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Alumni: what's one memory from Viking School that still sticks with you?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
461
Middle
DISTRICT 459 · STATE 462
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·GURNEE SD 56·NCES 171780002076
Viking School
4460 Old Grand Ave, Gurnee, IL 60031 · (847) 336-2108 · Lake County
GRADES 06–08MIDDLE21-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL461 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
11.8:1
39 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 13.3:1 · STATE 13.0:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
54%
251 students
DISTRICT 56% · 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 | 135 | 29% |
| Grade 7 | 154 | 33% |
| Grade 8 | 172 | 37% |
Student demographics
68%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 67% · 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
School pathway
Feeds from
Based on grade levels within Gurnee SD 56. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
IAR + ISA 2024-25 . % Proficient (Levels 4-5)English Language Arts
25.8%
IL avg 51.0% . +1.8pp since 2023
Math
10.7%
IL avg 37.9% . -2.7pp since 2023
What this means: On the IAR + ISA, Illinois's statewide test, about 26 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 11 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 2 points since 2023, while math scores are down about 3 points.
IAR + ISA results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 25.8% | 10.7% |
| 2023-24 | 24.0% | 13.4% |
% 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
UNDERPERFORMING
Bottom 10% of IL schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
22.1%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
40.1%
based on IL schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-18.0pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 22% of students here test proficient in math and reading, below the roughly 40% typical for Illinois schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations compares each school with others at the same poverty level, not by raw scores, so a school lands here when its results trail those comparable schools, which is not the same as having low scores. A higher-scoring school can still fall in this tier if similar schools score higher still.
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 Viking School
Viking School's state test result (22.1% proficient) is higher than 0 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Viking School this school | 461 | 54.4% | 22.1% |
| A Vito Martinez Middle School Romeoville | 583 | 55.6% | 52.9% |
| John J Lukancic Middle School Romeoville | 591 | 53.6% | 50.7% |
| Jane Addams Middle School Bolingbrook | 548 | 52.9% | 53.1% |
| Jewel Middle School North Aurora | 490 | 50.4% | 36.2% |
| Columbia Central School Steger | 646 | 56.3% | 33.9% |
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 Viking School ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Illinois | In Lake County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 22.1% | #510 of 578 | #21 of 31 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 10.7% | #589 of 640 ▼ 104 | #37 of 44 ▼ 4 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 25.8% | #598 of 640 ▼ 48 | #35 of 44 no change |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 461 | #316 of 691 | #31 of 44 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 11.8:1 | #161 of 558 | #24 of 44 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 68.4% | #58 of 560 | #4 of 44 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 54.4% | #249 of 581 | #15 of 31 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -17.1% | #133 of 440 | #15 of 34 |
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
461
-89 (-16%) vs 2020
+39% since 1990-91, when it was 332
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 | 461 | 39 | 11.8:1 | 54% (251) |
| 2023-24 | 515 | 46.5 | 11.1:1 | 58% (297) |
| 2022-23 | 527 | 45.5 | 11.6:1 | 55% (292) |
| 2020-21 | 550 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 2017-18 | 556 | 50 | 11.1:1 | 27% (152) |
| 2015-16 | 568 | 48 | 11.8:1 | 26% (148) |
| 2010-11 | 577 | 48 | 12.0:1 | 0% (0) |
| 2000-01 | 655 | 48 | 13.7:1 | N/A |
| 1990-91 | 332 | 18 | 18.4:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Viking School.
Since 2017-18: students down 17% (556 to 461); teachers down 22% (50 to 39).
About Viking School
Viking School is a medium-sized middle-grades school in Illinois, with an address in Gurnee. Students in grades 6 through 8 attend, and enrollment is 461 students.
Gurnee SD 56 is responsible for 4 schools, Viking School included, with 1,836 students in all.
By race and ethnicity, the largest group at Viking School is Hispanic (47%). Other students are 23% Black, 19% White, 7% multiracial, and 4% Asian. That is higher than the 25% Hispanic share among all Lake County residents. By the diversity index, Viking School comes in at 68%.
Viking School employs 39 full-time-equivalent teachers. That gives a ratio of about 11.8:1. The average ratio among middle schools in Illinois is 13.0:1, higher than at this school. Viking School's free or reduced-price lunch eligibility rate is 54%. That is close to the 54% average for public schools in Lake County.
On BeatsExpectations, which compares test results with what a school's student poverty level would predict, Viking School ranks in the bottom 10% in Illinois. Its average proficiency rate on state tests is 22.1%, against a prediction of 40.1%.
Viking School is located in Lake County, where median household income is about $110,416, the share of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher is 48%, and about 6% of people live in poverty. Viking School is one of 214 public schools in Lake County, which together enroll about 118,032 students.
The shortest distance from Viking School to another public school is about 0.6 miles, to River Trail School. A five-mile radius around the school includes at least 8 other public schools. By average proficiency, Viking School is 4th among 7 schools close by.
The school's locale code, Suburb: Large, means it is in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population of 250,000 or more.
Between 2020-21 and 2024-25, the student count dropped from 550 to 461.
Parents and students can post about school events, clubs, and volunteer needs at Viking School. Alumni can share how the school prepared them.
Lake County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
714,223
Census ACS
Median income
$110,416
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
48%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
6%
Below federal line
Schools in county
214
118,032 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Gurnee SD 56
- River Trail SchoolElementary · 471 students
- Prairie Trail SchoolElementary · 454 students
- Spaulding Elementary SchoolElementary · 450 students
Other schools in Gurnee
- Warren Township High SchoolHigh · 3,537 students
- Woodland Middle SchoolMiddle · 1,541 students
- Woodland Intermediate SchoolElementary · 979 students
- River Trail SchoolElementary · 471 students
- Spaulding Elementary SchoolElementary · 450 students
- Bridges Program ALOPHigh
Nearby schools
- River Trail School0.6 mi · 471
- Spaulding Elementary School1.6 mi · 450
- Woodland Intermediate School2.3 mi · 979
- Glenwood Elementary School2.6 mi · 577
- Early Learning Center2.7 mi · 221
- Clearview Elementary School2.8 mi · 404
Frequently asked questions
About Viking SchoolHow many students attend Viking School?
Viking School enrolls approximately 461 students in grades 06-08.
What age range does Viking School serve?
Viking School serves students from grade 06 through grade 08.
How many students per teacher at Viking School?
Approximately 11.8:1 students per teacher at Viking School.
How diverse is Viking School?
Viking School reports a student body of 19% White, 47% Hispanic, 23% Black, 4% Asian, 7% Two or more.
Is Viking School public or private?
Viking School is a public K-12 school, overseen by Gurnee SD 56.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.