Hayt Elem School, Chicago IL - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Hayt Elem School

Hayt Elementary School is a public school in Chicago serving nearly nine hundred students in grades PreK through Grade 8. Located on the North Side, it draws from a diverse enrollment base: roughly two-fifths of students identify as Hispanic, about a quarter as Asian, and about a fifth as Black, with smaller shares of white students and other groups. The school's composition reflects the neighborhood's demographic makeup and Chicago's broader diversity.

The school's academic performance, based on state testing results from the most recent year, presents a mixed picture. In English language arts, Hayt shows stronger performance in the upper middle grades; seventh grade proficiency is notably higher than in the earlier elementary grades, while eighth grade holds steady. Fifth and sixth grade readers also perform above the third and fourth grade benchmarks. In math, the pattern differs: seventh grade stands out as the strongest performing cohort, while grades three through six and eight all cluster in the low-to-mid range. Science results, available only for grades five and eight, are below the ELA figures at both levels. Across all three subjects, proficiency rates fall below the countywide median for schools in Cook County. When proficiency is averaged across tested subjects and grades, Hayt falls in the bottom quartile of all school-level proficiency across the county.

Student participation in state testing is uniformly strong, with near-universal engagement at both the elementary and middle grade levels, indicating reliable test-taking conditions rather than a data validity concern. The tests themselves changed their scoring standards this year, so the school cannot yet be compared to its own prior-year results; that comparison will become available once a second year of data under the new standards is reported.

The school sits in a Chicago neighborhood where housing values have remained relatively stable, and rental availability is consistent. This portion of the North Side is walkable and well-served by public transit, and the broader city has been undergoing housing growth after years of decline, though completions remain concentrated in downtown and lakefront areas rather than in neighborhood schools' catchment areas.

A parent considering Hayt should know that the school is a regular public school, not a magnet or charter option, and serves its neighborhood population. Chicago Public Schools recently shifted its strategic direction toward strengthening neighborhood schools and away from school-choice models that have dominated the district historically. The district has also introduced a new universal curriculum, Skyline, designed to standardize instruction across all CPS schools. Additionally, CPS replaced its numeric school ratings in late 2024 with holistic dashboards, so comparative information on school quality now comes from multiple measures rather than single scores. Given Hayt's position relative to other schools in the county on overall proficiency, a parent may want to explore further with the school what instructional strategies are in place in math, where proficiency is particularly low in the elementary grades, and what additional supports exist for students working below grade level across subjects.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 328%

School 28% · District 38% · ▼ 10 pts below district

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

Grade 418%

School 18% · District 29% · ▼ 11 pts below district

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

Grade 526%

School 26% · District 24% · ▲ 2 pts above district

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

Grade 619%

School 19% · District 23% · ▼ 4 pts below district

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

Grade 736%

School 36% · District 27% · ▲ 9 pts above district

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

Grade 818%

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

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

English language arts

Grade 329%

School 29% · District 36% · ▼ 7 pts below district

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

Grade 433%

School 33% · District 39% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▼ 15 pts below state median · ▼ 7 pts below county median

Grade 543%

School 43% · District 43%

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

Grade 644%

School 44% · District 45% · ▼ 1 pts below district

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

Grade 749%

School 49% · District 46% · ▲ 3 pts above district

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

Grade 835%

School 35% · District 48% · ▼ 13 pts below district

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

Science

Grade 534%

School 34% · District 29% · ▲ 5 pts above district

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

Grade 825%

School 25% · District 31% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▼ 15 pts below state median · ▼ 2 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.