Thurgood Marshall School, Rockford IL

Original Research by School Decision on Thurgood Marshall School

Thurgood Marshall School is a public middle school serving fifth through eighth grades in Rockford's North End neighborhood. It enrolls a modest cohort of students, almost entirely drawn from the school's immediate catchment zone within Rockford School District 205.

The school's strongest asset is its math and English language arts proficiency. Across the grade bands where state assessment data are reported, proficiency in ELA consistently exceeds 96%, with fifth and eighth grade students reaching 100% proficiency. In math, proficiency ranges from about 89% in eighth grade to about 95% in sixth grade. In science, where testing occurs in fifth and eighth grades, proficiency is near 96-98%. All tested students participated fully in state assessments. These results place Thurgood Marshall in the top quartile among Winnebago County districts on an overall proficiency index—an uncommon achievement for a school in this district context.

The student body is diverse by race and ethnicity, with the largest group being white students, followed by Asian, Hispanic, Black, and multiracial students, plus a small number of students from other backgrounds. The enrollment data do not break out free-or-reduced-lunch counts, English learners, or students with IEPs, so a reader cannot see whether the school serves a high-need population or what the school's composition looks like in those terms. Grade bands range from about 113 to 129 students each, making this a small to mid-sized middle school.

No historical trend data are available, so it is not clear whether these results represent sustained performance or a single year's snapshot. The comparison position noted above rests on the most recent year's data alone.

The district is in the midst of a significant facilities and program overhaul. A five-year Facilities Master Plan, approved in 2024, calls for comprehensive campus updates across every school, including expansion of International Baccalaureate and STEAM offerings down into the middle grades—pathways that did not historically reach Thurgood Marshall. A new dedicated college-and-career center will house vocational programs now housed in the high schools. Separately, the district completed air conditioning retrofits at all buildings and moved the start date earlier, now opening school in mid-August and ending before Thanksgiving break. These shifts reshape the rhythm of the school year and expand the pathway options available to students here.

A parent considering this school should verify current enrollment boundaries and confirm whether your address falls within Thurgood Marshall's zone. The district recently redrawn attendance boundaries in 2021, and those remain in effect. The school's proficiency results are strong, but early-stage data and lack of historical comparison make it wise to confirm this performance level with the school directly.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 594%

School 94% · District 22% · ▲ 72 pts above district

▲ 64 pts above state median · ▲ 71 pts above county median

Grade 695%

School 95% · District 14% · ▲ 81 pts above district

▲ 71 pts above state median · ▲ 79 pts above county median

Grade 791%

School 91% · District 16% · ▲ 76 pts above district

▲ 62 pts above state median · ▲ 71 pts above county median

Grade 890%

School 90% · District 16% · ▲ 74 pts above district

▲ 67 pts above state median · ▲ 73 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 5100%

School 100% · District 40% · ▲ 60 pts above district

▲ 48 pts above state median · ▲ 58 pts above county median

Grade 697%

School 97% · District 33% · ▲ 64 pts above district

▲ 47 pts above state median · ▲ 54 pts above county median

Grade 797%

School 97% · District 29% · ▲ 68 pts above district

▲ 46 pts above state median · ▲ 54 pts above county median

Grade 8100%

School 100% · District 34% · ▲ 66 pts above district

▲ 47 pts above state median · ▲ 56 pts above county median

Science

Grade 596%

School 96% · District 25% · ▲ 71 pts above district

▲ 59 pts above state median · ▲ 71 pts above county median

Grade 898%

School 98% · District 26% · ▲ 72 pts above district

▲ 58 pts above state median · ▲ 59 pts above county median

This schoolRockford SD 205, 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.