Summary:
The 62526 zip code area in Illinois is home to two middle schools - Stephen Decatur Middle School and Robertson Charter School, both part of the Decatur School District 61. While the schools serve similar grade levels, the data reveals a stark contrast in their academic performance, with Robertson Charter School emerging as the higher-performing option.
Robertson Charter School stands out with significantly higher proficiency rates in English Language Arts and Science compared to Stephen Decatur Middle School, despite serving a student population with a higher percentage of free/reduced lunch recipients. In contrast, Stephen Decatur Middle School has very low proficiency rates, ranking in the bottom 1-2% of Illinois middle schools over the past 3 years, with only 6.5% of students proficient or better in English Language Arts and less than 1% proficient in Math.
The data also highlights other notable differences between the two schools, such as Stephen Decatur Middle School's much higher chronic absenteeism rate of 53.8% compared to 37.9% at Robertson Charter School, as well as the significantly higher student-teacher ratio of 47 at Robertson Charter School versus 15.8 at Stephen Decatur Middle School. These factors may contribute to the performance gap, suggesting that addressing attendance issues and resource allocation could be important areas of focus for the Decatur School District.
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