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Teachers: what resource would make the biggest difference at Washington Middle School this year?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
516
Middle
DISTRICT 508 · STATE 462
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·SPRINGFIELD SD 186·NCES 173708003844
Washington Middle School
2300 E Jackson St, Springfield, IL 62703 · (217) 525-3182 · Sangamon County
GRADES 06–08MIDDLE12-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL516 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
10.3:1
50 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 11.7:1 · STATE 13.0:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
80%
412 students
DISTRICT 67% · 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 | 168 | 33% |
| Grade 7 | 155 | 30% |
| Grade 8 | 193 | 37% |
Student demographics
62%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 66% · 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
9.9%
IL avg 51.0% . +0.8pp since 2023
Math
3.3%
IL avg 37.9% . +0.2pp since 2023
What this means: On the IAR + ISA, Illinois's statewide test, about 10 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 3 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Illinois schools, those numbers are about 51 and 38. Reading and writing scores have held steady since 2023, while math scores have held steady.
IAR + ISA results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 9.9% | 3.3% |
| 2023-24 | 9.1% | 3.1% |
% 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
8.3%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
25.4%
based on IL schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-17.1pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 8% of students here test proficient in math and reading, below the roughly 25% 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 Washington Middle School
Washington Middle School's state test result (8.3% proficient) is higher than 0 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Washington Middle School this school | 516 | 79.8% | 8.3% |
| Jefferson Middle School Springfield | 517 | 80.7% | 12.1% |
| Stephen Decatur Middle School Decatur | 413 | 85.7% | 11.2% |
| U S Grant Middle School Springfield | 498 | 72.1% | 15.1% |
| Carbondale Middle School Carbondale | 457 | 73.3% | 21.4% |
| West Middle School Rockford | 793 | 79.3% | 16.2% |
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 Washington Middle School ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Illinois | In Sangamon County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 8.3% | #577 of 578 | #16 of 16 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 3.3% | #636 of 640 ▼ 18 | #17 of 17 ▼ 1 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 9.9% | #640 of 640 ▼ 4 | #17 of 17 no change |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 516 | #274 of 691 | #5 of 17 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 10.3:1 | #53 of 558 | #1 of 13 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 62.1% | #124 of 560 | #3 of 13 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 79.8% | #65 of 581 | #2 of 16 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -20.0% | #102 of 440 | #6 of 13 |
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
516
-56 (-10%) vs 2020
-28% since 1990-91, when it was 721
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 | 516 | 50 | 10.3:1 | 80% (412) |
| 2023-24 | 521 | 51 | 10.2:1 | 82% (429) |
| 2022-23 | 531 | 52 | 10.2:1 | 80% (426) |
| 2020-21 | 572 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 2017-18 | 645 | 56 | 11.5:1 | 83% (538) |
| 2015-16 | 696 | 56 | 12.4:1 | 73% (510) |
| 2010-11 | 543 | 50 | 10.9:1 | 90% (490) |
| 2000-01 | 740 | 54 | 13.7:1 | N/A |
| 1990-91 | 721 | 39 | 18.5:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Washington Middle School.
Since 2017-18: students down 20% (645 to 516); teachers down 11% (56 to 50).
About Washington Middle School
Federal records list Washington Middle School as a middle-grades school in Springfield, Illinois. The school runs grades 6 through 8 and enrolls 516 students.
Springfield SD 186 counts 31 schools and 13,014 students, including Washington Middle School.
The student body at Washington Middle School is 51% Black. Other reported shares: 31% White, 14% multiracial, and 3% Hispanic. Sangamon County's residents are about 13% Black, 38 points below the school's share. On a 0 to 100 scale, the school's diversity index is 62, compared with 70 nationally.
Classroom staffing at Washington Middle School totals 50 full-time-equivalent teachers, and the student-to-teacher ratio is 10.3:1. The average for middle schools in Illinois, 13.0:1, is higher. Free or reduced-price lunch eligibility at Washington Middle School is about 80%. The average for public schools in Sangamon County is 48%.
Schools in Illinois with a similar free or reduced-price lunch share are predicted to post an average proficiency rate across its state test results near 25.4%. Washington Middle School posts 8.3%, 17.1 points below that, which places it in the bottom 10% statewide on BeatsExpectations.
In the wider Sangamon County area, the median household earns about $75,357 a year, about 37% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and the poverty rate is about 9%. Washington Middle School shares Sangamon County with 76 other public schools.
About 0.5 miles separate Washington Middle School from the closest public school, Matheny-Withrow Elementary School. A five-mile radius around the school includes at least 8 other public schools. Washington Middle School ranks 7th of 9 among nearby schools on average proficiency, with 8.3% against a local average of 31.5%.
Washington Middle School has an NCES locale of City: Mid-size.
From 2020-21 to 2024-25, enrollment decreased from 572 to 516, a 10% decline.
You can use this page to share news and ask questions about athletics, class schedules, and weather closures. Current and former families are welcome to add their experience.
Sangamon County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
194,947
Census ACS
Median income
$75,357
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
37%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
9%
Below federal line
Schools in county
77
27,345 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Springfield SD 186
- Springfield High SchoolHigh · 1,308 students
- Springfield Southeast High SchoolHigh · 1,229 students
- Lanphier High SchoolHigh · 1,117 students
- Benjamin Franklin Middle SchoolMiddle · 709 students
- Early Learning CenterElementary · 549 students
- Jefferson Middle SchoolMiddle · 517 students
Other schools in Springfield
- Springfield High SchoolHigh · 1,308 students
- Springfield Southeast High SchoolHigh · 1,229 students
- Lanphier High SchoolHigh · 1,117 students
- Benjamin Franklin Middle SchoolMiddle · 709 students
- Early Learning CenterElementary · 549 students
- Jefferson Middle SchoolMiddle · 517 students
Other Washington Middle schools
30 other US public schools in 17 states are named Washington Middle. Washington Middle School is the 18th largest of the 31.
- Washington Middle SchoolAurora, IL · 690 students
- Washington Middle SchoolLyons, IL · 659 students
- Washington Middle SchoolWashington, IL · 378 students
- Washington Middle SchoolJohnston City, IL · 296 students
- Washington MiddleSalinas, CA · 1,082 students
Nearby schools
- Matheny-Withrow Elementary School0.5 mi · 216
- Feitshans Elementary School1.0 mi · 288
- Lincoln Magnet School1.1 mi · 300
- Iles Elementary School1.2 mi · 414
- Springfield Ball Charter School1.2 mi · 394
- Springfield Southeast High School1.2 mi · 1,229
Frequently asked questions
About Washington Middle SchoolHow many students attend Washington Middle School?
Washington Middle School enrolls approximately 516 students in grades 06-08.
What grades does Washington Middle School serve?
Washington Middle School serves grades 06-08.
How many students per teacher at Washington Middle School?
Approximately 10.3:1 students per teacher at Washington Middle School.
How diverse is Washington Middle School?
Washington Middle School reports a student body of 31% White, 3% Hispanic, 51% Black, 0% Asian, 14% Two or more.
Who oversees Washington Middle School?
Washington Middle School is overseen by Springfield SD 186 in Sangamon County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.