Herzl Elem School, Chicago IL - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Herzl Elem School

Herzl Elementary is a small, pre-K through 8th-grade school serving a neighborhood on Chicago's West Side. The school enrolls about a few hundred students, drawn overwhelmingly from a Black student population with a small Hispanic presence; a handful of White and multiracial students round out the enrollment. No data on free-or-reduced-price lunch rates or students with IEPs or English learner status was available in the public record.

Academic performance at Herzl is very low across all tested subjects and grade levels. On the Illinois Assessment of Readiness in math, proficiency in tested grades (3 through 8) ranges from essentially zero percent in grades 4 and 8, to roughly a tenth of students in grade 3, a single-digit share in grades 5 and 6, and about a fifth in grade 7. English language arts shows a similar pattern: near-zero in grades 3, 4, and 8, under one-tenth in grades 5 and 6, and reaching roughly a sixth of students in grade 7. Science proficiency on the Illinois Science Assessment in tested grades 5 and 8 is reported at zero. These numbers place the school well into the bottom quartile when compared against districts across Cook County on the overall proficiency measure, which aggregates results across all tested subjects and grades.

Student participation in state testing is strong, generally in the high 80s to low 90s, and reaches full participation in some grades and subjects, which means the low proficiency numbers reflect true academic gaps rather than testing opt-outs. The state also flagged cut score changes in all subjects for this year, so comparing results to prior years is not straightforward; district communication would clarify whether performance is stable, declining, or improving.

The school is part of Chicago Public Schools District 299, a very large urban district undergoing substantial structural change. CPS is transitioning from a mayor-appointed school board to a fully elected 21-member body, a shift that will reshape district governance and give families a direct voice in school policy starting in 2027. The district also adopted a strategic plan in 2024 moving toward strengthening neighborhood schools rather than continuing its long-standing school-choice model, and replaced its numeric school ratings with new holistic dashboards, changing how the public evaluates schools. The district has also rolled out Skyline, a PreK-12 curriculum across multiple subjects, available cost-free to all district-managed schools.

Chicago itself is the nation's third-largest city, recovering population after years of decline and experiencing housing growth concentrated downtown and along the North Lakefront, though affordability remains tighter than the national average. The city has strong public transit and is widely considered one of the most walkable in the country. For families considering Herzl, the key question is what academic support and intervention the school is providing to address the very low test results, and whether the family and school have aligned expectations on how to strengthen proficiency. A parent should ask directly about the school's reading and math intervention strategies, staff composition, and any partnerships or external support the school is drawing on.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 311%

School 11% · District 38% · ▼ 27 pts below district

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

Grade 40%

School 0% · District 29% · ▼ 29 pts below district

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

Grade 52%

School 2% · District 24% · ▼ 21 pts below district

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

Grade 63%

School 3% · District 23% · ▼ 20 pts below district

▼ 21 pts below state median · ▼ 14 pts below county median

Grade 75%

School 5% · District 27% · ▼ 22 pts below district

▼ 24 pts below state median · ▼ 16 pts below county median

Grade 80%

School 0% · District 23% · ▼ 23 pts below district

▼ 23 pts below state median · ▼ 17 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 33%

School 3% · District 36% · ▼ 33 pts below district

▼ 41 pts below state median · ▼ 34 pts below county median

Grade 40%

School 0% · District 39% · ▼ 39 pts below district

▼ 48 pts below state median · ▼ 40 pts below county median

Grade 55%

School 5% · District 43% · ▼ 38 pts below district

▼ 47 pts below state median · ▼ 41 pts below county median

Grade 69%

School 9% · District 45% · ▼ 36 pts below district

▼ 42 pts below state median · ▼ 34 pts below county median

Grade 717%

School 17% · District 46% · ▼ 29 pts below district

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

Grade 87%

School 7% · District 48% · ▼ 41 pts below district

▼ 47 pts below state median · ▼ 40 pts below county median

Science

Grade 50%

School 0% · District 29% · ▼ 29 pts below district

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

Grade 80%

School 0% · District 31% · ▼ 31 pts below district

▼ 40 pts below state median · ▼ 27 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.