Washington Middle School, Lyons IL

Original Research by School Decision on Washington Middle School

Washington Middle School, part of Lyons SD 103, serves grades six through eight in a small, industrial-working-class village roughly a dozen miles southwest of downtown Chicago. The school enrolls a student body that is substantially Hispanic, with a smaller share of white students and a modest presence of Black and Asian students. Most students in Lyons tend to come from modest-income households; state data on free or reduced-price lunch eligibility was not available, but the town's median home value and rental market reflect affordable housing relative to Cook County as a whole.

The school's academic performance is weak across tested subjects. In math, fewer than one in four students in grades six, seven, and eight met proficiency. Grade six math proficiency is comparatively stronger than grades seven and eight, where proficiency falls below one in five. English language arts is brighter: eighth graders show the strongest results, with roughly two in five meeting proficiency, and sixth and seventh graders both in the mid-thirties percentage range. Science proficiency, measured in grade eight, sits around one in four. Across the school's three tested grades and three subjects with results, the overall proficiency index places Washington well below the median performance among the county's other middle and high schools. Notably, test participation rates are strong across subjects, with nearly all students in attendance taking the assessments. State proficiency benchmarks shifted in 2024-25, so trend comparisons with prior years were not available; a parent may want to ask the school whether it has identified specific drivers of these results and what targeted interventions it is putting in place.

The school's setting is in a residential neighborhood within Lyons. No information on the school's specific programs, course offerings, discipline practices, staffing ratios, or attendance rates was available in the data provided. The district itself is in a period of change. It has adopted ORIGO Stepping Stones as its K-5 math curriculum with parent support resources, and the district is implementing that framework as students move into the middle grades. The district also is managing a years-long enrollment decline and is currently defending federal discrimination litigation that a court allowed to proceed in early 2024, both of which create budget uncertainty. For families considering Washington Middle School, understanding the school's academic support strategy and the district's capacity to fund and staff that work would be worthwhile questions to explore directly with administrators.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 618%

School 18% · District 18%

▼ 6 pts below state median · ▲ 1 pts above county median

Grade 721%

School 21% · District 21%

▼ 8 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 815%

School 15% · District 15%

▼ 8 pts below state median · ▼ 3 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 635%

School 35% · District 35%

▼ 15 pts below state median · ▼ 8 pts below county median

Grade 732%

School 32% · District 32%

▼ 19 pts below state median · ▼ 12 pts below county median

Grade 840%

School 40% · District 40%

▼ 13 pts below state median · ▼ 7 pts below county median

Science

Grade 826%

School 26% · District 26%

▼ 14 pts below state median · ▼ 1 pts below county median

This schoolLyons SD 103, 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.