% | 23.6% |
| Washington Jr High School Rock Island | 529 | 64.5% | 28.7% |
| Carl Sandburg Middle School Freeport | 430 | 68.1% | 18.3% |
| Bradley Central Middle School Bradley | 364 | 65.9% | 31.9% |
| Geo T Wilkins Jr High School Justice | 508 | 67.1% | 43.7% |
| Huntley Middle School Dekalb | 865 | 63.8% | 22.0% |
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 Freeport Middle School ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Illinois |
|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 23.6% | #494 of 578 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 14.9% | #541 of 640 ▼ 5 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 27.1% | #589 of 640 ▼ 19 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 515 | #275 of 691 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 14.1:1 | #392 of 558 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 71.5% | #23 of 560 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 58.8% | #191 of 581 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -24.0% | #56 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
515
-29 (-5%) vs 2020
-32% since 1990-91, when it was 755
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 | 515 | 36.5 | 14.1:1 | 59% (303) |
| 2023-24 | 479 | 37 | 12.9:1 | 64% (308) |
| 2022-23 | 485 | 35.5 | 13.7:1 | 60% (292) |
| 2020-21 | 544 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 2017-18 | 678 | 50.1 | 13.6:1 | 78% (529) |
| 2015-16 | 691 | 50 | 13.8:1 | 80% (556) |
| 2010-11 | 842 | 58 | 14.5:1 | 89% (752) |
| 2000-01 | 747 | 49 | 15.2:1 | N/A |
| 1990-91 | 755 | 45 | 16.8:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Freeport Middle School.
Since 2017-18: students down 24% (678 to 515); teachers down 27% (50.1 to 36.5).
About Freeport Middle School
Freeport Middle School is one of the public schools in Freeport, Illinois. It is a mid-sized middle school. It offers grades 7 through 8 and has 515 students enrolled.
District-wide, Freeport SD 145 has 8 schools and 3,703 students.
The biggest share of students at Freeport Middle School, 41%, is White. The rest of enrollment is 24% Black, 19% Hispanic, and 14% multiracial. Census estimates put the White share of Stephenson County's population at about 80%. On the diversity index, which measures the chance that two random students are from different groups, Freeport Middle School scores 71%.
Staffing at Freeport Middle School comes to 36.5 full-time-equivalent teachers, or 14.1:1. By comparison, the average for middle schools in Illinois is 13.0:1. Freeport Middle School counts 59% of students as eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That is 9 points above the 50% average for public schools in Stephenson County.
Test results at Freeport Middle School are 14.0 points below what its student poverty level predicts. The average proficiency rate across its state test results is 23.6%, compared with a predicted 37.5%, which ranks in the bottom 10% in Illinois.
Census data for Stephenson County show median household income comes to about $64,043, about 21% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and roughly 9% of residents are in poverty. There are 23 public schools in the county, enrolling about 6,092, Freeport Middle School among them.
Freeport High School sits about 0.1 miles from Freeport Middle School. Inside a five-mile radius, there are 7 other public schools. Freeport Middle School comes in 4th of 9 nearby schools on average proficiency.
NCES assigns Freeport Middle School the locale Town: Distant, meaning in a town some distance from an urbanized area.
From 2020-21 to 2024-25, enrollment decreased from 544 to 515, a 5% decline.
The Freeport Middle School discussion page is a place for open houses, carpools, and field trips. You can also rate the school on this page.
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
- Carl Sandburg Middle SchoolMiddle · 430 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
- Carl Sandburg Middle SchoolMiddle · 430 students
- Blackhawk Elementary SchoolElementary · 361 students
- Jones-Farrar Intl BaccalaureateElementary · 350 students
- Lincoln-Douglas Elementary SchoolElementary · 325 students
- Empire Elementary SchoolElementary · 295 students
Other Freeport Middle schools
2 other US public schools in 3 states are named Freeport Middle. Freeport Middle School is the 2nd largest of the 3.
- FREEPORT MIDDLE SCHOOLFREEPORT, FL · 790 students
- Freeport Middle SchoolFreeport, ME · 288 students
Nearby schools
- Freeport High School0.1 mi · 1,165
- Blackhawk Elementary School0.3 mi · 361
- Empire Elementary School0.9 mi · 295
- Center Elementary School1.1 mi · 262
- Carl Sandburg Middle School1.3 mi · 430
- Lincoln-Douglas Elementary School1.7 mi · 325
Frequently asked questions
About Freeport Middle SchoolHow large is Freeport Middle School?
Freeport Middle School enrolls approximately 515 students in grades 07-08.
What grades does Freeport Middle School serve?
Freeport Middle School serves grades 07-08.
How many teachers does Freeport Middle School have?
Freeport Middle School employs 37 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 14.1:1.
How diverse is Freeport Middle School?
Freeport Middle School reports a student body of 41% White, 19% Hispanic, 24% Black, 1% Asian, 14% Two or more.
What district is Freeport Middle School in?
Freeport Middle School is part of Freeport SD 145.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.