Karel Havlicek Elem School, Berwyn IL

Original Research by School Decision on Karel Havlicek Elem School

Karel Havlicek Elementary is a K through 5 public school in Berwyn, a dense, brick-bungalow residential neighborhood just west of Chicago. The school serves an enrollment of roughly five hundred students in a community that is about four-fifths Hispanic, with smaller shares of Black and white families. Demographic data on free and reduced-price lunch eligibility and English learner populations were not available, so a parent may want to ask the school directly about economic need and language support.

State assessment results from spring 2025 show uneven performance. In English language arts, the school's Grade 5 students performed notably better, with a clear majority meeting or exceeding proficiency standards. Grade 4 showed moderate performance in ELA, while Grade 3 was weak in both ELA and math, with roughly one in three students reaching proficiency. In math across grades three through five, proficiency hovered between roughly one-third and one-half of students. Science proficiency in Grade 5 was low, with roughly one in four students meeting standards. Overall, the school's proficiency index across tested subjects and grades falls below the midpoint among Cook County school districts.

These results merit a closer look. The variation between grades and subjects suggests that particular grade levels or instructional areas may benefit from parent conversation with school leadership about where support is concentrated and what interventions are in place. The school participates in Berwyn North School District 98's district-wide STEAM lab initiative, which equipped all four elementary schools with maker spaces and hands-on engineering, coding, and robotics instruction using the Woz ED curriculum for K through 5, plus a Northwestern-backed FUSE program at the middle school level. This is a deliberate, recent pedagogy shift toward project-based learning that families should expect to encounter across every grade.

Berwyn itself is a stable, built-out inner-ring suburb with a strong residential character and walkable commercial corridors. Housing values have risen modestly in recent years, and the neighborhood attracts first-time buyers and families drawn to the compact blocks of historic Chicago bungalows and proximity to the city. The Depot District along the BNSF Metra line serves as a downtown for shopping, dining, and nightlife, and the Berwyn Public Library and a network of neighborhood parks provide civic anchors. Employment is anchored by MacNeal Hospital and distributed across small retail and service businesses. The area is highly walkable, though the city is working through an accessibility plan to address gaps in sidewalk and curb-ramp infrastructure.

For families considering Havlicek, the school offers a STEAM-forward, hands-on elementary experience in a walkable, diverse, established neighborhood. The test results suggest the need to understand where academic support is focused and how the school addresses weaker proficiency zones. A parent may want to visit, speak with current families, and ask about literacy and math intervention strategies, particularly in the earlier grades.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 333%

School 33% · District 44% · ▼ 11 pts below district

▼ 13 pts below state median · ▼ 6 pts below county median

Grade 435%

School 35% · District 38% · ▼ 2 pts below district

▼ 1 pts below state median · ▲ 7 pts above county median

Grade 535%

School 35% · District 36% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▲ 5 pts above state median · ▲ 13 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 332%

School 32% · District 40% · ▼ 8 pts below district

▼ 12 pts below state median · ▼ 6 pts below county median

Grade 444%

School 44% · District 50% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▼ 4 pts below state median · ▲ 4 pts above county median

Grade 562%

School 62% · District 58% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▲ 9 pts above state median · ▲ 16 pts above county median

Science

Grade 526%

School 26% · District 28% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▼ 11 pts below state median · ▼ 1 pts below county median

This schoolBerwyn North SD 98, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.