River Forest Middle School

River Forest Middle School is a compact intermediate school in Hobart, Indiana, operated by River Forest Community Sch Corp. The school instructs 369 students in grades 6 through 8. That puts it 38% leaner than the typical public school in Indiana, which averages around 594 students.

River Forest Community Sch Corp runs 4 schools in total, collectively educating 1,707 students. River Forest Middle School is one of those campuses.

On the student-mix side, River Forest Middle School lists that 43% of students identify as Hispanic, with the remaining enrollment distributed across several groups. The remainder comes out to 32% White, 17% Black, 7% multiracial. The wider county runs roughly 21% Hispanic, putting the school's mix considerably more Hispanic than the area baseline.

On the income-and-resources front, On paper, River Forest Middle School has 25 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 14.8:1. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 15.6:1, putting River Forest Middle School tighter than the state norm the norm. Around 74% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment. By comparison, Lake County runs at roughly 47%, so the school's eligibility rate is above the surrounding baseline.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, River Forest Middle School performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 23.2%, the actual is 20.3%, a residual of -2.9 points.

In the surrounding community, the surrounding county (Lake County) reports that median household earnings sit near $71,493, 26% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and the poverty rate sits near 11%. Across Lake County's 121 public schools (combined enrollment of about 74,661 students), River Forest Middle School is one campus in the mix.

Nearest neighbor: River Forest High School, around 0.1 miles off. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts River Forest Middle School at 3rd of 6; the average score across the group is 19.2%.

Geographically, the school is in a residential area.

Five-year trend. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at River Forest Middle School has shrank 6%, going from 391 students in 2018 to 369 in 2025. White enrollment moved from 45% to 32% across the same window.

On allk12, the feed for River Forest Middle School typically covers fundraisers, lost-and-found posts, and report-card season. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.