The top reported proficiency rate is 36% in English language arts. The lowest is 17% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Lombard Middle School
Lombard Middle School serves fifth and sixth grade in Galesburg, a small city in west-central Illinois. The school is part of Galesburg CUSD 205, which recently restructured its entire configuration: Lombard was transformed from a traditional middle school into a dedicated upper-elementary center after seventh and eighth graders moved to a renovated Galesburg Junior Senior High School, and Churchill Middle School was closed. This reorganization permanently shapes which children attend which building at each stage.
The school's academic profile shows uneven performance across subjects. In English language arts, about two in five fifth-grade students score at proficiency on the state IAR, and roughly three in ten sixth-graders do so. Math proficiency is notably lower: roughly one in five fifth-graders and about one in seven sixth-graders meet the standard. Science results for fifth grade sit at a similar level to ELA. State testing results for third and fourth grade at this school are unavailable, and data for seventh and eighth grades do not apply since those grades now attend the high school.
When compared to other districts in Knox County, Lombard's overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades places it in the bottom quartile. The school is testing all students in its grades and maintaining full participation. A parent may want to ask the school directly about what supports it has in place for math, where the gap between proficiency and non-proficiency is wide, and what classroom-level strategies are being deployed in fifth and sixth grade to close it.
The school sits at 1220 E Knox Street and serves about half a thousand students across two grades. Enrollment is split roughly evenly between fifth and sixth grade. Racial and ethnic composition is roughly six in ten white, one in six Black, one in eight two or more races, and one in eleven Hispanic, with very few Asian students and no Native American students or Pacific Islander students reported. Free and reduced lunch data was not available, so it is unclear what share of the enrollment qualifies for meal programs.
Galesburg itself is a working-class city with a historic downtown core and a railroad heritage. Major employers include the BNSF rail yard, OSF HealthCare, Knox College, and Carl Sandburg College. The housing market in the ZIP code has moved upward modestly in recent months. The city is pursuing downtown adaptive reuse, including plans for residential conversion in the historic Brown Corn Planter Works building, alongside school district capital improvements including gymnasium renovation and athletic field upgrades. The broader growth environment is reinvestment-focused rather than expansionary, with modest new construction scattered across residential neighborhoods.
The school sits within a district that has been actively reconfiguring grade spans and consolidating buildings to address decades of enrollment decline. This restructuring is now complete, with Lombard's new role as a dedicated fifth-sixth grade center established. Families choosing this school are selecting a smaller upper-elementary environment within a district that has consolidated some facilities while investing capital in others. The academic data suggests that proficiency levels, particularly in mathematics, will be an important factor for families evaluating whether additional support or a different setting might be a better fit for their child.
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