The top reported proficiency rate is 49% in English language arts. The lowest is 26% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Peter J Palombi School
Peter J Palombi School is a middle school serving sixth through eighth grade in Lake Villa, a small residential village in northern Lake County with a historic downtown and lake-oriented character. The school sits outside the village core and opened its doors to sixth graders in the 2024–25 school year after those students transitioned out of the district's elementary buildings. Palombi is the sole middle school in Lake Villa Community Consolidated School District 41 and currently enrolls students from the full grade band the school serves.
The student body reflects the community's composition, which is predominantly white with meaningful representation of Hispanic, multiracial, and Asian students. The school did not report free-or-reduced-price-lunch counts or English learner or special education enrollment figures, so a reader cannot assess economic need or support service demand from the available data.
In English Language Arts, sixth and seventh graders show stronger results than eighth graders. Sixth graders met or exceeded proficiency at a rate above the halfway point, and seventh graders performed at a similar level. Eighth graders fell below that mark, suggesting a decline in performance as students move through the grades. Math proficiency is notably lower across all three grades. Sixth graders achieved proficiency at less than a third of the typical rate, seventh graders slightly higher, and eighth graders the lowest of the three. Science was assessed only in eighth grade, where proficiency sat around a third. All three grade levels showed near-universal test participation, a sign of consistent assessment administration. State test scoring rules shifted in Illinois for 2025, making year-to-year trend analysis uncertain, so a parent may want to ask the school directly about historical performance patterns and whether these results align with the school's usual trajectory.
Palombi's proficiency across all tested subjects and grades places it in the bottom quartile when compared to other districts in Lake County, meaning the majority of districts in the county report higher overall proficiency. This contextual position matters for families considering school options within the region.
The district has undertaken several changes that shape the school's daily experience. All four district schools, including Palombi, earned Leader in Me Lighthouse Status in the past year, meaning they adopt a schoolwide framework built on Stephen Covey's Seven Habits, which influences how students encounter leadership, responsibility, and personal development throughout the day. The district also recently adopted new math curriculum resources across all grades—Illustrative Math, Number Corner, DreamBox, and Imagine Math—intended to shift instruction toward deeper conceptual understanding and real-world problem-solving rather than procedural mechanics. The district created a Portrait of a Graduate in 2024 with input from students, staff, parents, and community members, and this vision now guides a three-year teaching and learning plan and resource allocation to special education, English learners, response to intervention, physical education, and enrichment.
Lake Villa itself is in an active redevelopment phase. The village acquired the former Pleviak Elementary School property and is planning transformative mixed-use development downtown. Two residential projects are underway: a large single-family subdivision by Lennar with homes ranging from roughly eighteen hundred to over two thousand square feet, and a forty-unit senior apartment complex. The Metra station provides rail access to Chicago and the broader region. Housing values in the immediate area have risen modestly year-over-year, and rental demand remains steady. The community has a small downtown along Cedar Avenue anchored by parks, a library, and civic spaces, though walkability and street life are concentrated rather than dispersed, and the Downtown Vision Plan completed in early 2025 indicates these are areas the village is working to improve.
For families considering Palombi, the school's shift to a leader-centered culture, new math pedagogy, and growing support infrastructure may signal a school in transition, with current test results lagging the county median and improvement not yet visible in the latest assessments. The restructuring of sixth grade into the middle school is a change worth discussing directly with the school, as it affects the rhythm of the elementary-to-middle transition and the student composition Palombi serves. A parent may want to inquire about the school's plans for addressing math proficiency, the early impact of the new math curriculum, and how the Leader in Me framework is being implemented in daily practice.
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