Summary:
Peru, Illinois, has one listed middle school, Parkside Middle School, serving grades 5–8 with 372 students. In 2025–2026, 66% of students were proficient in English Language Arts (ELA), compared with 56% statewide, while 34% were proficient in math, compared with 40% statewide. The clearest takeaway for families is that ELA is a strength, but math remains a concern.
Because it is the only school listed, Parkside is technically both the area’s highest- and lowest-performing middle school, so comparisons with the state and Peru Education Service District 124 are more useful. ELA proficiency was 10 percentage points above the state and 2 points above the district; math was 6 points below the state and 7 below the district. Results also differ substantially by grade: ELA was above the state in grades 5, 7, and 8, but below in grade 6. Math was above the state only in grade 7, where 50% were proficient—10 points above the state—while grade 8 was 11 points below. Science was above the state in both reported grades, by 6 points in grade 5 and 9 in grade 8.
Recent results show strong ELA gains and a smaller improvement in math: from 2024–2025 to 2025–2026, ELA rose from 57% to 66%, while math increased from 30% to 34%. Fifth-grade science also climbed from 38% to 54%; eighth-grade science rose from 58% to 61%, but its advantage over the state narrowed from 13 to 9 points. SchoolDigger’s rating stayed at 3 stars, while its reported percentile ranking fell from the 65th percentile in 2023–2024 to the 53rd in 2025–2026; those rankings are a separate measure from the test-score changes. For context, the student–teacher ratio was 12.8:1, and 55% of students were reported as free/reduced lunch eligible in 2024–2025; these figures describe the school but do not explain its results.
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