Hamilton Elem School, Chicago IL

Original Research by School Decision on Hamilton Elem School

Hamilton Elementary serves a neighborhood setting in Chicago, located on West Cornelia Avenue in a neighborhood anchored by community parks and the city's extensive public transit network. The school runs pre-kindergarten through eighth grade, enrolling a school-size population in a densely developed residential area where public transit and walkable commercial corridors are the dominant features of daily life.

The student composition at Hamilton is predominantly white, with substantial presence of Latino, multiracial, and smaller Asian and Black populations. The enrollment spans a wide age range from early childhood through middle school, with each grade cohort at similar size through the tested grades. Data on free-and-reduced-price lunch eligibility was not available, nor were counts for special education or English learner populations, so a reader should ask the school directly about the share of students in those categories if that information matters to their decision.

On state testing, Hamilton shows solid proficiency across grades three through eight in English language arts and math, with science results available for grades five and eight. In English language arts, proficiency rates run from the high sixties to around eighty percent across grades, with grades six, seven, and eight performing particularly strongly. Math proficiency is more uneven. Grades three, four, seven, and eight all show around seventy-five percent proficiency or higher, but grade five shows notably lower performance, in the range of fifty percent, a distinct dip that a parent may want to look into further with the school. Grade six recovers somewhat in the upper sixties. In science, the available results for grades five and eight both show proficiency in the seventy to seventy-five percent range. Across all tested subjects and grades, Hamilton's overall proficiency index places it in the top quartile relative to other schools in Cook County, a strong position in the broader district landscape.

The school participates in the Illinois Assessment of Readiness and the Illinois Science Assessment. Test participation rates are high across grades, running at or near total attendance for the tested population, indicating that absences on test days are not a major factor in the results shown.

Chicago itself has resumed population growth after years of decline. The lakefront neighborhoods and older residential corridors that define this part of the city are stable, with housing values reflecting the location's proximity to public transit, Lincoln Park, and the North Side's long-established character. The area is among the most walkable in the nation, with dense commercial corridors and 24-hour public transit service. For families considering this neighborhood school, the context is a mature, walkable urban community with strong public amenities rather than suburban growth or development pressure.

Chicago Public Schools is undergoing significant governance change. The district has transitioned from a fully mayor-appointed board to one that is partially elected, with a fully elected 21-member board taking office in 2027. The district has also adopted a strategic plan emphasizing neighborhood schools over the school-choice model that dominated for years, a policy shift that affects resource allocation and school-by-school support. The district rolled out a standardized curriculum called Skyline across all content areas, available to all schools at no cost, which means Hamilton uses the same instructional materials and frameworks as hundreds of other CPS campuses. The district replaced its longtime numeric school ratings with holistic accountability dashboards launched in December 2024, so traditional CPS ratings are no longer the basis for school comparison.

For families weighing Hamilton Elementary, the read is a stable neighborhood K-8 that shows solid proficiency in language arts and science, performs well in the county comparison, but has a notable dip in math at the middle-grade level that warrants conversation with the school about remediation and support. The school sits within a walkable, transit-rich urban neighborhood with established civic life. The transition in district governance and strategic direction toward neighborhood school investment means this is a moment when the district's priorities are aligning more closely with school-of-residence enrollment, a material shift for Chicago families.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 375%

School 75% · District 38% · ▲ 37 pts above district

▲ 29 pts above state median · ▲ 36 pts above county median

Grade 475%

School 75% · District 29% · ▲ 46 pts above district

▲ 38 pts above state median · ▲ 46 pts above county median

Grade 549%

School 49% · District 24% · ▲ 25 pts above district

▲ 19 pts above state median · ▲ 28 pts above county median

Grade 668%

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

▲ 44 pts above state median · ▲ 51 pts above county median

Grade 774%

School 74% · District 27% · ▲ 47 pts above district

▲ 46 pts above state median · ▲ 53 pts above county median

Grade 876%

School 76% · District 23% · ▲ 53 pts above district

▲ 53 pts above state median · ▲ 59 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 370%

School 70% · District 36% · ▲ 33 pts above district

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

Grade 479%

School 79% · District 39% · ▲ 40 pts above district

▲ 31 pts above state median · ▲ 39 pts above county median

Grade 571%

School 71% · District 43% · ▲ 29 pts above district

▲ 19 pts above state median · ▲ 26 pts above county median

Grade 681%

School 81% · District 45% · ▲ 36 pts above district

▲ 30 pts above state median · ▲ 38 pts above county median

Grade 780%

School 80% · District 46% · ▲ 34 pts above district

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

Grade 879%

School 79% · District 48% · ▲ 32 pts above district

▲ 26 pts above state median · ▲ 33 pts above county median

Science

Grade 571%

School 71% · District 29% · ▲ 43 pts above district

▲ 35 pts above state median · ▲ 44 pts above county median

Grade 876%

School 76% · District 31% · ▲ 44 pts above district

▲ 36 pts above state median · ▲ 49 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.