The top reported proficiency rate is 84% in Science. The lowest is 67% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Woodlawn Middle School
Woodlawn Middle School serves grades six through eight in Long Grove, a small residential village about 35 to 40 miles northwest of Chicago in Lake County. The school sits within Kildeer Countryside CCSD 96, a district that has recently invested in middle-school learning infrastructure, opening new STEM-focused Collaboratory spaces—hands-on learning labs with makerspaces, 3D printing, and recording studios—with Woodlawn's opening in fall 2025.
The school enrollment is small for its grade band, distributed across the three middle grades. The student body is diverse by race and ethnicity, with a substantial share identifying as White, a large Asian population, and meaningful representation of Hispanic and Black students. Publicly reported data on free-or-reduced-price lunch eligibility and special populations including English learners and students with IEPs were not available, making it difficult to characterize the school's economic and learning-support profile from the outside.
On state assessment results, Woodlawn shows solid to strong performance. In English language arts, proficiency rates climb from grade six through grade eight, with grade seven and eight students reaching rates well above the midpoint. In mathematics, the school posts respectable performance in grade six, with proficiency strengthening in grade seven before dipping slightly in grade eight. Grade eight science results are strong. When proficiency rates across all tested subjects and grades are averaged together, Woodlawn ranks in the top quartile among Lake County's school districts, indicating that overall this is an academically strong school relative to its county neighbors. Participation rates in state testing are consistently high, near or above 96 percent across grades and subjects, suggesting that assessment data capture the school's full population with minimal absenteeism or opt-outs on test day.
State testing data for grades three, four, and five are not reported here because Woodlawn serves only grades six through eight; those grades are not assessed in Illinois. The school's data reflect the most recent state assessment window and are affected by a change in Illinois proficiency cut scores, so year-over-year trend analysis was not possible with the available data.
Long Grove itself is a preserved village with a historic downtown centered on cobblestone streets, boutique retail, and restaurants, but the surrounding landscape is low-density and car-dependent, built around large residential lots, forests, and conservation areas rather than walkable neighborhoods. Housing values in the area are substantial, with a median home value in the mid-range of upper-bracket suburban pricing and monthly rents also at the higher end. The village's economy is primarily residential; most employed residents work in finance, insurance, professional services, or manufacturing, but outside the village in neighboring suburbs. Commuter rail access depends on the Metra station in adjacent Buffalo Grove rather than on a local stop.
The district's dual-language program, which delivers half the curriculum in Spanish and half in English beginning in kindergarten through a lottery system, does not serve middle grades directly but has expanded through the school system in recent years. Families considering Woodlawn should be aware that the school's academic strength is real and visible in the state data, and the new Collaboratory space represents a concrete investment in hands-on, interdisciplinary learning that will enhance the day-to-day middle-school experience.
See more original research from School Decision →