Diamond Lake School District 76

The Diamond Lake School District 76 in Illinois consists of three schools: two elementary schools (Diamond Lake School and West Oak Intermediate School) and one middle school (West Oak Middle School). The district faces significant challenges, as all three schools perform poorly compared to state averages, with no clear standout schools in the area.

The West Oak Middle School has the lowest performance, ranking in the bottom 30% of Illinois middle schools for the past 3 years and scoring well below state averages on standardized tests. The West Oak Intermediate School also performs poorly, ranking in the bottom 30% of Illinois elementary schools and having low proficiency rates in English Language Arts and Math. The Diamond Lake School, the only PK-2 school, has the highest chronic absenteeism rate at 31.5%, which is a concerning metric.

Despite the low performance, the Diamond Lake School District 76 spends significantly more per student than the state average, raising questions about the efficient allocation of resources and the need to evaluate the effectiveness of the district's spending. Additionally, the district has very high rates of students qualifying for free/reduced lunch, ranging from 39.25% to 63.01%, which likely contributes to the low academic performance and high chronic absenteeism rates. Addressing these systemic issues should be a priority for the district.