Chappell Elem School, Chicago IL

Original Research by School Decision on Chappell Elem School

Chappell Elem School serves a mixed residential neighborhood on Chicago's North Shore, spanning pre-kindergarten through eighth grade in a regular public school setting. The school enrollment sits at a stable level across its ten grades, with relatively balanced cohorts from one year to the next. The student body is racially and ethnically mixed: a substantial majority identify as white or Hispanic, with Asian, multiracial, Black, and Native American students forming smaller shares. No data on free-or-reduced-price-lunch eligibility or special populations was available.

On state assessments administered in 2024-25, Chappell's test results reveal a split picture. In English language arts, the school performs above the midpoint compared to other districts in Cook County across its tested grades. Early elementary grades (third and fourth) show proficiency around two-thirds; the middle grades (fifth through eighth) maintain proficiency in the mid-to-upper 60s, a relative strength. Mathematics performance lags considerably. Third and fourth grades reach around 60 percent proficiency, but from fifth grade onward the trend softens. Sixth grade dips noticeably, and seventh and eighth grades stabilize in the low-to-mid 40s. In science, fifth and eighth grades both reach roughly 60 percent proficiency. Across all tested grades, students participated at very high rates. Overall proficiency in math and ELA positions Chappell above the midpoint within Cook County schools, but the widening math gap as students move from elementary to middle grades suggests this is where parents may want to examine what supports exist.

The neighborhood context shapes both opportunity and constraint. The school sits in Chicago, a large, dense, mixed-use city with extensive public transit, numerous parks, cultural institutions, and a diverse job market spanning finance, healthcare, technology, and public sectors. The North Shore area where Chappell is located combines residential neighborhoods with commercial corridors and lakefront access. Housing values in the broader zip-code area reflect moderate appreciation year-over-year and rents have risen. Affordability relative to income appears moderate for the region, with mortgage payments and rents each occupying notable portions of household budgets. Chicago has returned to population growth after years of decline, with housing development accelerating, particularly in downtown and along the lakefront, though neighborhood-level variation is high.

The broader district context reflects significant change. Chicago Public Schools is transitioning from a fully mayor-appointed board to a fully elected 21-member body, with the complete transition arriving in 2027. The district adopted a strategic plan in 2024 tilted toward strengthening neighborhood schools while backing away from school-choice policies that have long defined the system. A new universal curriculum called Skyline rolled out starting in 2021-22 across ELA, math, science, social science, languages, and arts. The district replaced its longtime numeric school ratings with holistic dashboards launched in late 2024, changing how parents assess school quality.

For families choosing Chappell, the school offers a stable, full-range elementary-to-middle pathway in a walkable, transit-accessible neighborhood with strong ELA performance in the lower grades. Parents should recognize that math proficiency declines notably in the upper-elementary and middle grades, a pattern worth understanding through direct conversation with the school about instruction and support structures in that subject. The school sits within a large, complex district in motion—governance is shifting, and instructional priorities are reorienting toward neighborhood strength. Test data tells only part of the picture; a parent visit and conversation with staff and families already there would ground any enrollment decision further.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 362%

School 62% · District 38% · ▲ 24 pts above district

▲ 16 pts above state median · ▲ 23 pts above county median

Grade 462%

School 62% · District 29% · ▲ 33 pts above district

▲ 25 pts above state median · ▲ 34 pts above county median

Grade 550%

School 50% · District 24% · ▲ 26 pts above district

▲ 20 pts above state median · ▲ 29 pts above county median

Grade 636%

School 36% · District 23% · ▲ 13 pts above district

▲ 12 pts above state median · ▲ 19 pts above county median

Grade 743%

School 43% · District 27% · ▲ 16 pts above district

▲ 14 pts above state median · ▲ 22 pts above county median

Grade 842%

School 42% · District 23% · ▲ 18 pts above district

▲ 19 pts above state median · ▲ 24 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 362%

School 62% · District 36% · ▲ 26 pts above district

▲ 18 pts above state median · ▲ 25 pts above county median

Grade 472%

School 72% · District 39% · ▲ 34 pts above district

▲ 24 pts above state median · ▲ 32 pts above county median

Grade 567%

School 67% · District 43% · ▲ 24 pts above district

▲ 15 pts above state median · ▲ 21 pts above county median

Grade 668%

School 68% · District 45% · ▲ 23 pts above district

▲ 18 pts above state median · ▲ 25 pts above county median

Grade 767%

School 67% · District 46% · ▲ 21 pts above district

▲ 16 pts above state median · ▲ 23 pts above county median

Grade 867%

School 67% · District 48% · ▲ 20 pts above district

▲ 14 pts above state median · ▲ 21 pts above county median

Science

Grade 562%

School 62% · District 29% · ▲ 33 pts above district

▲ 25 pts above state median · ▲ 35 pts above county median

Grade 862%

School 62% · District 31% · ▲ 30 pts above district

▲ 22 pts above state median · ▲ 35 pts above county median

This schoolChicago Public Schools Dist 299, 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.