Summary:
Zip code 60957 has one middle school, Paxton-Buckley-Loda Junior High School, serving 288 students in grades 6–8. Its 2025–2026 results were above state averages in all three reported areas: ELA, math and eighth-grade science. The clearest strength is ELA, where proficiency was 67%, 11 percentage points above the state.
With only one school in the area, it is both the highest- and lowest-performing school in the local list; there is no meaningful comparison among schools. Compared with the state, the school’s strongest result was ELA proficiency at 67% versus 56%; math was 43% versus 40%, and eighth-grade science was 55% versus 52%. Its ELA result was also 10 points above the 57% district result, while math was 1 point above the district’s 41%. Within the school, grade 7 stood out: proficiency was 12 points above the state in ELA and 10 points above in math. Grade 6 was much closer to state levels, especially in math, while grade 8 was also above the state in both subjects.
Test results improved from 2024–2025 to 2025–2026, and the school’s advantage over the state widened in all three subjects: ELA proficiency rose 7 points, math 3 points and eighth-grade science 9 points. In contrast, SchoolDigger’s reported ranking fell from the 70th percentile and 4 stars in 2023–2024 to the 60th percentile and 3 stars in 2025–2026. Context measures add a different view: the student-teacher ratio was 11.5 in 2024–2025, and 48% of students were eligible for free/reduced lunch that year. Chronic absenteeism was 23% in 2025–2026, about the state’s 24% rate and above the district’s 22%; these figures describe the school and do not explain its test results.
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