Summary
Ellis Middle School is a public middle school located in Elgin, Illinois, serving grades 7-8 with a total enrollment of 505 students. The school is part of the School District U-46, which is ranked 594 out of 811 school districts in Illinois and has a 1-star rating from SchoolDigger. Over the past several years, Ellis Middle School has consistently ranked in the bottom half of Illinois middle schools, with a ranking between 714 and 1,154 out of around 1,300-1,400 middle schools.
Ellis Middle School consistently underperforms compared to the state and district averages in standardized test scores for English Language Arts (ELA) and Mathematics. For example, in the 2024-2025 school year, only 31.7% of all students were proficient or better in ELA, compared to 43.1% for the district and 53.1% for the state. The school's performance is particularly low in Mathematics, with only 11.7% of all students proficient or better, compared to 31.5% for the district and 38.5% for the state. Additionally, Ellis Middle School has consistently high chronic absenteeism rates, ranging from 25.4% to 34.9% over the past few years, which is significantly higher than the state and district averages.
While the nearby schools within the same district, such as Tefft Middle School and Canton Middle School, generally perform better than Ellis Middle School in academic measures, these nearby schools also have higher chronic absenteeism rates and a higher percentage of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, suggesting that the challenges faced by Ellis Middle School are not unique to the school but may be more systemic within the School District U-46. Despite the school's relatively high spending per student and a relatively low student-teacher ratio compared to the state and district averages, the academic performance of Ellis Middle School remains significantly below average, indicating that factors beyond just funding and staffing levels may be contributing to the school's challenges.
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