Talcott Elem School, Chicago IL - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Talcott Elem School

Talcott Elementary School serves a small enrollment in the heart of Chicago's West Side, on Ohio Street in a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood. The school runs from pre-K through eighth grade and is a regular public school within Chicago Public Schools District 299.

Academic performance is a serious concern. State testing data from the 2024-25 school year shows proficiency rates that fall well below what families typically see in their district or across Cook County. In math, the school's proficiency ranges from around 11 percent in seventh and eighth grades to around 42 percent in third grade, with most grades clustered in the low-to-mid 30s. English language arts performance is slightly better but still modest, ranging from around 26 percent in third grade to around 41 percent in seventh grade. Science proficiency, tested in fifth and eighth grades, sits at around 20 percent and 14 percent respectively. Across all tested subjects and grades, the school's overall proficiency index places it in the bottom quarter among the school systems in Cook County. State assessment participation rates are consistently at or very near full compliance.

The enrollment is just under five hundred students, distributed fairly evenly across the grade bands. The student body is overwhelmingly Hispanic, at around 83 percent, with white students making up roughly 10 percent and smaller shares of Black and Asian students. The school also enrolls a small number of students in pre-K and kindergarten, giving it a genuine early-education mission alongside elementary and middle grades.

The immediate neighborhood is part of Chicago's urban fabric, with housing values and rental costs typical of the West Side Chicago market. Homes in the area are reasonably valued relative to the city's costly downtown and North Shore, and rental costs are moderate by Chicago standards. The neighborhood sits within walkable, transit-accessible Chicago, where the CTA 'L' system and bus network are woven into daily life.

A parent evaluating Talcott should understand that the school's test results point to sustained academic struggle. The data does not explain why; causes could range from staffing and instructional quality to the composition and mobility of the student population to resource allocation within a much-larger district system. The school's website and direct conversations with staff and current families would be important to understand what interventions are in place, how the school views its own performance, and what the learning environment actually feels like day-to-day. Free-or-reduced-price lunch status and English learner rates for the school were not available, so a parent may want to look into this further with the school to understand the economic and language profile of the student body and how those factors intersect with academic support.

The broader context matters: Chicago Public Schools as a whole has shifted toward a neighborhood-school emphasis under its new elected board, moving away from the choice-driven model that defined the district for decades. The district also rolled out a new universal curriculum called Skyline starting in 2022, which standardizes instructional materials across schools. Whether Talcott has the staff capacity and training to execute that curriculum well is an open question that a site visit could help clarify.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 342%

School 42% · District 38% · ▲ 4 pts above district

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

Grade 436%

School 36% · District 29% · ▲ 7 pts above district

even with state median · ▲ 8 pts above county median

Grade 516%

School 16% · District 24% · ▼ 8 pts below district

▼ 14 pts below state median · ▼ 6 pts below county median

Grade 631%

School 31% · District 23% · ▲ 8 pts above district

▲ 7 pts above state median · ▲ 14 pts above county median

Grade 712%

School 12% · District 27% · ▼ 15 pts below district

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

Grade 811%

School 11% · District 23% · ▼ 12 pts below district

▼ 12 pts below state median · ▼ 6 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 326%

School 26% · District 36% · ▼ 10 pts below district

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

Grade 441%

School 41% · District 39% · ▲ 2 pts above district

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

Grade 531%

School 31% · District 43% · ▼ 12 pts below district

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

Grade 636%

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

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

Grade 739%

School 39% · District 46% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▼ 12 pts below state median · ▼ 6 pts below county median

Grade 828%

School 28% · District 48% · ▼ 20 pts below district

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

Science

Grade 520%

School 20% · District 29% · ▼ 9 pts below district

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

Grade 814%

School 14% · District 31% · ▼ 17 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.