Rockford SD 205: special education scorecard
In 2024–25, 59.3% of Rockford SD 205's 4,332 students with IEPs spent at least 80% of the school day in general-education classrooms, compared with the Illinois district median of 55.7%; that is more inclusive than 61% of Illinois districts.
Among students with disabilities, 11.1% were proficient in reading (typical Illinois district: 27.9%), and 50.6% were chronically absent.
In the most recent federal civil-rights data (2023–24), the district suspended students with disabilities out of school at 1.9× the rate of other students (Illinois: 2.2×), physically restrained 20 students with disabilities (4.9 per 1,000), and placed 3 in seclusion (0.7 per 1,000).
How inclusive is Rockford SD 205 for students with IEPs?
Federal law (the IDEA, 20 U.S.C. §1412(a)(5) the law ) says children with disabilities should learn alongside their classmates without disabilities as much as is right for them — what the law calls the “Least Restrictive Environment.” The bar below shows how this district actually places its students with IEPs, from a regular classroom most of the day to a fully separate school. There's no single right answer — some children genuinely need a more specialized setting — but districts that include more students in the regular classroom usually have the staffing and support to do it well.
Which Rockford SD 205 schools are most and least inclusive?
A district average hides big differences between its schools. Below is every school's inclusion rate (the share of its students with IEPs taught in a regular classroom 80%+ of the day) and its out-of-school suspensions of students with IEPs, per 100 IEP students — so you can compare the actual schools your child might attend. Both figures are the “Children with Disabilities”/IEP subgroup from the state report card.
How do students with IEPs do academically in Rockford SD 205?
Outcomes for this district's “Children with Disabilities” subgroup, from the state report card — state-test proficiency, attendance, and graduation. Compare to a typical Illinois district, but remember: a district serving more significant needs can post lower numbers for reasons unrelated to quality. These are results, not a judgment.
How often does Rockford SD 205 suspend, restrain or seclude students with disabilities?
How the district responds when a child with a disability struggles, from the federal civil-rights collection (CRDC). Suspension/expulsion remove a child from school; a police referral or arrest brings law enforcement into a school matter; physical restraint is staff holding a child immobile; seclusion is confining a child alone in a room they can't leave. The government tracks these because students with disabilities face them far out of proportion: nationally they are about 12% of students but 75% of those physically restrained and 58% of those secluded, and are suspended at roughly twice the rate of students without disabilities. U.S. Dept. of Education / OCR High numbers can flag a district that meets behavior with force or exclusion rather than support — read them as something to ask about, not a verdict.
How many students have IEPs, and who supports them?
This district is below average on support staff
Its school psychologists, social workers, counselors and nurses work out to 6.1 per 1,000 students — below the Illinois average of 8.9. These are the people who evaluate children and deliver the counseling, OT, PT, and speech services written into an IEP, so fewer of them usually means longer waits and thinner services.
Questions parents ask about Rockford SD 205
What does "59% in general education 80% or more" mean for Rockford SD 205?
Where does the restraint and suspension data come from, and how current is it?
How do I get my child's restraint or time-out records from Rockford SD 205?
How do I request a special-education evaluation from Rockford SD 205?
Other Winnebago County districts
Data vintage — and why some of it lags
Each figure is a public record, linked to its source with a retrieval date. Vintages differ because the agencies publish on different cycles:
- Inclusion / LRE, % with an IEP, and the academic outcomes for students with disabilities (proficiency, graduation, dropout, chronic absenteeism, mobility, 9th-grade-on-track) — ISBE Illinois Report Card, 2024–25 (current). The state publishes annually each fall.
- Discipline, restraint & seclusion, staffing — federal CRDC, 2023–24. The most recent collection: the CRDC runs every two years and is released about two years later. Counts are self-reported by districts to the U.S. Department of Education.
- Due-process decisions — ISBE, through FY 2026 (current). Statewide, because ISBE anonymizes the district.
Verify the numbers yourself. Every figure is computed from the agencies' public-use files and linked above (OCR: civilrightsdata.ed.gov ). PedsList computes the rates, ratios, percentiles and green/orange comparisons from those public files; see the methodology.