Kaneland Igknight Academy, Maple Park IL

Original Research by School Decision on Kaneland Igknight Academy

Kaneland IgKnight Academy is a small intermediate school serving grades three through eight in rural Maple Park, Illinois, about fifty miles west of Chicago on the Kane and DeKalb county line. The school enrolls fewer than one hundred students, with the largest single grade—sixth—making up a third of the enrollment. The student body is predominantly white, with smaller populations of Hispanic and multiracial students and a few Black students; data on free and reduced price lunch, English learners, and special education were not available.

The school sits on the consolidated Kaneland district campus outside the village center. Maple Park itself is a slow-growing farm-belt community of roughly a thousand residents with limited downtown walkability and small-town commercial infrastructure; most families rely on cars for errands. The immediate school setting is rural, surrounded by fields and farmland. Housing in the area is moderately priced relative to the state average and remains accessible to working families, with mortgage costs and rental rates both sitting in the mid-range for Illinois. The area economy is dominated by the school district itself as the largest employer, supplemented by small retail, agricultural operations, and service businesses.

Test results from the 2024–25 school year show mixed academic performance. In English language arts, the school demonstrates stronger outcomes in the elementary grades, with fourth and fifth graders reaching proficiency rates above the state threshold, while sixth and seventh grade results are lower. Math performance is notably weaker across the board. Fourth grade shows about half the cohort proficient, while proficiency drops substantially in fifth grade and falls to less than half in sixth grade. Seventh grade math also sits below half. Data for eighth grade in both subjects were not available. Science testing, available only for fifth grade, shows just under half the cohort meeting proficiency. When averaged across all reported subjects and grades, the school's overall proficiency index sits below the midpoint among Kane County school districts.

The school participates in Illinois state testing with full or near-full student participation, suggesting attendance and engagement are not drivers of missing results. The state did note cut score changes across testing subjects for the current year, which can affect year-to-year comparability in ways the data does not fully explain.

In April 2025, the Kaneland district secured voter approval for a substantial bond referendum to fund capital improvements across all six schools. Construction is scheduled to begin in summer 2026 and will include HVAC upgrades, roof replacements, classroom renovations, and science lab improvements at the secondary level, alongside playground updates and facility upgrades at elementary schools like IgKnight. The district pledged to hold property tax levy payments steady despite the additional borrowing, a commitment relevant to homeowners' long-term tax picture.

This school serves a geographically remote, small enrollment. The rural setting, modest enrollment size, and current academic performance profile—particularly the weaker math and upper-elementary trajectories—are facts a parent should weigh carefully against the school's place in a district investing in facilities and the stability of a community with slow but steady growth.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 454%

School 54% · District 53% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▲ 17 pts above state median · ▲ 8 pts above county median

Grade 546%

School 46% · District 42% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▲ 16 pts above state median · ▲ 13 pts above county median

Grade 626%

School 26% · District 36% · ▼ 10 pts below district

▲ 2 pts above state median · ▲ 2 pts above county median

Grade 741%

School 41% · District 42%

▲ 13 pts above state median · ▲ 6 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 469%

School 69% · District 71% · ▼ 2 pts below district

▲ 21 pts above state median · ▲ 21 pts above county median

Grade 573%

School 73% · District 66% · ▲ 6 pts above district

▲ 21 pts above state median · ▲ 18 pts above county median

Grade 665%

School 65% · District 63% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▲ 15 pts above state median · ▲ 18 pts above county median

Grade 755%

School 55% · District 62% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▲ 4 pts above state median · ▲ 1 pts above county median

Science

Grade 555%

School 55% · District 54% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▲ 18 pts above state median · ▲ 15 pts above county median

This schoolKaneland CUSD 302, 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.