Is Washington Middle School a good school?

Washington Middle School ranks in the bottom 3.3% of Illinois middle schools.

How many students attend Washington Middle School?

In the 2023-24 school year, 521 students attended Washington Middle School.

What is the racial makeup of Washington Middle School?

Students at Washington Middle School are 49% African American, 34% White, 13% Two or more races, 3% Hispanic.

What high school do graduates of Washington Middle School attend?

Students who attend Washington Middle School usually go on to attend Lanphier High School

Washington Middle School

Summary:

Washington Middle School is a public middle school located in Springfield, Illinois, serving grades 6-8 with a total enrollment of 531 students. The school is part of the Springfield School District 186, which is ranked 675 out of 813 districts in Illinois and has a 1-star rating from SchoolDigger.

Washington Middle School consistently ranks in the bottom 10-15% of Illinois middle schools, with a ranking between 1151-1318 out of 1363 schools in the state over the past 5 years. The school's performance on standardized tests is significantly below the state and district averages, with only 9.1% of students proficient or better in English Language Arts and 3.1% in Mathematics, compared to 41.2% and 28.4% statewide, respectively. The school's performance is particularly low for specific student subgroups, such as African American students, White students, and students with disabilities. Additionally, Washington Middle School has consistently high rates of chronic absenteeism, ranging from 60.2% to 76.7% over the past 5 school years, significantly higher than the state and district averages.

While the nearby schools, such as Jefferson Middle School and U.S. Grant Middle School, also perform poorly compared to the state and district averages, they do not perform as poorly as Washington Middle School. The exception is Lincoln Magnet School, which is a high-performing school within the same district, ranking in the top 15% of Illinois middle schools and significantly outperforming the state and district averages in academic achievement. Despite the higher per-student spending and relatively low student-teacher ratio at Washington Middle School, the school's performance remains well below the state and district averages, indicating a need for a comprehensive review of the school's educational practices, resource allocation, and support systems to address the underlying issues and improve student outcomes.

Detail:

Public 6-8

2300 E Jackson St
Springfield, IL 62703-1545

(217) 525-3182

District: Springfield School District 186

SchoolDigger Rank:
1318^th of 1,363 Illinois Middle Schools

Per Pupil Expenditures: $26,037

Students who attend Washington Middle School usually attend:

High:

Lanphier High School

Feeder schools for Washington Middle School:

Elementary:	Fairview Elementary School
	Matheny-Withrow Elementary School
	McClernand Elementary School
	Wilcox Elementary School

Student/teacher ratio: 10.2

Number of students: 521

Racial breakdown:

African American:

49.3%

White:

34.2%

Two or more races:

13.1%

Free/discounted lunch recipients: 82.3%

See top rated Illinois middle schools

Compare Washington Middle School to nearby middle schools!

Performance Trends

Compare Details Washington Middle School ranks worse than 96.7% of middle schools in Illinois. It also ranks last among 5 ranked middle schools in the Springfield School District 186. (See more...)

Compare Details In 2024 the calculated Average Standard Score was 10.87. (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 Student population at Washington Middle School is diverse. Racial makeup is: African American (49.3%), White (34.2%), two or more races (13.1%). (See more...)

Compare Details 82.3% of students are receiving a free or discounted lunch. This is the highest percentage in the Springfield School District 186. (See more...)

Teachers

Compare Details The student/teacher ratio at Washington Middle School is 10.2, which is the lowest among 5 middle schools in the Springfield School District 186! (See more...)

Compare Washington Middle School employs 51 full-time teachers.

Finance

Compare Details The average total spent per student at Washington Middle School is $26,037, which is the highest among 5 middle schools in the Springfield School District 186!

Schooldigger 2024 Rankings:

Washington Middle School:

SchoolDigger ranks Washington Middle School 1318^th of 1363 Illinois public middle schools. (See Washington 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:

White students:

Springfield School District 186:

SchoolDigger ranks Springfield School District 186 675^th of 813 Illinois school districts. (See district ranking list.)

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Rank History for Washington Middle School

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Rank History for all students at Washington Middle School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Middle Schools	IL State Percentile
2003	12.71	1017^th	1185	14.2%
2004	9.20	1074^th	1204	10.8%
2005	12.31	1040^th	1209	14.0%
2006	5.55	1203^rd	1272	5.4%
2007	7.72	1193^rd	1287	7.3%
2008	7.14	1208^th	1293	6.6%
2009	9.66	1214^th	1318	7.9%
2010	11.13	1207^th	1327	9.0%
2011	14.29	1209^th	1344	10.0%
2012	11.62	1257^th	1365	7.9%
2013	13.61	1226^th	1367	10.3%
2014	11.56	1217^th	1322	7.9%
2015	12.50	1210^th	1302	7.1%
2016	12.20	1219^th	1294	5.8%
2017	11.39	1228^th	1293	5.0%
2018	14.02	1167^th	1293	9.7%
2019	14.77	1203^rd	1356	11.3%
2021	14.07	1151^st	1241	7.3%
2022	13.51	1281^st	1369	6.4%
2023	12.58	1291^st	1367	5.6%
2024	10.87	1318^th	1363	3.3%

See the entire list of Illinois Middle School Rankings!

Rank History for Multi-racial students at Washington Middle School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Middle Schools	IL State Percentile
2018	10.30	161^st	164	1.8%
2019	10.22	167^th	179	6.7%
2022	9.78	193^rd	195	1.0%
2023	12.14	185^th	194	4.6%
2024	9.05	182^nd	184	1.1%

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

Rank History for Special Education students at Washington Middle School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Middle Schools	IL State Percentile
2018	31.20	420^th	602	30.2%
2019	28.56	625^th	792	21.1%
2021	27.55	460^th	548	16.1%
2022	29.19	619^th	781	20.7%
2023	20.94	743^rd	805	7.7%
2024	17.24	775^th	802	3.4%

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

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

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Middle Schools	IL State Percentile
2018	17.54	1057^th	1161	9.0%
2019	17.54	1105^th	1217	9.2%
2021	18.64	938^th	1019	7.9%
2022	15.47	1176^th	1221	3.7%
2023	15.30	1173^rd	1234	4.9%
2024	14.18	1167^th	1219	4.3%

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

Rank History for Female students at Washington Middle School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Middle Schools	IL State Percentile
2018	12.05	1145^th	1226	6.6%
2019	15.66	1116^th	1276	12.5%
2021	12.94	957^th	1017	5.9%
2022	12.77	1210^th	1286	5.9%
2023	12.86	1194^th	1275	6.4%
2024	10.20	1215^th	1251	2.9%

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

Rank History for Disabled students at Washington Middle School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Middle Schools	IL State Percentile	SchoolDigger Rating
2023	25.87	540^th	674	19.9%
2024	22.47	587^th	639	8.1%

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

Rank History for Male students at Washington Middle School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Middle Schools	IL State Percentile
2018	16.95	1062^nd	1223	13.2%
2019	15.85	1143^rd	1296	11.8%
2021	13.20	995^th	1048	5.1%
2022	15.73	1162^nd	1286	9.6%
2023	13.46	1201^st	1292	7.0%
2024	12.38	1207^th	1264	4.5%

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

Rank History for African American students at Washington Middle School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Middle Schools	IL State Percentile
2018	21.98	464^th	511	9.2%
2019	22.07	514^th	565	9.0%
2021	24.48	351^st	385	8.8%
2022	22.81	532^nd	573	7.2%
2023	19.30	545^th	569	4.2%
2024	21.07	498^th	548	9.1%

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

Rank History for White students at Washington Middle School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Middle Schools	IL State Percentile
2018	8.98	854^th	889	3.9%
2019	8.86	873^rd	905	3.5%
2021	10.25	786^th	813	3.3%
2022	7.58	877^th	898	2.3%
2023	6.95	878^th	895	1.9%
2024	4.94	862^nd	875	1.5%

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 Washington Middle School

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Year	White	African American	Asian	Hispanic	American Indian	Pacific Islander	Two or More Races	Not Specified	Total
1989	533	189	6	1	n/a	n/a	n/a	0	729
1990	493	169	1	2	1	n/a	n/a	0	666
1991	526	190	2	3	0	n/a	n/a	0	721
1992	539	207	3	3	0	n/a	n/a	0	752
1993	502	209	4	3	1	n/a	n/a	0	719
1994	528	206	2	4	0	n/a	n/a	0	740
1995	470	216	5	2	1	n/a	n/a	0	694
1996	470	216	5	2	1	n/a	n/a	0	694
1997	489	211	9	5	1	n/a	n/a	0	715
1998	484	234	8	7	0	n/a	n/a	0	733
1999	510	221	6	5	0	n/a	n/a	0	742
2000	485	175	3	9	1	n/a	n/a	0	673
2001	476	248	6	8	2	n/a	n/a	0	740
2002	349	290	3	10	2	n/a	n/a	0	654
2003	349	290	3	10	2	n/a	n/a	0	654
2004	321	288	7	7	0	n/a	n/a	0	623
2005	297	301	3	9	1	n/a	n/a	0	611
2006	305	315	4	8	0	n/a	n/a	8	640
2007	294	280	3	5	0	n/a	n/a	18	600
2008	275	272	2	4	1	n/a	n/a	29	583
2009	250	287	0	5	0	n/a	n/a	35	577
2010	270	266	0	7	0	n/a	n/a	48	591
2011	245	240	0	8	0	0	50	0	543
2012	286	272	0	7	4	2	55	0	626
2013	279	273	0	7	4	2	44	0	609
2014	309	338	0	9	2	2	72	0	732
2015	307	323	0	10	0	1	68	0	709
2016	288	323	0	18	1	1	65	0	696
2017	304	298	0	24	0	0	49	0	675
2018	290	291	2	18	2	1	41	0	645
2019	283	282	0	15	0	1	57	0	638
2020	214	259	3	15	2	1	76	0	570
2021	220	259	2	16	1	0	74	0	572
2022	183	258	1	18	1	0	49	0	510
2023	185	269	1	11	0	1	62	2	531
2024	178	257	1	14	1	0	68	2	521

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 Washington Middle School

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Year	# Students	Full-time Teachers	Student/Teacher ratio	% Free/Discounted Lunch
1989	729	40.0	18.2	n/a
1990	666	43.0	15.4	n/a
1991	721	39.3	18.3	n/a
1992	752	44.4	16.9	n/a
1993	719	45.9	15.7	n/a
1994	740	47.0	15.7	n/a
1995	694	47.0	14.8	n/a
1996	694	47.0	14.8	n/a
1997	715	48.0	14.9	n/a
1998	733	49.2	14.9	n/a
1999	742	49.4	15.0	n/a
2000	673	49.4	13.6	n/a
2001	740	54.6	13.6	n/a
2002	654	45.0	14.5	78.1
2003	654	45.0	14.5	78.1
2004	623	39.0	16.0	80.1
2005	611	38.0	16.1	80.5
2006	640	44.0	14.5	84.7
2007	600	34.0	17.6	86.6
2008	583	36.0	16.2	91.7
2009	577	48.6	11.9	91.3
2010	591	51.5	11.4	94.8
2011	543	50.5	10.7	90.2
2012	626	53.0	11.8	80.8
2013	609	60.1	10.1	78.3
2014	732	60.6	12.0	82.4
2015	709	60.0	11.8	83.2
2016	696	57.0	12.2	73.3
2017	675	55.9	12.0	77.2
2018	645	56.0	11.5	83.4
2019	638	54.0	11.8	73.5
2020	570	53.0	10.7	77.4
2021	572	n/a	n/a	n/a
2022	510	52.0	9.8	73.3
2023	531	52.0	10.2	80.2
2024	521	51.0	10.2	82.3

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 Washington Middle School

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Year	# Students	Full-time Teachers	Student/Teacher ratio	% Free/Discounted Lunch
1989	729	40.0	18.2	n/a
1990	666	43.0	15.4	n/a
1991	721	39.3	18.3	n/a
1992	752	44.4	16.9	n/a
1993	719	45.9	15.7	n/a
1994	740	47.0	15.7	n/a
1995	694	47.0	14.8	n/a
1996	694	47.0	14.8	n/a
1997	715	48.0	14.9	n/a
1998	733	49.2	14.9	n/a
1999	742	49.4	15.0	n/a
2000	673	49.4	13.6	n/a
2001	740	54.6	13.6	n/a
2002	654	45.0	14.5	78.1
2003	654	45.0	14.5	78.1
2004	623	39.0	16.0	80.1
2005	611	38.0	16.1	80.5
2006	640	44.0	14.5	84.7
2007	600	34.0	17.6	86.6
2008	583	36.0	16.2	91.7
2009	577	48.6	11.9	91.3
2010	591	51.5	11.4	94.8
2011	543	50.5	10.7	90.2
2012	626	53.0	11.8	80.8
2013	609	60.1	10.1	78.3
2014	732	60.6	12.0	82.4
2015	709	60.0	11.8	83.2
2016	696	57.0	12.2	73.3
2017	675	55.9	12.0	77.2
2018	645	56.0	11.5	83.4
2019	638	54.0	11.8	73.5
2020	570	53.0	10.7	77.4
2021	572	n/a	n/a	n/a
2022	510	52.0	9.8	73.3
2023	531	52.0	10.2	80.2
2024	521	51.0	10.2	82.3

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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