The top reported proficiency rate is 18% in English language arts. The lowest is 2% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Lozano Elem Bilingual & Intl Ctr
Lozano Elementary Bilingual & International Center is a small PreK-8 school in Chicago's Near West Side that anchors instruction in bilingual education and international curriculum. With a majority Hispanic enrollment and a deeply multilingual student body, the school's academic profile reflects both the nature of bilingual acquisition and persistent proficiency challenges across grades.
The school enrolls a small student population spread across all grades from PreK through eighth grade. The vast majority of students are Hispanic, with a substantial share of Black students and a small number of Asian, white, and multiracial students. Free-or-reduced-price lunch eligibility data is not available, so the full economic profile is incomplete. In a neighborhood where housing has appreciated and rents are rising, with an active residential market, families here are likely choosing this school for its language and international focus rather than proximity to default zoning alone.
On Illinois state testing, Lozano's proficiency across math and English language arts is uniformly low. In third grade, roughly one in four students achieved proficiency in both subjects. By fourth grade, no students achieved proficiency in either subject, and proficiency remained zero or near-zero through sixth grade. In eighth grade, proficiency was low in math and in the low teen percentile range in English language arts. Science proficiency in grade five was zero; in eighth grade it was near zero. Testing participation was generally high, so these are not artifacts of uneven test-taking. The data do not flag a year-over-year trend, so the current snapshot alone is available to assess.
These results may warrant inquiry directly with the school, for several reasons. Bilingual programs operate on different timelines than traditional English-medium instruction; students may be reading, writing, and computing in Spanish while still building English proficiency, and state tests are English-language assessments. The school may have a coherent bilingual instructional theory and sequencing that does not yet yield English-language test proficiency in the early-to-middle grades, particularly in cohorts with newer arrivals to English. Alternatively, the school may face resource or instructional challenges that a parent should explore directly with administrators and teachers. Either way, a parent considering this school should ask what English proficiency looks like across grades, what the instructional progression in both languages is, and how the school supports the transition to higher English literacy in preparation for high school and beyond.
The school's identity centers on bilingual education and international curriculum. Chicago Public Schools has rolled out Skyline, a district-developed universal curriculum, across elementary and middle schools, available at no cost to schools, which may shape what Lozano offers alongside its bilingual model. The district itself is undergoing structural shifts: an elected school board is taking office in 2027, a new accountability system based on broader school experience metrics rather than numeric ratings has launched, and district policy is emphasizing neighborhood schools over the school-choice model that has long defined CPS. For a family choosing Lozano, those shifts matter for how the school is resourced and positioned within CPS priorities going forward.
Housing in the Near West Side is relatively affordable compared to many Chicago neighborhoods, with home values and rents both climbing modestly. The neighborhood sits within walking distance of downtown and the Loop via the 'L' transit system, and Chicago's extensive bus network means families without cars have real mobility. The area is densifying with new housing approvals, and the Near West Side led CPS in recent housing unit approvals, so the neighborhood is actively changing.
A parent considering Lozano should understand that this is a school with a language-and-culture mission that is central to its identity, but whose students are not yet achieving strong English-language proficiency on state measures. The school may be effective at what it intends to do, or there may be instructional or support gaps worth investigating. Either way, test results alone do not tell the full story of a bilingual program, and the conversation with the school should be specific: How is biliteracy built? What is the expected English proficiency trajectory by grade? How does the school prepare students for secondary school in a majority-English environment? What international curriculum looks like in practice? How are students with varying levels of English entry supported?
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