Summary:
Middle schools in ZIP code 60031 include two schools serving grades 6–8, with 2,002 students combined: Woodland Middle School and Viking School. Their 2025–2026 results show that families will find notably different achievement profiles rather than one uniform area experience. The most important finding is that Woodland leads Viking in every reported subject, with gaps of 34 percentage points in ELA, 18 in math, and 17 in eighth-grade science.
Woodland stands out at the top: its ELA proficiency was 57%, close to the state’s 56%, while its math result was 30% and eighth-grade science was 49%. Viking was lower in all three, at 24% in ELA, 12% in math, and 32% in science; its ELA result was 33 points below the state, and its math and science results were 27 and 20 points below. Viking’s eighth-grade math is a relative bright spot within its own results: 14%, above its sixth-grade 11% and seventh-grade 12%, and about 1 point above its district result. Absenteeism also differed: 20% at Woodland versus 29% at Viking, compared with 24% statewide.
Scores have improved unevenly, and gains did not always keep pace with the state. From 2024–2025 to 2025–2026, Woodland’s ELA rose 6 points and math rose 2; Viking’s ELA fell 2 points while its math rose 2. Eighth-grade science increased 9 points at Woodland but declined 2 at Viking, while the equal-school average rose 3 points versus a 7-point state increase. SchoolDigger’s percentile rankings also fell from 2023–2024 to 2025–2026: Woodland went from 55 to 37 and Viking from 27 to 3. The schools’ 2024–2025 student-teacher ratios were similar—11.5 and 11.8—but their enrollment and free/reduced lunch eligible shares differed: 1,541 students and 38% at Woodland, compared with 461 and 55% at Viking. These are contextual observations, not explanations for the score differences; with only two schools, area averages can mask each school’s distinct results.
Thank you for your feedback!