Summary:
The city of Decatur, Illinois has only one middle school, Stephen Decatur Middle School, which serves students in grades 6-8. The school has consistently ranked in the bottom 10-20% of Illinois middle schools over the past 3 school years, with a ranking of 1321 out of 1368 in the 2024-2025 school year. The school's performance on standardized tests is significantly below state averages, with only 12.8% of students proficient or better in English Language Arts and 5.5% proficient or better in Mathematics, compared to state averages of 53.1% and 38.5%, respectively.
Stephen Decatur Middle School serves a predominantly low-income population, with 66.38% of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch in the 2023-2024 school year. The school district, Decatur School District 61, is ranked 806 out of 811 in Illinois and is rated 0 stars out of 5 by SchoolDigger. The school's per-student spending for the 2023-2024 school year was $22,355, and the student-teacher ratio is 20.3, slightly higher than the state average.
The consistently low performance of Stephen Decatur Middle School, combined with the high percentage of low-income students and the district's low ranking and resource allocation, suggest that the school is facing significant challenges in providing a quality education to its students. Factors such as chronic absenteeism, which was 25.4% in the 2024-2025 school year, may also be contributing to the school's poor academic performance. Targeted interventions and a closer examination of resource allocation within the district may be necessary to improve the educational outcomes for students at Stephen Decatur Middle School.
Thank you for your feedback!