Arbor Park Middle School, Oak Forest IL

Original Research by School Decision on Arbor Park Middle School

Arbor Park Middle School serves grades five through eight in Oak Forest, a south-suburban Cook County community about a short drive south of Chicago. The school sits in a residential area that has undergone consolidation in recent years. In 2021 the district sold its Morton Gingerwood building, moved younger students into the Arbor Park facility, and is now planning a new elementary school to house grades one through four on the Scarlet Oak campus. That reshaping means families should clarify enrollment assignments as the district executes its facilities transition.

The student body is diverse in racial composition: roughly a third identify as Hispanic, two-fifths as white, and the remainder split among Asian, Black, and other groups. Enrollment is modest for a middle school, around a mid-sized cohort. Free-or-reduced-price-lunch data was not available, so the economic profile of the school's families is not documented here.

Testing data from the 2024-25 school year shows a school working at a below-midpoint level academically relative to other districts in Cook County. Math proficiency is particularly low. In grade five, roughly two-fifths of students reached proficiency, declining sharply in grades six and seven to around a quarter or fewer, and holding near a quarter in grade eight. The pattern suggests that as students move into the middle grades, the gap between course content and student mastery widens. English Language Arts results are stronger, with grade seven reaching slightly above half, and grade eight also near half, though grade six and five both sit well below. Science results fall in the middle range: roughly half in grade five, and approaching half in grade eight.

Proficiency is reported as the mean of results across tested grades and subjects. Relative to Cook County districts in the comparison set, Arbor Park sits below the midpoint overall. A parent may want to look into the school's support structures and recent interventions, since the testing results suggest a sustained academic challenge, particularly in mathematics.

A four-year graduation rate does not apply; the school serves only grades five through eight and therefore has no high school completers. Chronic absenteeism data was not available.

Oak Forest itself is a car-dependent suburb whose identity has long been anchored by the Cook County Oak Forest Hospital, the city's largest employer until its closure. The hospital campus, now being demolished through 2027, frees a large parcel for future development. The city has shifted focus to transit-oriented redevelopment around the Metra station at Cicero and 159th Street, where mixed-use projects including townhomes and commercial space are under construction. Residential neighborhoods are older, tree-lined, and modest in character. Schools are sited as separate campuses within those neighborhoods rather than clustering in a downtown core. The Acorn Public Library, Oak Forest Park District facilities, and the Metra station form civic anchors. Housing values and rental costs sit modestly below state and national benchmarks, making the area relatively affordable by regional standards.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 540%

School 40% · District 40%

▲ 10 pts above state median · ▲ 18 pts above county median

Grade 621%

School 21% · District 21%

▼ 3 pts below state median · ▲ 4 pts above county median

Grade 728%

School 28% · District 28%

▼ 1 pts below state median · ▲ 7 pts above county median

Grade 825%

School 25% · District 25%

▲ 2 pts above state median · ▲ 7 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 550%

School 50% · District 50%

▼ 2 pts below state median · ▲ 5 pts above county median

Grade 634%

School 34% · District 34%

▼ 16 pts below state median · ▼ 8 pts below county median

Grade 759%

School 59% · District 59%

▲ 7 pts above state median · ▲ 14 pts above county median

Grade 852%

School 52% · District 52%

▼ 1 pts below state median · ▲ 6 pts above county median

Science

Grade 546%

School 46% · District 46%

▲ 9 pts above state median · ▲ 19 pts above county median

Grade 844%

School 44% · District 44%

▲ 4 pts above state median · ▲ 17 pts above county median

This schoolArbor Park SD 145, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.