Middle Schools in Sycamore CUSD 427

Sycamore CUSD 427 has one middle school, Sycamore Middle School, serving grades 6–8 and enrolling 847 students. Its latest results show a clear subject difference: all-grades English language arts proficiency was 63%, compared with 56% statewide, while math proficiency was 38%, compared with 40% statewide. Eighth-grade science was also above the state result, at 57% versus 52%. The most important finding for families is that math is the school’s clearest area of relative weakness.

There is no within-area top or bottom school because the list includes only one school; its results stand out positively in ELA and eighth-grade science compared with the state, and its math result is slightly below the state. The school was 7 percentage points above the state in all-grades ELA and 5 points above in eighth-grade science, but 1 point below in all-grades math. Results vary by grade, too: sixth graders were 10 points above the state in ELA and 6 points above in math. By contrast, seventh-grade ELA was 1 point below the state, and seventh- and eighth-grade math were below by less than 1 point and 2 points, respectively. Eighth-grade science matched the district result.

Results improved year over year, especially in ELA: the school’s ELA proficiency rose 10 percentage points, from 53% to 63%, while the state rose 3 points, widening the school’s lead from roughly level to 7 points. Math rose 2 points, narrowing its gap below the state from 2 points to 1; eighth-grade science rose 4 points, but the state rose 7, so the school’s lead narrowed from 8 points to 5. SchoolDigger lists the school at the 54th percentile with 3 stars, down 13 percentile points from 2023–2024. Other context: chronic absenteeism was 15%, below the district’s 18% and the state’s 24%; the student–teacher ratio was 13.6 in 2024–2025, and 26% of students were free/reduced lunch eligible that school year.