The top reported proficiency rate is 37% in English language arts. The lowest is 24% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Cumberland Middle School
Cumberland Middle School serves grades five through eight in a consolidated rural campus between Toledo and Greenup, in the heart of a small agricultural county in central Illinois. The school enrolls a small student population. Students are overwhelmingly white, reflecting the demographic makeup of Cumberland County; detailed free-and-reduced-price-lunch rates and counts of students with special education plans or English learner status were not available in the data.
The school's academic profile reveals widespread challenge in core subjects. Math proficiency rates across the grades tested range from low teen to upper-twenty percentages, with sixth grade showing the lowest result. English language arts shows somewhat higher performance, clustering in the low to mid-thirty percentages in the middle grades, with eighth grade notably stronger at mid-forty percentages. Science proficiency in the one eighth-grade cohort measured sits at thirty percent. Reading participation rates are strong and consistent. The state assessment underwent cut-score changes in both mathematics and language arts in the school year measured, which can affect year-to-year comparability; parents may want to understand what those changes mean for understanding progress over time. No prior-year trend data is available to assess whether performance is stable, declining, or improving.
When set against the two other districts in Cumberland County under the same comparison framework, Cumberland Middle School's overall proficiency index places it in the bottom quartile among county peers. The school does not serve high school grades, so no graduation rate is available. State testing data was not provided for grades three and four, which do not appear in Cumberland Middle School's roster; the school's primary attendance spans fifth through eighth.
The school sits within a place marked by decline and consolidation. Toledo itself is a village of very small size serving as the county seat, centered on a courthouse square with a library and modest civic anchor points. Population there has drifted downward over the past decade. The school district is not located in the village but in the countryside between Toledo and Greenup on Illinois Route 121, a consolidated rural setting typical of how small agricultural counties in Illinois have organized K-12 education. There are no major new housing developments reported in the available sources, and no significant district strategic changes emerged in recent public reporting.
The housing market in the school's zip code shows median home values running below the state average and substantially below national figures. Mortgage affordability metrics suggest a monthly payment estimate in the low range for the region. These valuations reflect the rural, small-town character of the area and its limited employment base; the primary anchors are county government, the school district itself, and regional banking institutions, with larger employers at community colleges and a university within regional commuting distance.
A parent or resident considering this school should understand that it serves a stable, small, rural community with limited recent growth or change, and that academic proficiency in tested subjects is currently low. The school's peer environment is predominantly white and drawn from a tight geographic area. A parent may want to look into further with the school what approaches it is taking to address proficiency gaps, whether tutoring or remediation supports exist, and how transitions to high school in the district or region work given that this building serves only through eighth grade.
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