Cook Elem School, Chicago IL - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Cook Elem School

Cook Elementary School serves a small student body in a dense, mixed-income neighborhood of Chicago's South Side. The school enrolls early learners through eighth grade and is part of Chicago Public Schools, a large district currently navigating significant structural and instructional changes.

The school's academic profile reflects substantial challenges. State assessment results from the most recent year show proficiency in English language arts ranging from the low teens to near one-third across grades three through eight, with math proficiency dramatically lower: most grade levels show single-digit or near-zero proficiency, with only one student meeting proficiency standards in grade six and another in grade eight. Science results, available for grades five and eight, are similarly low. These results place the school in the bottom quartile of proficiency when compared to other schools in Cook County. The school maintains full participation in state testing, a positive indicator of capacity to administer assessments, though a parent would want to understand from staff what instructional supports are in place to raise achievement, given these results.

The student body is small, about mid-sized for an elementary school serving its grade band. Students are predominantly African American, with a small Hispanic enrollment and a very small multiracial population. The school does not have reported data on free-or-reduced-price lunch eligibility, special education enrollment, or English learner enrollment, so a parent cannot assess the extent of economic hardship or support needs from available figures. The lack of these data points is notable and worth asking the school to explain.

Cook Elementary sits in a neighborhood where housing values have been relatively stable and modest by Chicago standards. Rental costs in the immediate area are similarly moderate. The broader South Side shows the texture of a long-established residential community with mixed commercial corridors. Chicago's housing market overall has tightened in recent years, with modest new construction, though the city's transit system and parks remain important civic anchors.

Chicago Public Schools as a whole is in transition. The district moved to an elected school board for the first time in 2024, shifting governance from mayoral appointment and giving parents direct voice in policy. The district has also adopted a new neighborhood-school-focused strategic plan that backs away from decades of school-choice policy, marking a substantial philosophical shift about how students should be assigned and where resources flow. CPS has also launched new accountability dashboards replacing numeric school ratings, changing how families will evaluate schools going forward. These changes are recent enough that their full effects remain to be seen.

For curriculum, the district rolled out Skyline, a district-developed comprehensive program across multiple subjects available to all schools without additional cost, representing the first fully unified curriculum in CPS history. Cook Elementary would use this framework alongside its own instructional decisions.

A parent considering Cook Elementary would need to have a direct conversation with school leadership about the causes of the low test results, what interventions are in place, how the school measures progress beyond state exams, and what the school's specific plan is to improve proficiency in math. The school's small size and neighborhood location are neutral characteristics; fit depends on what the family seeks. The data available here does not speak to school culture, staff stability, daily experience, or the school's engagement with families, all of which matter considerably and would deserve exploration directly with the school.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 33%

School 3% · District 38% · ▼ 34 pts below district

▼ 43 pts below state median · ▼ 36 pts below county median

Grade 40%

School 0% · District 29% · ▼ 29 pts below district

▼ 37 pts below state median · ▼ 29 pts below county median

Grade 53%

School 3% · District 24% · ▼ 21 pts below district

▼ 27 pts below state median · ▼ 19 pts below county median

Grade 63%

School 3% · District 23% · ▼ 20 pts below district

▼ 21 pts below state median · ▼ 14 pts below county median

Grade 70%

School 0% · District 27% · ▼ 27 pts below district

▼ 29 pts below state median · ▼ 21 pts below county median

Grade 83%

School 3% · District 23% · ▼ 20 pts below district

▼ 20 pts below state median · ▼ 14 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 317%

School 17% · District 36% · ▼ 19 pts below district

▼ 27 pts below state median · ▼ 20 pts below county median

Grade 417%

School 17% · District 39% · ▼ 22 pts below district

▼ 31 pts below state median · ▼ 23 pts below county median

Grade 518%

School 18% · District 43% · ▼ 25 pts below district

▼ 34 pts below state median · ▼ 28 pts below county median

Grade 616%

School 16% · District 45% · ▼ 29 pts below district

▼ 34 pts below state median · ▼ 27 pts below county median

Grade 725%

School 25% · District 46% · ▼ 21 pts below district

▼ 26 pts below state median · ▼ 20 pts below county median

Grade 829%

School 29% · District 48% · ▼ 19 pts below district

▼ 25 pts below state median · ▼ 18 pts below county median

Science

Grade 510%

School 10% · District 29% · ▼ 19 pts below district

▼ 27 pts below state median · ▼ 17 pts below county median

Grade 812%

School 12% · District 31% · ▼ 20 pts below district

▼ 28 pts below state median · ▼ 15 pts below 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.