Goethe Elem School, Chicago IL - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Goethe Elem School

Goethe Elementary serves pre-kindergarten through eighth grade in Chicago's Bucktown neighborhood, on the northwest side of the city. The school enrolls a mid-sized population across its ten grade bands, with a student body that is predominantly Latino, followed by a substantial white enrollment, and smaller Asian and Black populations. The school is part of Chicago Public Schools District 299.

In terms of recent academic performance, Goethe shows an uneven pattern across tested grades and subjects. In English language arts, the school's results tilt toward the stronger end: seventh and eighth graders show notably higher proficiency, while younger grades in the third through sixth range closer to or slightly below half of students meeting proficiency standards. Mathematics tells a different story. Third grade proficiency sits just under half, but fourth through eighth grades all report proficiency below that threshold, with fourth grade the lowest point. Science testing is limited to fifth and eighth grades; fifth grade shows proficiency in the low-to-mid range, while eighth grade is marginally higher. Overall, Goethe's proficiency index positions it above the midpoint among Cook County district schools, suggesting it performs at a reasonable comparative level despite the grade-by-grade variability.

The data carries an important caveat: Illinois changed its cut scores for proficiency in 2024-25, so multi-year trend comparisons are not reliably computed. Test participation rates are strong across the school, running above ninety percent in nearly all grades and subjects.

The neighborhood context matters here. Chicago is a dense, mixed-income city with extensive transit, parks, and lakefront access. The school sits in an area with appreciating housing values and rising rents, typical of Chicago's northwest residential neighborhoods. The housing market in the zip code is showing modest growth year-over-year, and the broader city has resumed population growth after years of decline. CPS itself is undergoing significant structural change: the district transitioned its school board from fully mayoral appointment to a hybrid elected-appointive model in 2024, with a fully elected board coming in 2027. The district's strategic direction now emphasizes neighborhood schools over choice-based enrollment, a shift from decades of prior policy. CPS also rolled out a district-developed universal curriculum called Skyline beginning in 2021-22, available at no cost to all district-managed schools and standardizing instruction across hundreds of campuses.

Goethe is a regular public school with no charter or magnet designation. The school does not report free-or-reduced-price lunch, special education enrollment, or English learner counts in the available data, so a parent may want to look into those student-support metrics directly with the school. No graduation rate applies, as the school does not extend into high school. The school's peer environment is decidedly neighborhood-based and urban, with mixed socioeconomic composition and high linguistic and cultural diversity. For families seeking a comprehensive pre-K-to-8 pipeline in an established Chicago neighborhood with transit and community infrastructure nearby, Goethe offers a documented academic trajectory and access to district-wide curriculum support, though the mathematics performance across upper grades warrants direct conversation with school leadership about instructional approach and student support.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 349%

School 49% · District 38% · ▲ 11 pts above district

▲ 3 pts above state median · ▲ 10 pts above county median

Grade 426%

School 26% · District 29% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▼ 11 pts below state median · ▼ 3 pts below county median

Grade 532%

School 32% · District 24% · ▲ 8 pts above district

▲ 2 pts above state median · ▲ 11 pts above county median

Grade 632%

School 32% · District 23% · ▲ 9 pts above district

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

Grade 740%

School 40% · District 27% · ▲ 12 pts above district

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

Grade 836%

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

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

English language arts

Grade 349%

School 49% · District 36% · ▲ 13 pts above district

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

Grade 446%

School 46% · District 39% · ▲ 7 pts above district

▼ 2 pts below state median · ▲ 6 pts above county median

Grade 556%

School 56% · District 43% · ▲ 13 pts above district

▲ 4 pts above state median · ▲ 10 pts above county median

Grade 651%

School 51% · District 45% · ▲ 7 pts above district

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

Grade 768%

School 68% · District 46% · ▲ 22 pts above district

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

Grade 870%

School 70% · District 48% · ▲ 22 pts above district

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

Science

Grade 539%

School 39% · District 29% · ▲ 10 pts above district

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

Grade 843%

School 43% · District 31% · ▲ 12 pts above district

▲ 4 pts above state median · ▲ 17 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.