Hurley Elem School, Chicago IL - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Hurley Elem School

Hurley Elementary School serves students in prekindergarten through eighth grade in the Marquette neighborhood on Chicago's South Side. The school draws from a very narrow demographic base: the enrollment is almost entirely Hispanic, with a small number of Native American and other students. The school is a regular public school within Chicago Public Schools District 299, located on the West 69th Place.

On state assessments administered in 2024-25, Hurley's proficiency profile shows a split picture by grade and subject. In English language arts, the school demonstrates noticeably stronger performance in the middle grades—seventh graders show particularly solid results, while third and fourth graders post lower proficiency. Fifth and sixth grade ELA results sit in the low-to-moderate range. In mathematics, performance is consistently low across all tested grades, ranging from low double digits in the upper elementary and middle grades to the high double digits in third grade. Science results, tested in fifth and eighth grades, are similarly low. Overall, Hurley's proficiency index across tested subjects and grades places it below the midpoint relative to other districts across Cook County.

The enrollment is moderate for a K-8 school, distributed fairly evenly across grade levels, with slight concentration in the upper elementary years. State-level free-or-reduced-price-lunch counts and English learner rates were not available in the data, so a parent may want to reach out to the school directly about the share of students receiving support services and whose home language is not English, as these are relevant to understanding the student body and available resources.

The neighborhood is dense and mixed-income. The housing market in the 60629 zip code shows modest home values and modest rents, stable to slightly rising month-over-month. The area is part of the broader South Side residential fabric and sits within Chicago's public transit system and Chicago Park District infrastructure, both major civic anchors. Chicago's economy is diverse and its population growth has resumed after a decade of decline, though growth remains concentrated in downtown and lakefront areas rather than South Side neighborhoods.

Chicago Public Schools as a whole is undergoing significant structural change. The district adopted a five-year strategic plan in 2024 emphasizing neighborhood schools over school choice, a major policy shift. The Board of Education also moved from a mayor-appointed model to an elected body, with the first fully elected board taking office in 2027; this gives parents a direct voice in district governance. The district introduced Skyline, a comprehensive districtwide curriculum in 2021-22, available to all schools without cost, and replaced its numeric school ratings with new accountability dashboards in late 2024. These shifts mean the CPS environment is in transition, and families should expect continued change in how schools are evaluated and resourced.

Hurley's academic results, particularly in math and science, are an area to examine closely. A parent considering this school may want to learn directly from the principal what strategies are in place to strengthen proficiency in those subjects, how the school is using the Skyline curriculum, and what support is available for students who are struggling with grade-level content. The ELA results in the upper grades suggest the school has some capacity and momentum to build on, and the school's neighborhood location means it is embedded in its community rather than isolated. Overall, Hurley is a neighborhood school serving a heavily Hispanic student population in a dense, lower-income South Side area, with academic performance that warrants parent engagement before enrollment.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 339%

School 39% · District 38% · ▲ 1 pts above district

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

Grade 435%

School 35% · District 29% · ▲ 6 pts above district

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

Grade 518%

School 18% · District 24% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▼ 12 pts below state median · ▼ 4 pts below county median

Grade 619%

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

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

Grade 732%

School 32% · District 27% · ▲ 5 pts above district

▲ 4 pts above state median · ▲ 11 pts above county median

Grade 826%

School 26% · District 23% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▲ 3 pts above state median · ▲ 8 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 336%

School 36% · District 36% · ▼ 1 pts below district

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

Grade 438%

School 38% · District 39% · ▼ 1 pts below district

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

Grade 552%

School 52% · District 43% · ▲ 9 pts above district

even with state median · ▲ 6 pts above county median

Grade 656%

School 56% · District 45% · ▲ 11 pts above district

▲ 5 pts above state median · ▲ 13 pts above county median

Grade 775%

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

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

Grade 851%

School 51% · District 48% · ▲ 4 pts above district

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

Science

Grade 532%

School 32% · District 29% · ▲ 3 pts above district

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

Grade 829%

School 29% · District 31% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▼ 11 pts below state median · ▲ 2 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.