Highlands Middle School, La Grange Highlands IL

Original Research by School Decision on Highlands Middle School

Highlands Middle School serves grades five through eight in an unincorporated residential community south of La Grange in Cook County. The school sits in La Grange Highlands, a quiet, family-oriented place where homes occupy half-acre or larger lots along grid-like streets. Very few businesses operate within the community itself; it is a purely residential setting. The school building is shared with Highlands Elementary (grades pre-K through four), occupying a single facility that underwent a significant expansion in 2022, adding a STEM center, renovated library, and new classrooms to support growing enrollment.

The school's enrollment is small for the grade band, with roughly equal cohorts across fifth through eighth grade. About three-quarters of the student body identifies as white, with Hispanic students comprising a modest share of the enrollment. The school does not report data on free-or-reduced-price lunch, English learner status, or special education enrollment, so a reader cannot assess the poverty rate or support needs of the population from available information.

In English language arts, the school's proficiency picture is strong and improves steadily as students progress through the grades. Fifth graders show solid proficiency, sixth graders perform at a notably higher level, and by seventh and eighth grade, most students demonstrate proficiency. The trajectory shows the school's ELA instruction gaining traction as students move up. Mathematics proficiency is more mixed: seventh graders post strong results, but eighth graders drop to below the seventh-grade level, and fifth graders land below both. Sixth grade math also sits above the school average but below seventh grade. This suggests either that seventh grade teaches a set of concepts where this cohort excels, or that the curriculum has an uneven slope as students progress. Science results are available only for fifth and eighth grades; fifth graders struggle with proficiency here, while eighth graders perform at a substantially higher level.

The school's overall proficiency index places it in the top quartile among the districts in Cook County, a meaningful marker of academic standing. Participation rates in state testing are very high across grades and subjects, showing strong assessment engagement.

The district adopted i-Ready as its new mathematics curriculum starting in the 2025-26 school year, so families considering this school should understand that the math program is now anchored in that system. The 2022 expansion added dedicated STEM space alongside library renovation and classroom additions, modernizing the physical plant that both schools share.

La Grange Highlands is built out; development now occurs through teardown-and-rebuild rather than new subdivision growth. Median home values in the zip code are approaching mid-range for Cook County, with the monthly rent well below estimated mortgage payments. The nearby commuter rail serves the adjacent Village of La Grange, connecting to Chicago's downtown. There is no dedicated downtown within La Grange Highlands itself; the Metra BNSF line and restaurants sit just outside the community boundary in La Grange proper.

Graduation rate data does not apply to a middle school. State testing data was not available for third and fourth grade, which this school serves but which fall outside the tested grade range in Illinois. Data on discipline, attendance, and staffing composition were not provided.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 567%

School 67% · District 67%

▲ 38 pts above state median · ▲ 46 pts above county median

Grade 673%

School 73% · District 73%

▲ 49 pts above state median · ▲ 56 pts above county median

Grade 783%

School 83% · District 83%

▲ 55 pts above state median · ▲ 62 pts above county median

Grade 864%

School 64% · District 64%

▲ 41 pts above state median · ▲ 47 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 582%

School 82% · District 82%

▲ 30 pts above state median · ▲ 37 pts above county median

Grade 691%

School 91% · District 91%

▲ 40 pts above state median · ▲ 48 pts above county median

Grade 790%

School 90% · District 90%

▲ 38 pts above state median · ▲ 45 pts above county median

Grade 887%

School 87% · District 87%

▲ 34 pts above state median · ▲ 40 pts above county median

Science

Grade 559%

School 59% · District 59%

▲ 22 pts above state median · ▲ 32 pts above county median

Grade 874%

School 74% · District 74%

▲ 34 pts above state median · ▲ 47 pts above county median

This schoolLaGrange Highlands SD 106, 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.