Summary:
The East St. Louis School District 189 in Illinois is home to two middle schools: Mason/Clark Middle School and East St. Louis-Lincoln Middle School. Both schools serve students in grades 6-8 and face significant challenges, with both ranked in the bottom 10-15% of Illinois middle schools.
Of the two schools, East St. Louis-Lincoln Middle School appears to be the stronger performer, with higher test scores in both English Language Arts and Mathematics, as well as a slightly lower chronic absenteeism rate. However, both schools have extremely high rates of students receiving free or reduced-price lunch, over 95%, indicating a high-poverty student population. East St. Louis-Lincoln Middle School also spends more per student ($32,080) compared to Mason/Clark Middle School ($27,534) and has a lower student-teacher ratio of 8.1, compared to 10.8 at Mason/Clark Middle School.
Despite the higher spending and lower student-teacher ratio at East St. Louis-Lincoln Middle School, both schools are performing significantly below the state average in both English Language Arts and Mathematics, suggesting that factors beyond just funding and staffing may be contributing to the low academic performance. The high chronic absenteeism rates of 25.4% at both schools are also a major concern and likely have a significant impact on student learning and achievement. Overall, the low performance of these middle schools in the East St. Louis School District 189 indicates a need for significant intervention and support to address the systemic issues and improve educational outcomes for students in the area.
Thank you for your feedback!