The top reported proficiency rate is 86% in English language arts. The lowest is 80% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Deer Path Middle Sch West
Deer Path Middle School West is a grades 7 and 8 school of about 380 students in Lake Forest, an affluent North Shore suburb built on Beaux Arts planning and dotted with estates and Tudor-revival homes. The school sits in a community where median home values are very high and have grown, and where nearly all families own their homes. It is a regular public school in Lake Forest School District 67, which spans Lake Forest, Lake Bluff, and Knollwood.
On the latest state assessments in math and English language arts, the school's proficiency performance is solid. In seventh grade, about four-fifths of students scored at or above the state proficiency level in math, and about four-fifths did so in English language arts. By eighth grade, the picture strengthens: about five-sixths tested proficient in math and nearly nine-tenths in English language arts. In eighth-grade science, about five-sixths scored proficient. Test participation rates were high, above 97 percent in every tested subject and grade. When measured against other districts in Lake County, the school's overall proficiency index places it in the top quartile. Student enrollment is almost entirely white, with Asian students making up a small share and other groups represented in very small numbers. Free-or-reduced-price-lunch status data and data on students with individualized education plans were not available, typical for a district in this economic context.
The school's data has one soft spot worth noting: only students in grades 7 and 8 are assessed by the state, so this profile does not capture what happened to students before they arrived at Deer Path. A parent curious about the full arc of learning should ask the district about primary-grade assessment and about how the school supports students who arrive with gaps.
Lake Forest itself is a slow-growth, high-value market. Homes sell in about a month on average. New development is mostly infill and small luxury subdivisions rather than large expansion. The downtown is compact and walkable, centered on Market Square, a historic planned shopping district, with the library and Metra station a few blocks away. Most of the city outside the core is low-density residential. The local economy includes the Chicago Bears' Halas Hall headquarters, Tenneco, Northwestern Lake Forest Hospital, and Lake Forest College. The school is part of a district-wide shift toward competency-based learning centered on the "Portrait of a Learner" framework, which emphasizes six core competencies: communication, adaptability, citizenship, empathy, critical thinking, and confidence. This shapes how instruction is organized across the district's schools. For families considering the area, the high school district passed a large bond referendum in 2023 for facility upgrades. District 67 itself has stated it does not plan to pursue a large referendum, instead funding improvements through its existing Debt Service Extension Base and reallocating funds as enrollment declines, meaning smaller property-tax requests than some peer districts.
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