Is Sterling Middle School a good school?

Sterling Middle School ranks in the bottom 3.1% of Illinois middle schools.

How many students attend Sterling Middle School?

In the 2022-23 school year, 385 students attended Sterling Middle School.

What is the racial makeup of Sterling Middle School?

Students at Sterling Middle School are 73% African American, 10% White, 10% Two or more races, 6% Hispanic.

What high school do graduates of Sterling Middle School attend?

Students who attend Sterling Middle School usually go on to attend Peoria High School

Sterling Middle School

Summary:

Sterling Middle School is a public middle school located in Peoria, Illinois, serving grades 5-8 with a total enrollment of 385 students. The school is part of the Peoria School District 150, which is ranked 773 out of 813 districts in Illinois and has a 0-star rating from SchoolDigger. Sterling Middle School has consistently ranked in the bottom 10-15% of Illinois middle schools over the past decade, with a current ranking of 1321 out of 1363 middle schools in the state.

Sterling Middle School has struggled with high chronic absenteeism rates, ranging from 38.6% to 47.7% over the past few years, significantly higher than the state and district averages. The school's academic performance, as measured by proficiency rates on the Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR) and Illinois Science Assessment (ISA), is consistently well below state and district averages across all grade levels and subject areas. For example, in the 2023-2024 school year, only 9.1% of students were proficient or better in ELA, compared to 41.2% statewide, and 0-3.6% were proficient in Math, compared to 26.8-28.7% statewide. The school's performance is particularly concerning for certain student subgroups, such as African American, White, and Multi-racial students, as well as special education and low-socioeconomic status students, with proficiency rates in the single digits for both Math and ELA.

When comparing Sterling Middle School to other nearby middle schools in the Peoria area, the performance gap is quite stark. For instance, Reservoir Gifted School, which is also part of the Peoria School District 150, consistently ranks among the top 1% of Illinois middle schools and has proficiency rates above 80% in both Math and ELA. Other nearby schools, such as Liberty Leadership Middle School and Mark W. Bills Middle School, also outperform Sterling Middle School by a significant margin. Despite being a long-standing school, Sterling Middle School has not shown any meaningful improvement in its academic performance or other key metrics over the past decade, with the school's rankings and proficiency rates remaining consistently low.

Detail:

Public 5-8

2315 N Sterling Ave
Peoria, IL 61604-3124

(309) 672-6557

District: Peoria School District 150

SchoolDigger Rank:
1321^st of 1,363 Illinois Middle Schools

Per Pupil Expenditures: $16,176

Students who attend Sterling Middle School usually attend:

High:

Peoria High School

Feeder schools for Sterling Middle School:

Elementary:

Dr Maude A Sanders Primary School

Student/teacher ratio: 17.7

Number of students: 385

Racial breakdown:

African American:

73.2%

White:

10.1%

Two or more races:

9.6%

Free/discounted lunch recipients: 81.6%

See top rated Illinois middle schools

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Performance Trends

Compare Details Sterling Middle School ranks worse than 96.9% of middle schools in Illinois. It also ranks last among 6 ranked middle schools in the Peoria School District 150. (See more...)

Compare Details In 2024 the calculated Average Standard Score was 10.76. (See more...)

Chronic absenteeism in a school refers to a situation where students repeatedly miss school, with the threshold often defined as missing 10% or more of school days for any reason, excused or unexcused.

Student Body

Compare Details Sterling Middle School has the largest middle school student body size in the Peoria School District 150. (See more...)

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Teachers

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Finance

Compare Details The average total spent per student at Sterling Middle School is $16,176. 3 middle schools in the Peoria School District 150 spend more per student.

Schooldigger 2024 Rankings:

Sterling Middle School:

SchoolDigger ranks Sterling Middle School 1321^st of 1363 Illinois public middle schools. (See Sterling Middle School in the ranking list.)

Middle School Test Score Ratings by Student Subgroup:

Multi-racial students:

Special Education students:

Low Socio Economic Status students:

Female students:

Disabled students:

Male students:

African American students:

Peoria School District 150:

SchoolDigger ranks Peoria School District 150 773^rd of 813 Illinois school districts. (See district ranking list.)

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Rank History for Sterling Middle School

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Rank History for all students at Sterling Middle School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Middle Schools	IL State Percentile
2003	14.05	1003^rd	1185	15.4%
2004	18.83	972^nd	1204	19.3%
2005	11.76	1046^th	1209	13.5%
2006	12.42	1121^st	1272	11.9%
2007	4.95	1231^st	1287	4.4%
2008	4.80	1237^th	1293	4.3%
2009	9.83	1213^th	1318	8.0%
2010	12.15	1199^th	1327	9.6%
2011	9.75	1258^th	1344	6.4%
2012	5.09	1321^st	1365	3.2%
2013	7.61	1299^th	1367	5.0%
2014	9.33	1234^th	1322	6.7%
2015	14.09	1180^th	1302	9.4%
2016	11.88	1228^th	1294	5.1%
2017	14.33	1165^th	1293	9.9%
2018	22.17	1021^st	1293	21.0%
2019	13.50	1229^th	1356	9.4%
2021	13.93	1156^th	1241	6.8%
2022	14.00	1268^th	1369	7.4%
2023	10.88	1324^th	1367	3.1%
2024	10.76	1321^st	1363	3.1%

See the entire list of Illinois Middle School Rankings!

Rank History for Multi-racial students at Sterling Middle School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Middle Schools	IL State Percentile
2019	23.27	133^rd	179	25.7%
2023	7.28	193^rd	194	0.5%
2024	10.11	181^st	184	1.6%

See the entire list of Best Illinois Middle Schools for Multi-racial Students!

Rank History for Special Education students at Sterling Middle School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Middle Schools	IL State Percentile
2018	29.22	445^th	602	26.1%
2019	24.69	700^th	792	11.6%
2021	31.14	394^th	548	28.1%
2022	29.71	604^th	781	22.7%
2023	20.70	746^th	805	7.3%
2024	16.81	787^th	802	1.9%

See the entire list of Best Illinois Middle Schools for Special Education Students!

Rank History for Low Socio Economic Status students at Sterling Middle School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Middle Schools	IL State Percentile
2018	32.34	812^th	1161	30.1%
2019	17.69	1098^th	1217	9.8%
2021	20.50	911^th	1019	10.6%
2022	16.17	1164^th	1221	4.7%
2023	13.62	1191^st	1234	3.5%
2024	13.37	1176^th	1219	3.5%

See the entire list of Best Illinois Middle Schools for Low Socio Economic Status Students!

Rank History for Female students at Sterling Middle School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Middle Schools	IL State Percentile
2018	25.92	922^nd	1226	24.8%
2019	12.73	1174^th	1276	8.0%
2021	13.44	951^st	1017	6.5%
2022	15.27	1149^th	1286	10.7%
2023	12.10	1208^th	1275	5.3%
2024	11.19	1199^th	1251	4.2%

See the entire list of Best Illinois Middle Schools for Female Students!

Rank History for Disabled students at Sterling Middle School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Middle Schools	IL State Percentile	SchoolDigger Rating
2023	22.56	626^th	674	7.1%
2024	21.63	595^th	639	6.9%

See the entire list of Best Illinois Middle Schools for Disabled Students!

Rank History for Male students at Sterling Middle School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Middle Schools	IL State Percentile
2018	18.16	1046^th	1223	14.5%
2019	15.15	1166^th	1296	10.0%
2021	12.07	1019^th	1048	2.8%
2022	14.47	1191^st	1286	7.4%
2023	11.33	1257^th	1292	2.7%
2024	11.04	1228^th	1264	2.8%

See the entire list of Best Illinois Middle Schools for Male Students!

Rank History for African American students at Sterling Middle School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Middle Schools	IL State Percentile
2018	42.87	258^th	511	49.5%
2019	24.57	487^th	565	13.8%
2021	31.47	281^st	385	27.0%
2022	29.63	445^th	573	22.3%
2023	19.10	546^th	569	4.0%
2024	20.63	505^th	548	7.8%

See the entire list of Best Illinois Middle Schools for African American Students!

Rank History for White students at Sterling Middle School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Middle Schools	IL State Percentile
2018	26.02	688^th	889	22.6%
2019	8.82	876^th	905	3.2%
2022	5.64	889^th	898	1.0%

See the entire list of Best Illinois Middle Schools for White Students!

Data source: test scores: Illinois State Board of Education, rankings: SchoolDigger.com

As you review the school rankings data, please be aware that some of the information from certain demographics is missing. The reason for this omission is that the data has been redacted from the source data itself due to low population samples in these specific demographic groups.

Redacting data from low population samples is a necessary step to ensure the reliability and accuracy of the results, as small sample sizes may not be representative of the broader population. Additionally, this measure helps protect the privacy of individuals belonging to these demographic groups.

Data source: Illinois State Board of Education

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Enrollment information for Sterling Middle School

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Year	White	African American	Asian	Hispanic	American Indian	Pacific Islander	Two or More Races	Not Specified	Total
1989	272	187	10	1	n/a	n/a	n/a	0	470
1990	271	179	10	1	n/a	n/a	n/a	0	461
1991	297	181	9	1	0	n/a	n/a	0	488
1992	271	192	2	3	1	n/a	n/a	0	469
1993	258	171	3	3	0	n/a	n/a	0	435
1994	233	166	7	0	0	n/a	n/a	0	406
1995	199	171	5	9	0	n/a	n/a	0	384
1996	199	171	5	9	0	n/a	n/a	0	384
1997	194	195	7	4	0	n/a	n/a	0	400
1998	193	216	6	5	0	n/a	n/a	0	420
1999	165	212	9	1	0	n/a	n/a	0	387
2000	132	221	8	4	2	n/a	n/a	0	367
2001	126	207	9	4	2	n/a	n/a	0	348
2002	101	222	9	3	1	n/a	n/a	0	336
2003	101	222	9	3	1	n/a	n/a	0	336
2004	83	204	4	3	0	n/a	n/a	0	294
2005	99	242	3	3	0	n/a	n/a	0	347
2006	100	227	5	4	1	n/a	n/a	0	337
2007	90	252	10	12	1	n/a	n/a	0	365
2008	79	263	9	14	0	n/a	n/a	1	366
2009	59	223	3	18	0	n/a	n/a	2	305
2010	82	254	6	16	0	n/a	n/a	4	362
2011	76	191	5	18	3	0	32	0	325
2012	102	290	7	33	0	1	43	0	476
2013	89	273	6	29	1	0	37	0	435
2014	89	267	3	30	0	0	33	0	422
2015	61	237	2	29	0	0	25	0	354
2016	59	244	2	33	1	0	20	0	359
2017	52	288	1	43	2	0	31	0	417
2018	52	280	3	47	2	0	39	0	423
2019	44	276	3	38	2	0	37	0	400
2020	49	301	5	36	3	0	30	0	424
2021	52	306	3	33	3	1	29	0	427
2022	56	318	0	29	4	0	28	0	435
2023	39	282	1	24	2	0	37	0	385

Data source: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Dept of Education.

About Enrollment/Ethnicity

For more information about how the Department of Education defines ethnicity, see Defining Race and Ethnicity Data, National Center for Education Statistics

Students eligible for free or discounted lunch at Sterling Middle School

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Year	# Students	Full-time Teachers	Student/Teacher ratio	% Free/Discounted Lunch
1989	470	21.0	22.3	n/a
1990	461	24.0	19.2	n/a
1991	488	25.6	19.0	n/a
1992	469	27.6	16.9	n/a
1993	435	21.3	20.4	n/a
1994	406	19.3	21.0	n/a
1995	384	20.5	18.7	n/a
1996	384	20.5	18.7	n/a
1997	400	20.5	19.5	n/a
1998	420	21.0	20.0	n/a
1999	387	21.5	18.0	n/a
2000	367	22.4	16.4	n/a
2001	348	21.4	16.3	n/a
2002	336	21.5	15.6	73.2
2003	336	21.5	15.6	73.2
2004	294	22.6	13.0	78.2
2005	347	21.5	16.1	73.2
2006	337	26.5	12.7	72.1
2007	365	23.0	15.9	75.6
2008	366	21.0	17.4	72.9
2009	305	35.3	8.6	73.6
2010	362	33.5	10.8	81.6
2011	325	28.0	11.6	83.1
2012	476	39.3	12.1	74.6
2013	435	36.1	12.0	84.1
2014	422	38.5	10.9	86.7
2015	354	34.0	10.4	84.2
2016	359	36.0	9.9	74.4
2017	417	35.9	11.6	80.3
2018	423	30.9	13.6	70.2
2019	400	29.5	13.5	75.8
2020	424	25.9	16.3	87.5
2021	427	n/a	n/a	n/a
2022	435	29.7	14.6	84.6
2023	385	21.7	17.7	81.6

Data source: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Dept of Education.

About Students eligible for discounted/free lunch:

The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) provides low-cost or free meals to students in U.S. public and nonprofit private schools based on household income. Those with incomes below 130% of the poverty line receive free lunch, while those between 130% and 185% qualify for reduced-price lunch. The percentage of students receiving free or reduced-price lunch serves as a marker for poverty, as it reflects the socioeconomic status of families in a given school or district. A higher FRPL rate typically indicates a higher concentration of low-income families, suggesting that the school or district may face additional challenges in providing adequate resources and support for student success.

Student/Teacher Ratio Sterling Middle School

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Year	# Students	Full-time Teachers	Student/Teacher ratio	% Free/Discounted Lunch
1989	470	21.0	22.3	n/a
1990	461	24.0	19.2	n/a
1991	488	25.6	19.0	n/a
1992	469	27.6	16.9	n/a
1993	435	21.3	20.4	n/a
1994	406	19.3	21.0	n/a
1995	384	20.5	18.7	n/a
1996	384	20.5	18.7	n/a
1997	400	20.5	19.5	n/a
1998	420	21.0	20.0	n/a
1999	387	21.5	18.0	n/a
2000	367	22.4	16.4	n/a
2001	348	21.4	16.3	n/a
2002	336	21.5	15.6	73.2
2003	336	21.5	15.6	73.2
2004	294	22.6	13.0	78.2
2005	347	21.5	16.1	73.2
2006	337	26.5	12.7	72.1
2007	365	23.0	15.9	75.6
2008	366	21.0	17.4	72.9
2009	305	35.3	8.6	73.6
2010	362	33.5	10.8	81.6
2011	325	28.0	11.6	83.1
2012	476	39.3	12.1	74.6
2013	435	36.1	12.0	84.1
2014	422	38.5	10.9	86.7
2015	354	34.0	10.4	84.2
2016	359	36.0	9.9	74.4
2017	417	35.9	11.6	80.3
2018	423	30.9	13.6	70.2
2019	400	29.5	13.5	75.8
2020	424	25.9	16.3	87.5
2021	427	n/a	n/a	n/a
2022	435	29.7	14.6	84.6
2023	385	21.7	17.7	81.6

Data source: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Dept of Education.

About Student-Teacher Ratio

Student/teacher ratio is calculated by dividing the total number of students by the total number of full-time equivalent teachers. Please note that a smaller student/teacher ratio does not necessarily translate to smaller class size. In some instances, schools hire teachers part time, and some teachers are hired for specialized instruction with very small class sizes. These and other factors contribute to the student/teacher ratio. Note: For private schools, Student/teacher ratio may not include Pre-Kindergarten.

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