Summary:
The city of Island Lake, Illinois is home to two schools - Cotton Creek School, an elementary school, and Matthews Middle School. Both schools serve students in the Wauconda CUSD 118 district, which is ranked 297 out of 813 districts in Illinois and rated 3 out of 5 stars by SchoolDigger.
While both schools face challenges with high free/reduced lunch rates, Matthews Middle School stands out as the stronger performer. It has higher test scores than Cotton Creek School across most subject areas and grade levels, particularly in English Language Arts. For example, in 2023-2024, 42.7% of Matthews Middle School students were proficient or better in ELA compared to 35.5% at Cotton Creek School. Matthews Middle School also outperforms the district and state averages in ELA and Science test scores, while Cotton Creek School lags behind.
Another notable difference is the chronic absenteeism rate, with Cotton Creek School at 21.5% compared to 27.3% at Matthews Middle School in 2023-2024. This suggests that attendance issues may be an area for improvement at both schools, but more so at Cotton Creek. Overall, the data highlights the need for further investigation into the factors contributing to the performance gap between the two schools, as well as the district's efforts to support all students in achieving academic success.
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