The top reported proficiency rate is 28% in English language arts. The lowest is 11% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Kimball Middle School
Kimball Middle School is a regular public middle school in Elgin serving grades seven and eight, with an enrollment split roughly equally between the two grades. The student body is predominantly Latino, with smaller shares of white, Black, and Asian students, and a small number of students identifying as two or more races. The school's racial and ethnic composition reflects the broader Elgin community. Data on students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch, students with individualized education plans, and English learners were not available.
State testing results from the most recent school year show proficiency rates well below the state and regional norm. In grade seven, about one in eight students scored proficient or above in mathematics, and about one in four in English language arts. Grade eight results were lower in mathematics, at roughly one in thirteen students proficient, though English language arts improved somewhat to roughly one in three. In grade eight science, roughly one in four students met proficiency. Across all tested content areas, student participation in state assessments was high, exceeding ninety-eight percent. These results place Kimball substantially below the median for districts in Kane County on an overall proficiency index, ranking in the bottom quartile of county schools.
The scale of the challenge is worth noting plainly. Proficiency rates this low, across both mathematics and English language arts and in both middle-grade cohorts, signal that the majority of students are not meeting grade-level standards as measured by Illinois state assessment. A parent may want to look into this further with the school to understand what instructional supports, intervention programs, or improvement efforts are in place, and what the path forward looks like for their child.
Elgin itself is a mid-sized city of roughly eighty to ninety thousand residents about thirty-five to forty miles northwest of Chicago, with a historic downtown along the Fox River and significant Latino and Laotian American populations. The city combines walkable downtown commercial and civic spaces (including the Gail Borden Library, the Hemmens Cultural Center, three Metra stations, and a Pace transit hub) with car-oriented suburban development along the Randall Road corridor and I-90. Major employers include Advocate Sherman Hospital, Elgin Area School District U-46 itself, JPMorgan Chase, and manufacturing firms. Elgin is in an active growth phase, with significant new residential construction and infrastructure investments downtown and in the west end.
The broader district context includes major recent changes. In April 2023 voters approved a substantial bond referendum with no tax rate increase, funding rebuilds of five aging elementary schools and the first newly constructed middle schools in many years. One new middle school, Hawk Hollow, opened in nearby Bartlett for the 2025-26 school year; a second new Elgin middle school is scheduled to open in 2027. Concurrently, the district is shifting its middle grades to a six-through-eight model (rather than six-through-seven), introducing a new daily advisory period for social-emotional learning and academic support, and piloting new mathematics and literacy curricula. Starting in 2025-26, elementary schools extended their instructional day by roughly one hour under a new contract. These structural and curricular changes are reshaping daily schedules and school assignments across U-46 for families across the district.
State assessment data alone does not capture the full picture of school environment, peer relationships, special programs, or how individual students experience school day to day. Information about discipline, course offerings, staffing ratios, attendance, extracurricular programs, and the school's specific intervention and support systems was not available in the data provided. A parent considering this school would benefit from a direct visit and conversation with school leadership to understand how the school is responding to proficiency challenges, what services and supports exist for students working below grade level, and what the experience and expectations are for their own child.
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