Pecatonica Comm Middle School

Pecatonica Comm Middle School is a close-knit junior high in Pecatonica, Illinois, run under Pecatonica CUSD 321. The school teaches 269 students in grades 5 through 8. Enrollment runs roughly 42% below the state mean of about 462.

Across the 3 schools in Pecatonica CUSD 321 (889 students total), Pecatonica Comm Middle School accounts for its share of the district's footprint.

In terms of who attends, Pecatonica Comm Middle School records that the student body is overwhelmingly White (87%). The remainder looks like 6% multiracial, 5% Hispanic. By comparison, Winnebago County as a whole is about 66% White, so the school skews meaningfully more White than its surroundings.

On the income-and-resources front, On paper, Pecatonica Comm Middle School has 19 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 14.2:1. The state averages around 13.0:1, so this campus is higher than the state norm typical. Around 33% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator. Set against Winnebago County (around 61%), the school's rate is south of typical.

On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), Pecatonica Comm Middle School performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 52.2%, the actual is 43.1%, a residual of -9.1 points.

Zooming out to the county, census data for Winnebago County shows median household income runs about $65,837, 25% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 11%. Pecatonica Comm Middle School is one of 94 public schools in Winnebago County (combined enrollment of about 44,103 students).

Nearest neighbor: Pecatonica Elem School, around 0.3 miles off. 2 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. On composite proficiency, Pecatonica Comm Middle School comes 7th of 7 in the immediate cluster, below the nearby-schools average of 50.9%.

The campus sits in a small-town setting.

Trend over the last 7 years. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Pecatonica Comm Middle School has declined 3%, going from 277 students in 2018 to 269 in 2025.

On allk12, the page collects discussion, questions, and updates around open house dates, ride-share offers, and field-trip permission slips. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.