Schools · Chicago
Chicago, IL schools
Chicago’s public schools score well below Illinois’s averages: 21% of students are proficient in reading against 30.7% statewide, and 77% of high schoolers graduate on time against 87.3%. Kids attend one of 409 schools through grade 8, then one of 409 middle schools, one of 404 high schools and one of 87 high schools.
Grades, test scores, graduation, spending and every school, from U.S. Department of Education data.
TownTapestry School GradeNew
C−
Chicago’s School Grade: C-
The public schools Chicago’s kids attend, from kindergarten through graduation, trail 82% of Illinois’s districts on state tests and graduation. Among towns with similar incomes, they rank near the bottom.
C+Test scoresDGraduation
Illinois school districts we grade (853)Better than 18%
Lower resultsHigher results
Illinois towns with similar household incomes (1,464)Better than 11%
High confidence. Built on 103,200 tested students and a graduating class of 26,679; ordinary year-to-year swings are unlikely to change the grade.
How the School Grade works
- Results, not inputs. Math and reading proficiency on Illinois’s state tests, each against the state average, plus the four-year graduation rate. Spending and class size are shown below but don’t count toward the grade. Tests: 2020–21; graduation: class of 2018.
- The whole path. A town’s grade follows its kids: every district that serves it, weighted by the number of students tested in each. Tests count 60% and graduation 40%.
- Graded within the state. Each state writes its own tests, so districts are lined up against the rest of Illinois only. A+ top 5%A next 10%A- next 10%B B+ to B−, next 30%C C+ to C−, next 30%D D and D−, bottom 15%
- Individual schools are graded the same way on their own test results, against every public school in Illinois with 25+ students. Private schools aren’t graded: they don’t take the state tests.
- What a grade can’t tell you. Test results track family income closely, so a high grade partly reflects who lives in a town. That’s why we also compare towns with similar incomes. Visit, ask other parents, and read neighbor reviews. It’s our own summary of U.S. Department of Education data, not an official rating.
School path
Where Chicago kids go to school
Grades 9–12
404 high schoolsDepends on your address · see the list Chicago Public School District 299Based on district boundaries from the U.S. Department of Education. Check with the district before you enroll.
Test scores · 2020–21
Well below the state in reading
Reading (grades PK–12, Chicago Public School District 299)21%
State average 30.7%
Reading (Maine Township High School District 207)39%
State average 30.7%
Reading (Township High School District 214)45%
State average 30.7%
Math (grades PK–12, Chicago Public School District 299)17%
State average 25.8%
Math (Maine Township High School District 207)34%
State average 25.8%
Math (Township High School District 214)42%
State average 25.8%
Graduation · class of 2018
77% graduate on time
Graduation rate
77%
IL: 87.3%
Graduating class
26,679
students
The share of students who started ninth grade together and earned a regular diploma within four years.
Districts
Three districts serve Chicago
Chicago Public School District 299Grades PK–12 · 643 schools · 324,130 students
$24,330 per studentIL $21,567C-Maine Township High School District 207Grades 9–12 · 4 schools · 6,272 students
$29,333 per studentIL $21,567A-Township High School District 214Grades 9–12 · 10 schools · 11,911 students
$27,472 per studentIL $21,567A-Each district’s own page has its spending, test scores, enrollment and every school.
Every school
All 870 schools in Chicago
Showing 1–30 of 870 schools
Disney Elem Magnet SchoolElementary · Grades PK–8 · 1,384 students
A-PublicArmstrong G Elem IntL StudiesElementary · Grades PK–8 · 1,304 students
B+PublicDirksen Elem SchoolElementary · Grades PK–8 · 1,263 students
B+PublicEdwards Elem SchoolElementary · Grades PK–8 · 1,209 students
C-PublicStevenson Elem SchoolElementary · Grades PK–8 · 1,206 students
C-PublicHealy Elem SchoolElementary · Grades K–8 · 1,194 students
A-PublicMount Greenwood Elem SchoolElementary · Grades PK–8 · 1,182 students
APublicSkinner Elem SchoolElementary · Grades PK–8 · 1,139 students
A+PublicHanson Park Elem SchoolElementary · Grades PK–8 · 1,125 students
CPublicBeasley Elem Magnet Academic CtrElementary · Grades PK–8 · 1,119 students
CPublicPeirce Elem Intl Studies SchoolElementary · Grades PK–8 · 1,116 students
B+PublicBridge Elem SchoolElementary · Grades PK–8 · 1,100 students
BPublicLocke J Elem SchoolElementary · Grades PK–8 · 1,089 students
CPublicHaugan Elem SchoolElementary · Grades PK–8 · 1,065 students
CPublicClinton Elem SchoolElementary · Grades PK–8 · 1,050 students
CPublicMarquette Elem SchoolElementary · Grades PK–8 · 1,030 students
DPublicEberhart Elem SchoolElementary · Grades PK–8 · 1,011 students
C-PublicBeaubien Elem SchoolElementary · Grades PK–8 · 1,004 students
APublicGray Elem SchoolElementary · Grades PK–8 · 1,000 students
CPublicKIPP One AcademyElementary · Grades K–8 · 996 students
CharterLyon Elem SchoolElementary · Grades PK–8 · 988 students
C+PublicPortage Park Elem SchoolElementary · Grades PK–8 · 933 students
B-PublicDawes Elem SchoolElementary · Grades PK–8 · 926 students
CPublicHibbard Elem SchoolElementary · Grades PK–6 · 924 students
C-PublicMaria Saucedo Magnet AcademyElementary · Grades PK–8 · 922 students
C-PublicKIPP Chicago Chrtrs Bloom CampusElementary · Grades K–8 · 921 students
CharterNightingale Elem SchoolElementary · Grades PK–8 · 917 students
CPublicPeterson Elem SchoolElementary · Grades PK–8 · 913 students
C+PublicBateman Elem SchoolElementary · Grades PK–8 · 904 students
B-PublicBell Elem SchoolElementary · Grades K–8 · 902 students
A+PublicSchool data from the U.S. Department of Education (NCES). Ratings are from neighbors on TownTapestry.