Monroe Elem School, Chicago IL - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Monroe Elem School

Monroe Elementary School serves a small-to-medium student body in grades pre-K through eight on the city's West Side in Chicago. The enrollment is diverse but deeply skewed: the vast majority of students are Hispanic, with smaller populations of white and Black students, and very few Asian or multiracial students. The school's makeup reflects the neighborhood it sits in. Free-and-reduced-price lunch data was not available in the records reviewed, so a parent looking into economic need in the building would want to ask the school directly.

The academic picture here is notably challenging across both math and English language arts. On the most recent state assessments, proficiency rates in math ranged from a low point in fifth grade to somewhat higher performance in seventh grade, but remained substantially low across all tested grades. English language arts showed more variation: fourth-grade students and especially eighth-grade students performed better than their peers in other grades, though the eighth-grade result stands largely alone in that regard. Third grade, where state testing begins, showed low proficiency in both subjects. Science assessment data was available for fifth and eighth grades only, and proficiency there was also low. These numbers place Monroe in the bottom quarter of schools across Cook County districts on overall proficiency, meaning the school's academic standing relative to its neighbors is weak.

The assessment scores reflect a school serving students with substantial academic needs. A parent considering Monroe should understand that the typical student here is not reaching state proficiency benchmarks, and that trajectory does not reverse sharply as students move through the grade bands. The state did change how proficiency is scored across its assessments beginning in 2024-25, so direct comparison to prior years is not possible; a parent may want to ask the school about how recent performance compares to its own prior data and what specific supports and instruction are in place to move proficiency upward.

The housing market in the surrounding area, based on the zip code, shows median home values and rents that are lower than the state and national benchmarks, making the neighborhood more affordable than much of Chicago. Supply in the local market is substantial, and prices have moved modestly upward over the past year. For a parent choosing between Chicago schools, this neighborhood's affordability may be relevant to the decision.

Monroe is a regular public school operated by Chicago Public Schools District 299, the nation's third-largest district. The district recently restructured its school board to move toward full elected representation by 2027, adopted a five-year strategic plan called "Together We Rise" that emphasizes neighborhood schools, and introduced Skyline, a district-wide PreK-12 curriculum now available at no school-level cost. These shifts reshape the context in which all CPS schools operate. The district also replaced numeric school ratings with holistic dashboards in late 2024, so families comparing schools now use a different set of metrics than in the past.

School website information and data on special education, English learner population, discipline, chronic absenteeism, and staffing were not available, so a parent should reach out to Monroe directly to understand those dimensions of school life and support services. Monroe serves a neighborhood-bound student population with clear academic needs and operates within a large urban district in the midst of policy and governance changes that will affect families over time.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 317%

School 17% · District 38% · ▼ 21 pts below district

▼ 29 pts below state median · ▼ 22 pts below county median

Grade 413%

School 13% · District 29% · ▼ 16 pts below district

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

Grade 57%

School 7% · District 24% · ▼ 16 pts below district

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

Grade 613%

School 13% · District 23% · ▼ 10 pts below district

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

Grade 719%

School 19% · District 27% · ▼ 8 pts below district

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

Grade 816%

School 16% · District 23% · ▼ 8 pts below district

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

English language arts

Grade 313%

School 13% · District 36% · ▼ 23 pts below district

▼ 31 pts below state median · ▼ 24 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 520%

School 20% · District 43% · ▼ 23 pts below district

▼ 32 pts below state median · ▼ 26 pts below county median

Grade 628%

School 28% · District 45% · ▼ 17 pts below district

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

Grade 719%

School 19% · District 46% · ▼ 27 pts below district

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

Grade 837%

School 37% · District 48% · ▼ 10 pts below district

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

Science

Grade 522%

School 22% · District 29% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▼ 15 pts below state median · ▼ 5 pts below county median

Grade 820%

School 20% · District 31% · ▼ 12 pts below district

▼ 20 pts below state median · ▼ 7 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.