Kankakee Junior High School

Kankakee Junior High School, a mid-sized intermediate school in Kankakee, Illinois, one of the schools within Kankakee SD 111, educates 501 students, covering grades 7 through 8.

Kankakee SD 111 runs 10 schools in total, collectively educating 4,602 students. Kankakee Junior High School is one of those campuses.

In terms of who attends, Kankakee Junior High School shows that the most-represented group is Black (47%), with the rest of the student body spread across multiple groups; the rest consists of 35% Hispanic, 15% White, 3% multiracial. By comparison, Kankakee County as a whole is about 14% Black, so the school skews visibly more Black than its surroundings.

On the resource side, Staff filings list 29 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 17.5:1 students per teacher. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 13.0:1, putting Kankakee Junior High School higher than the state norm the norm. Roughly 91% of students at Kankakee Junior High School qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, often used as a Title I proxy. Set against Kankakee County (around 61%), the school's rate is north of typical.

After controlling for student poverty, Kankakee Junior High School tracks the demographic baseline. The model predicts 19.2% given the school's FRL share; actual proficiency is 21.3%.

In the broader community, the surrounding county (Kankakee County) shows that median household earnings sit near $71,281, about 21% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 9%. Kankakee Junior High School is one of 44 public schools in Kankakee County (combined enrollment of about 16,499 students).

Nearest neighbor: Mark Twain Primary School, around 0.1 miles off. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools. On composite proficiency, Kankakee Junior High School comes 4th of 7 in the immediate cluster, higher than the nearby-schools average of 20.4%.

Geographically, the school is in a high-density area.

Trend over the last 7 years. Kankakee Junior High School's enrollment has shrank 28% since 2018, when it stood at 693 (now 501). The White share of enrollment fell from 21% to 15% over that span. Class-load math has widened: from 13.6:1 in 2018 to 17.5:1 in 2025.

In the discussion threads here, posts here usually surface around science fair prep, picture-day reminders, and bus-route questions. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.