Summary:
ZIP code 60008 has two middle schools, both serving grades 6–8 in Palatine CCSD 15. Their 2025–2026 results show a sharp difference between schools, rather than one consistent performance level across the area: the largest gap is in mathematics, where proficiency differs by 36 percentage points.
Plum Grove Middle School leads the pair in every reported subject, with 77% proficient in ELA, 58% in mathematics, and 61% in eighth-grade science. Carl Sandburg Middle School has 53% in ELA, 22% in mathematics, and 41% in science—24, 36, and 20 percentage points below Plum Grove, respectively. Plum Grove is also above the Illinois results in all three subjects (56% in ELA, 40% in math, and 52% in science), while Carl Sandburg is below the state in each. SchoolDigger rates Plum Grove 4 stars and at the 81st statewide percentile; Carl Sandburg is rated 1 star and at the 25th percentile.
Both schools’ ELA and math results rose slightly from 2024–2025 to 2025–2026, while science fell: Plum Grove gained 2 points in ELA and 3 in math, but dropped 2 in science; Carl Sandburg’s ELA increase was less than a point, math rose 3 points, and science fell 3. State science results rose 7 points over the same period. SchoolDigger percentiles also declined from 90 to 81 for Plum Grove and from 61 to 25 for Carl Sandburg, a relative ranking that can move differently from test scores. As context, Plum Grove enrolls 1,128 students and has a 16.5 student-teacher ratio; Carl Sandburg enrolls 468 and has an 11.6 ratio. In 2024–2025, 15% of Plum Grove students and 49% of Carl Sandburg students were free/reduced lunch eligible. These are school differences, not evidence that any one factor explains the results.
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