Parkside Middle School

Parkside Middle School is one of the cozy 6-8 campuss in Peru, Illinois, operated by Peru ESD 124, with 372 students on its rolls from grades 5 through 8.

Within Peru ESD 124, which oversees 2 schools and 966 students, Parkside Middle School is one campus in the system.

In terms of who attends, Parkside Middle School reports that White students make up the majority at 68%. Other groups include 19% Hispanic, 7% multiracial, 4% Black. By comparison, LaSalle County as a whole is about 86% White, so the school skews meaningfully less White than its surroundings.

On the resource side, Parkside Middle School records 29 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 12.8:1. The state averages about 13.0:1, putting this campus right in line with peers. About 55% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal.

On a demographically-adjusted basis, Parkside Middle School sits in the middle band of the BeatsExpectations distribution. Schools with this campus's student mix typically land near 40.0%; this one delivers 45.4%.

In the surrounding community, LaSalle County reports that median household income runs about $73,045, about 21% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and the poverty rate sits near 11%. Parkside Middle School is one of 54 public schools in LaSalle County (combined enrollment of about 14,523 students).

Nearest neighbor: Northview Elem School, around 0.8 miles off. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. On composite proficiency, Parkside Middle School comes 2nd of 8 in the immediate cluster, above the nearby-schools average of 34.9%.

The school occupies a small-town site.

Trend over the last 7 years. Parkside Middle School's enrollment has shrank 5% since 2018, when it stood at 390 (now 372). White enrollment moved from 73% to 68% across the same window.

Within the allk12 community for this school, the feed for Parkside Middle School typically covers open house dates, ride-share offers, and field-trip permission slips. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.