Gray Elem School, Chicago IL - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Gray Elem School

Gray Elementary School is a PreK through 8th grade school on the North Laramie Avenue side of Chicago, serving a school community that is predominantly Latino. The enrollment is substantial for an elementary school, drawn from the immediate area with no selective admissions or choice component.

Test results show mixed proficiency across grades 3 through 8. In English language arts, performance is uneven: third and sixth graders sit around the low end of state proficiency benchmarks, while fourth graders and seventh graders reach into the mid-range, and eighth graders perform notably higher. Math proficiency is lower across all grades, with sixth graders at the bottom and slight improvement in third and seventh grades, but nowhere near half of students meeting state standards in most grades. Science testing, which runs only in fifth and eighth grades, shows fifth-grade proficiency below a quarter of students, while eighth-grade science is considerably stronger. The school is at or below the bottom quartile on proficiency when compared to other schools across Cook County districts. Participation in state testing is consistently high, above ninety percent in all grades, so results reflect close to the full student body.

The neighborhood context matters. Gray sits in a Chicago zip code where median home value is in the mid-range, and rental costs are moderate relative to the city overall, with both ownership and rental markets showing modest growth. The area sits within Chicago's broader transit-rich, walkable urban fabric. Chicago Public Schools, the parent district, is now under an elected board for the first time, with a strategic pivot toward neighborhood schools and a shift away from choice-based enrollment, meaning Gray's role as a neighborhood school will likely sharpen over the coming years. The district has rolled out a new universal curriculum framework (Skyline) across elementary and middle grades, which will shape instructional approach at this school alongside whatever local school-level choices staff make.

Grade-level proficiency swings up and down rather than showing steady growth from lower to upper elementary; eighth-grade English strength does not align with sixth-grade math weakness, suggesting uneven supports across subjects or inconsistent momentum as students move through the school. A parent considering Gray should ask the school directly about what drives these shifts, what supports exist in lower-performing grades and subjects, and how the school plans to use district resources and curriculum to raise baseline proficiency across the board. Test data alone does not tell the full story of school culture, teaching quality, or student support systems, so classroom visits and conversations with current families will round out a picture that the numbers alone cannot complete.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 340%

School 40% · District 38% · ▲ 2 pts above district

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

Grade 427%

School 27% · District 29% · ▼ 2 pts below district

▼ 10 pts below state median · ▼ 2 pts below county median

Grade 520%

School 20% · District 24% · ▼ 4 pts below district

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

Grade 612%

School 12% · District 23% · ▼ 10 pts below district

▼ 11 pts below state median · ▼ 5 pts below county median

Grade 724%

School 24% · District 27% · ▼ 4 pts below district

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

Grade 823%

School 23% · District 23% · ▼ 1 pts below district

even with state median · ▲ 5 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 331%

School 31% · District 36% · ▼ 5 pts below district

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

Grade 447%

School 47% · District 39% · ▲ 9 pts above district

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

Grade 534%

School 34% · District 43% · ▼ 9 pts below district

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

Grade 632%

School 32% · District 45% · ▼ 13 pts below district

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

Grade 740%

School 40% · District 46% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▼ 11 pts below state median · ▼ 5 pts below county median

Grade 853%

School 53% · District 48% · ▲ 5 pts above district

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

Science

Grade 525%

School 25% · District 29% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▼ 12 pts below state median · ▼ 2 pts below county median

Grade 843%

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

▲ 3 pts above state median · ▲ 16 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.