Enrollment
331
Middle
DISTRICT 315 · STATE 462
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·PEORIA SD 150·NCES 173123005329
Harold B Dawson Middle School
2708 W Rohmann Ave, West Peoria, IL 61604 · (309) 672-6506 · Peoria County
GRADES 05–08MIDDLE21-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL331 STUDENTS
D
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 6% of Illinois public middle schools
- FTest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- C-Beats 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
15.8:1
21 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 15.0:1 · STATE 13.0:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
92%
305 students
DISTRICT 80% · STATE 56%
Community
0
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 | 78 | 24% |
| Grade 6 | 75 | 23% |
| Grade 7 | 92 | 28% |
| Grade 8 | 83 | 25% |
| Grade 9 | 3 | 1% |
Student demographics
52%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 63% · 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
QUIET COMMUNITY
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START A DISCUSSIONTest scores
IAR + ISA 2024-25 . % Proficient (Levels 4-5)English Language Arts
21.1%
IL avg 51.0% . +7.3pp since 2023
Math
3.8%
IL avg 37.9% . +3.8pp since 2023
What this means: On the IAR + ISA, Illinois's statewide test, about 21 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 4 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 4 points.
IAR + ISA results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 21.1% | 3.8% |
| 2023-24 | 13.8% | 0.0% |
% 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
AS EXPECTED
Performing as predicted given the school's student profile
Actual proficiency
11.3%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
18.3%
based on IL schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-7.0pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 11% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 18% 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 Harold B Dawson Middle School
Harold B Dawson Middle School's state test result (11.3% proficient) is higher than 3 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Harold B Dawson Middle School this school | 331 | 92.1% | 11.3% |
| Sterling Middle School Peoria | 374 | 88.5% | 9.4% |
| Kennedy Middle School Rockford | 393 | 90.3% | 6.3% |
| Von Steuben Middle School Peoria | 266 | 87.6% | 15.3% |
| Stephen Decatur Middle School Decatur | 413 | 85.7% | 11.2% |
| South View Upper Elementary School Danville | 664 | 93.1% | 12.2% |
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 Harold B Dawson Middle School ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Illinois | In Peoria County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 11.3% | #571 of 578 | #14 of 15 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 3.8% | #632 of 640 ▲ 8 | #14 of 15 ▲ 1 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 21.1% | #615 of 640 ▲ 1 | #14 of 15 no change |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 331 | #423 of 691 | #5 of 15 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 15.8:1 | #487 of 558 | #6 of 10 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 51.9% | #245 of 560 | #7 of 10 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 92.1% | #33 of 581 | #2 of 15 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -8.6% | #280 of 440 | #7 of 8 |
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
331
-19 (-5%) vs 2020
+4% since 1990-91, when it was 319
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 | 331 | 21 | 15.8:1 | 92% (305) |
| 2023-24 | 326 | 19.8 | 16.5:1 | 89% (289) |
| 2022-23 | 360 | 18.5 | 19.5:1 | 88% (316) |
| 2020-21 | 350 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 2017-18 | 362 | 27.3 | 13.3:1 | 78% (282) |
| 2015-16 | 329 | 24 | 13.7:1 | 73% (240) |
| 2010-11 | 245 | 20 | 12.3:1 | 84% (205) |
| 2000-01 | 215 | 17 | 12.7:1 | N/A |
| 1990-91 | 319 | 20 | 15.9:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Harold B Dawson Middle School.
Since 2017-18: students down 9% (362 to 331); teachers down 23% (27.3 to 21).
About Harold B Dawson Middle School
Harold B Dawson Middle School is a small middle-grades school with its address in West Peoria, Illinois. It reported 331 students in grades 5 through 8 in 2024-25. By comparison, middle schools in Illinois enroll about 462 students on average.
Harold B Dawson Middle School is one school in a 25-school district, Peoria SD 150, which enrolls 13,312 students.
Black students are 67% of those enrolled at Harold B Dawson Middle School. The rest of enrollment is 13% multiracial, 11% White, and 7% Hispanic. Census estimates put the Black share of Peoria County's population at about 17%. On a 0 to 100 scale, the school's diversity index is 52, compared with 70 nationally.
A staff of 21 full-time-equivalent teachers puts the student-to-teacher ratio at 15.8:1. The average for middle schools in Illinois, 13.0:1, is lower. The share of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch is 92%. Across public schools in Peoria County, the average is 57%.
Harold B Dawson Middle School earns a D on the allk12 Grade, which blends test scores, results against poverty-based expectations, and the three-year trend. It scored higher than 6% of Illinois public middle schools.
The BeatsExpectations prediction for Harold B Dawson Middle School is 18.3%, and its average proficiency rate across its state test results is 11.3%.
In the surrounding county, Peoria County, the median household earns about $65,108 a year, the share of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher is 35%, and about 10% of people live in poverty. Counting Harold B Dawson Middle School, Peoria County has 81 public schools.
Harold B Dawson Middle School is about 0.9 miles from Whittier Primary School, its nearest public school. There are at least 8 other public schools within five miles. Local comparison: Harold B Dawson Middle School ranks 4th of 8 nearby schools, at 11.3% versus a 16.4% average.
Its NCES locale code is Suburb: Large: the school is in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population of 250,000 or more.
The school shrank from 350 students in 2020-21 to 331 in 2024-25.
On allk12, people connected to Harold B Dawson Middle School can post about pickup and drop-off, after-school programs, and teacher feedback. Members of the school community can share what they know.
Peoria County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
179,645
Census ACS
Median income
$65,108
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
35%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
10%
Below federal line
Schools in county
81
27,827 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Peoria SD 150
- Richwoods High SchoolHigh · 1,685 students
- Peoria High SchoolHigh · 1,541 students
- Lincoln SchoolElementary · 823 students
- Glen Oak Comm Learning CntrElementary · 794 students
- Manual High SchoolHigh · 731 students
- The Elise Ford Allen AcademyElementary · 642 students
Nearby schools
- Whittier Primary School0.9 mi · 366
- The Elise Ford Allen Academy1.0 mi · 642
- Manual High School1.1 mi · 731
- Sterling Middle School1.4 mi · 374
- Valeska Hinton Early Ch Ed Center1.6 mi · 584
- Trewyn Primary School1.6 mi · 375
Frequently asked questions
About Harold B Dawson Middle SchoolHow large is Harold B Dawson Middle School?
Harold B Dawson Middle School enrolls approximately 331 students in grades 05-08.
What age range does Harold B Dawson Middle School serve?
Harold B Dawson Middle School serves students from grade 05 through grade 08.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Harold B Dawson Middle School?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Harold B Dawson Middle School is approximately 15.8:1 (21 FTE teachers).
What is the racial breakdown of students at Harold B Dawson Middle School?
At Harold B Dawson Middle School, the student body is approximately 11% White, 7% Hispanic, 67% Black, 0% Asian, 13% Two or more.
What district is Harold B Dawson Middle School in?
Harold B Dawson Middle School is part of Peoria SD 150.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.