Jefferson Middle School

Jefferson Middle School is a middle-grades school of mid-sized scale in Springfield, Illinois, one of the schools within Springfield SD 186, enrolling 517 students in grades 6 through 8.

Springfield SD 186 runs 31 schools in total, collectively educating 13,014 students. Jefferson Middle School is one of those campuses.

On demographics, Jefferson Middle School logs that Black students make up the majority at 56%. Beyond that, the school shows 26% White, 13% multiracial, 4% Hispanic. That is visibly more Black than the county at large, where the share is closer to 13%.

Looking at the economic backdrop, Staff filings list 43 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 12.0:1 students per teacher. The state averages around 13.0:1, so this campus is tighter than the state norm typical. Roughly 81% of students at Jefferson Middle School qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. That share is noticeably above Sangamon County's rate of about 48%.

After controlling for student poverty, Jefferson Middle School performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 24.9%, the actual is 12.1%, a residual of -12.9 points.

Across the wider county, ACS estimates for Sangamon County put median household income runs about $75,357, 37% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and the poverty rate sits near 9%. Across Sangamon County's 77 public schools (combined enrollment of about 27,345 students), Jefferson Middle School is one campus in the mix.

Laketown Elem School is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.7 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around Jefferson Middle School. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Jefferson Middle School at 7th of 8; the average score across the group is 21.5%.

Jefferson Middle School operates from a commuter-belt location.

Trend over the last 7 years. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Jefferson Middle School has contracted 8%, going from 561 students in 2018 to 517 in 2025. The White share of enrollment edged down from 33% to 26% over that span. Class-load math has fell: from 13.1:1 in 2018 to 12.0:1 in 2025.

On this page, the page collects discussion, questions, and updates around science fair prep, picture-day reminders, and bus-route questions. Contributors range from current parents to recent graduates and teachers.