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Honest take: what's the hardest part about being a student at Murphy Junior High School?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
700
Middle
DISTRICT 746 · STATE 462
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·CUSD 308·NCES 173027006236
Murphy Junior High School
26923 W Grande Park Blvd, Plainfield, IL 60585 · (630) 608-5100 · Kendall County
GRADES 06–08MIDDLE21-SUBURBREGULAR SCHOOL700 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
14.8:1
47 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 15.0:1 · STATE 13.0:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
20%
139 students
DISTRICT 31% · 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 | 241 | 34% |
| Grade 7 | 229 | 33% |
| Grade 8 | 230 | 33% |
Student demographics
69%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 68% · 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
67.7%
IL avg 51.0% . +7.9pp since 2023
Math
48.9%
IL avg 37.9% . +11.9pp since 2023
What this means: On the IAR + ISA, Illinois's statewide test, about 68 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 49 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 12 points.
IAR + ISA results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 67.7% | 48.9% |
| 2023-24 | 59.8% | 37.0% |
% 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
57.0%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
60.0%
based on IL schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-3.0pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 57% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 60% 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 Murphy Junior High School
Murphy Junior High School's state test result (57.0% proficient) is higher than 0 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Murphy Junior High School this school | 700 | 19.9% | 57.0% |
| Heritage Grove Middle School Plainfield | 841 | 23.3% | 67.0% |
| Dunlap Valley Middle School Dunlap | 546 | 22.3% | 68.2% |
| Madison Jr High School Naperville | 566 | 16.4% | 70.5% |
| Prairie Knolls Middle School Elgin | 770 | 16.8% | 67.0% |
| Richard Ira Jones Middle School Plainfield | 851 | 22.4% | 60.4% |
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 Murphy Junior High School ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Illinois | In Kendall County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 57.0% | #120 of 578 | #1 of 9 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 48.9% | #157 of 640 ▲ 21 | #1 of 9 no change |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 67.7% | #211 of 640 ▼ 14 | #1 of 9 no change |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 700 | #142 of 691 | #5 of 10 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 14.8:1 | #444 of 558 | #5 of 9 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 68.8% | #51 of 560 | #2 of 9 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 19.9% | #524 of 581 | #9 of 9 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -6.8% | #313 of 440 | #4 of 6 |
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
700
-100 (-12%) vs 2020
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 | 700 | 47.2 | 14.8:1 | 20% (139) |
| 2023-24 | 688 | 46.3 | 14.9:1 | 20% (137) |
| 2022-23 | 713 | 49.2 | 14.5:1 | 20% (141) |
| 2020-21 | 800 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 2017-18 | 751 | 47.2 | 15.9:1 | 15% (109) |
| 2015-16 | 677 | 40 | 16.9:1 | 12% (78) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Murphy Junior High School.
Since 2017-18: students down 7% (751 to 700); teachers unchanged (47.2 to 47.2).
About Murphy Junior High School
Students in Plainfield, Illinois, attend Murphy Junior High School, a large middle school. The school has 700 students in 2024-25 across grades 6 through 8. Middle schools in Illinois have about 462 students on average; enrollment here is 52% higher.
Within CUSD 308, Murphy Junior High School is one of 21 schools. The district enrolls 16,766 students.
About 49% of students at Murphy Junior High School are White, the largest single group. Beyond that, enrollment is 18% Asian, 15% Hispanic, 12% Black, and 5% multiracial. The White share of the county population is higher, at 65%. Its diversity index, the chance that two randomly chosen students belong to different racial or ethnic groups, is 69%.
Based on 47.2 full-time-equivalent teachers, Murphy Junior High School has a ratio of 14.8:1. Compared with the 13.0:1 average for middle schools in Illinois, this school's ratio is higher. Eligibility for free or reduced-price lunch stands at 20%. By comparison, the figure for public schools in Kendall County is 32%.
Schools in Illinois with a similar free or reduced-price lunch share are predicted to score about 60.0%. Murphy Junior High School scores 57.0%.
American Community Survey estimates for Kendall County show that median household income comes to about $111,601, roughly 37% of adults have a four-year degree or more, and the share of residents below the poverty line is 5%. The county's public schools total 50, with about 29,773 students.
Murphy Junior High School is about 0.1 miles from Grande Park Elementary School, its nearest public school. Within five miles are at least 8 other public schools. Among its closest neighbors with test data, Murphy Junior High School is 7th of 9 on proficiency.
The NCES locale for Murphy Junior High School is Suburb: Large, which covers schools in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population of 250,000 or more.
The 2020-21-to-2024-25 change in enrollment was a 12% decline, from 800 to 700.
This page collects posts and questions about Murphy Junior High School, such as open houses, carpools, and field trips. Current and former families are welcome to add their experience.
Kendall County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
137,675
Census ACS
Median income
$111,601
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
37%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
5%
Below federal line
Schools in county
50
29,773 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in CUSD 308
- Oswego High SchoolHigh · 2,870 students
- Oswego East High SchoolHigh · 2,758 students
- Traughber Jr High SchoolMiddle · 1,070 students
- Thompson Jr High SchoolMiddle · 832 students
- Lakewood Creek ElementaryElementary · 767 students
- Grande Park Elementary SchoolElementary · 687 students
Other schools in Plainfield
- Plainfield North High SchoolHigh · 2,399 students
- Plainfield South High SchoolHigh · 2,323 students
- Plainfield East High SchoolHigh · 1,825 students
- Plainfield High SchoolHigh · 1,800 students
- John F Kennedy Middle SchoolMiddle · 912 students
- Timber Ridge Middle SchoolMiddle · 885 students
Nearby schools
- Grande Park Elementary School0.1 mi · 687
- Walkers Grove Elementary School2.5 mi · 634
- Eagle Pointe Elementary School2.8 mi · 594
- Lincoln Elementary2.8 mi · 536
- Plainfield North High School3.1 mi · 2,399
- Heritage Grove Middle School3.2 mi · 841
Frequently asked questions
About Murphy Junior High SchoolHow large is Murphy Junior High School?
Murphy Junior High School enrolls approximately 700 students in grades 06-08.
What grades does Murphy Junior High School serve?
Murphy Junior High School serves grades 06-08.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Murphy Junior High School?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Murphy Junior High School is approximately 14.8:1 (47 FTE teachers).
How diverse is Murphy Junior High School?
Murphy Junior High School reports a student body of 49% White, 15% Hispanic, 12% Black, 18% Asian, 5% Two or more.
What district is Murphy Junior High School in?
Murphy Junior High School is part of CUSD 308.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.