Middle Schools in Sterling CUSD 5

The Sterling CUSD 5 district in Illinois has only one middle school, Challand Middle School, which serves grades 6-8. While the school has a relatively large student population of 710, its academic performance on standardized tests is consistently below the state average across multiple subjects and grade levels.

Challand Middle School is ranked 792 out of 1,363 Illinois middle schools and has a 2-star rating from SchoolDigger. The school's chronic absenteeism rate of 18.7% is higher than the state average. In the 2023-2024 school year, the percentage of students proficient or better in English Language Arts (ELA) ranged from 29.8% to 38.2% across grade levels, compared to the state average of 41.2%. In Mathematics, the percentage of students proficient or better ranged from 10.7% to 28.6% across grade levels, compared to the state average of 28.4%. The school's performance on the Illinois Science Assessment (ISA) was slightly better, with 52.1% of students proficient or better, compared to the state average of 53.2%.

While Challand Middle School has a higher per-student spending of $12,423 compared to the state average, and a lower student-teacher ratio of 15.6, the school's academic performance suggests that there may be opportunities for improvement through targeted interventions, professional development for teachers, and a focus on addressing the specific needs of the student population, which includes a high percentage (50.14%) of students receiving free or reduced-price lunch.