The top reported proficiency rate is 29% in Science. The lowest is 12% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Round Lake Middle School
Round Lake Middle School serves grades six through eight in Round Lake Heights, a small suburban community northwest of Chicago in Lake County. The school is part of Round Lake CUSD 116, which in recent years has undergone substantial structural changes, including a redesign of its elementary model and a district-wide technology initiative placing iPads in students' hands from kindergarten through twelfth grade.
The school's state testing results show consistent academic challenges across both math and English language arts. In mathematics, proficiency at the school ranges from roughly one in fourteen students reaching proficiency in grade six, declining to approximately one in eleven in grade seven and one in nine in grade eight. English proficiency is similarly modest, with around one in three students meeting the standard in grade six, and roughly one in five in both grades seven and eight. Science proficiency in grade eight stands at roughly three in ten students. These results place the school in the bottom quartile of districts across Lake County in overall proficiency. The most recent state assessment data shows near-universal participation, with rates above ninety-three percent across grades, so the results reflect the performance of the vast majority of the school's enrollment.
The student body is predominantly Hispanic, representing roughly three in four students, with Black students making up a smaller share and white enrollment at roughly one in ten. The school enrolled roughly eight hundred students at the opening of the most recent school year, split fairly evenly across the three middle grades. Free and reduced price lunch data was not available in the state reporting, so a reader looking for economic context should seek that directly from the school or district.
Round Lake Heights itself is a quiet, family-oriented residential community of minimal-traditional homes built largely after World War II. Housing values in the zip code are moderate relative to Illinois state benchmarks and well below national medians, and the area has drawn residents seeking affordability while remaining within reach of the Chicago job market. Two nearby Metra stations serve commuters, and neighborhood parks including Chesapeake Trails provide local recreation. The community has no commercial downtown of its own; shopping and dining are concentrated in neighboring Round Lake Beach. This is the kind of place where families often choose to live precisely for its affordability and proximity to urban employment without the cost and density of the city itself.
The district is managing a significant budget challenge stemming from a forecasting error discovered during the 2024-2025 school year. The district is addressing this through reductions in administrative staffing, leaving some positions vacant, and limiting overtime over multiple years. This is part of the operational context parents should understand when evaluating the school's resources and stability.
Curriculum changes arriving in 2025-26 include new mathematics adoption at the K-8 level and a shift to a different vendor for high school math, so the core instructional tools and sequence students encounter will change. Parents of students who will be affected by these shifts may want to connect directly with the school about implementation details and timeline.
The school's testing results indicate that students are not reaching proficiency at rates that would suggest strong academic momentum in core subjects. A parent or family considering this school would benefit from understanding what targeted support, intervention structures, or enrichment pathways exist to address the gaps evident in these scores, and what the school's plans are for improvement in light of both the academic performance and the district's broader staffing and budget constraints.
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