Harvard Elem School, Chicago IL - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Harvard Elem School

Harvard Elementary School sits in Chicago's South Side, serving pre-K through eighth grade in a small building on Harvard Avenue. The school enrolls a modest population of about that size for a K-8 school, with the great majority of students identifying as Black and a small proportion as Hispanic. The school's student body is drawn from the immediate neighborhood, characteristic of a Chicago public elementary serving a close-by catchment.

The most consequential fact about Harvard Elementary right now is its academic performance. On the Illinois Assessment of Readiness across elementary and middle-school grades tested in math, proficiency ranges from low single digits in the upper elementary to low teens across grades three through eight. In English language arts, the picture is somewhat more favorable, particularly in the upper grades: middle school proficiency climbs to near half in grade eight, and reaches the mid-twenties in grade six. Science, tested in grades five and eight, shows similarly modest proficiency. A parent should recognize that these numbers are substantially below the median across Cook County schools, placing the school in the bottom tier on a standard proficiency index. The data suggests that students are struggling with grade-level content expectations across all tested subjects, with the possible exception of English language arts gains in the seventh and eighth grades.

The school participates in the Skyline curriculum, the district-developed PreK-12 program rolled out across Chicago Public Schools starting in 2021-22. Skyline is available to all district-managed schools at no per-school cost and represents the first comprehensive, district-wide curriculum in CPS history. Harvard uses this instructional framework alongside whatever school-level supports and interventions it may have in place, though details on tutoring, remedial programming, or enrichment were not available in the data provided.

Broader context matters. Chicago Public Schools, which governs Harvard, is in transition. A five-year strategic plan adopted in 2024 centers on strengthening neighborhood schools, a shift away from the school-choice model that has long defined the district. The school board itself has changed: voters elected the first ten members in November 2024, with eleven mayoral appointees, and will elect all twenty-one seats in November 2026. The district also replaced its old numeric school ratings with new accountability dashboards in December 2024, moving evaluation beyond test scores and attendance to broader school-experience measures. These changes are meant to signal a renewed focus on the schools students are assigned to rather than alternatives they must compete to enter.

The neighborhood housing market shows modest home values and rents, consistent with many Chicago residential areas. Chicago itself is resuming population growth after years of decline and has approved substantial new housing, though most recent multifamily construction has concentrated downtown and along the North Lakefront rather than in the South Side residential neighborhoods. The city offers extensive parks, a major transit system, and diverse employment, anchored by the second-largest central business district in the nation alongside substantial public-sector, healthcare, technology, and manufacturing jobs.

A parent visiting Harvard Elementary should ask directly about classroom instruction, teacher staffing and retention, the school's approach to math intervention, and any community partnerships or enrichment offerings. Specifics on discipline practices, attendance trends, and extracurricular programs were not available in the data, and the school's own leadership is the right source for those questions. The proficiency data is plain: students here are not meeting grade-level benchmarks at the rates the state expects, and a family choosing this school should have clear-eyed conversations about what support their child would need and what the school offers to provide it.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 37%

School 7% · District 38% · ▼ 31 pts below district

▼ 39 pts below state median · ▼ 32 pts below county median

Grade 414%

School 14% · District 29% · ▼ 15 pts below district

▼ 23 pts below state median · ▼ 15 pts below county median

Grade 53%

School 3% · District 24% · ▼ 20 pts below district

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

Grade 65%

School 5% · District 23% · ▼ 18 pts below district

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

Grade 713%

School 13% · District 27% · ▼ 14 pts below district

▼ 15 pts below state median · ▼ 8 pts below county median

Grade 85%

School 5% · District 23% · ▼ 19 pts below district

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

English language arts

Grade 311%

School 11% · District 36% · ▼ 26 pts below district

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

Grade 421%

School 21% · District 39% · ▼ 18 pts below district

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

Grade 523%

School 23% · District 43% · ▼ 19 pts below district

▼ 29 pts below state median · ▼ 22 pts below county median

Grade 627%

School 27% · District 45% · ▼ 18 pts below district

▼ 23 pts below state median · ▼ 15 pts below county median

Grade 748%

School 48% · District 46% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▼ 3 pts below state median · ▲ 4 pts above county median

Grade 850%

School 50% · District 48% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▼ 3 pts below state median · ▲ 4 pts above county median

Science

Grade 517%

School 17% · District 29% · ▼ 12 pts below district

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

Grade 814%

School 14% · District 31% · ▼ 18 pts below district

▼ 26 pts below state median · ▼ 13 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.