The top reported proficiency rate is 67% in English language arts. The lowest is 41% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Manteno Middle School
Manteno Middle School serves grades five through eight in a rural-to-suburban setting in northern Kankakee County, about fifty miles south of Chicago. The school is part of Manteno CUSD 5, which recently consolidated from four buildings to three, effective in the 2024-25 school year. This consolidation is a significant structural change that altered which building younger students attend, so a parent new to the district would want to understand its effects on feeder patterns and community.
The school enrolls a small student body reflective of the village's demographic makeup: predominantly white, with meaningful representation of Hispanic students and smaller populations of Black and multiracial students. Free-or-reduced-price-lunch data was not available, so a parent seeking to understand economic context at the school may want to ask the district directly.
English language learner and special education enrollment counts were not reported in the available data, making it difficult to assess how robustly the school serves these populations. A parent with students in either category would benefit from contacting the school for detail on support services and staffing.
On the most recent state assessments in English language arts, the school shows uneven performance across grades. Fifth and sixth graders score substantially above the threshold for proficiency, while proficiency drops notably in seventh grade and sits lower still in eighth grade. The pattern in math is more consistent, with all grades in the 38 to 44 percent range for proficiency, all below the midpoint. Science proficiency in fifth grade was around 40 percent, and rose to about 50 percent by eighth grade. Overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades places the school above the midpoint among the county's other districts, a meaningful but not dominant position.
The most striking pattern is the subject gap: the school's English language arts results outpace its math results substantially at every grade level. This gap invites scrutiny of how the school allocates instructional resources, coaching, and intervention time between the two subjects. A parent wondering whether the school has identified this disparity and what it is doing to narrow it would be asking a reasonable question at a school visit or parent meeting.
Manteno itself is a mixed-use suburban village with strong civic infrastructure. The town has a walkable downtown anchored by Main Street and The Square, a public gathering space with play structures and a splash pad. Parks, including Legacy Park with its year-round skating rink and athletic fields, shape daily life. The Canadian National railroad bisects downtown and runs freight trains on the hour, a factor in the village's character. The community has been steadily growing, with new subdivisions and townhome developments attracting households relocating from more expensive Cook County suburbs. Transit options expanded recently with Manteno's entry into the River Valley Metro system, which offers fixed-route service and commuter shuttles to Midway Airport.
Housing in the area is moderately priced relative to national benchmarks, and rental rates suggest housing costs are manageable for many households. The local economy rests on logistics, manufacturing, and institutional care, anchored by large distribution operations and the Illinois Veterans' Home.
State testing data for grades three and four are not shown because the school does not serve those grades. Graduation rate data do not apply to a middle school. The school has not been assigned a Title I status in the available records, and civil rights compliance information was not included in the data provided.
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