Nettelhorst Elem School, Chicago IL

Original Research by School Decision on Nettelhorst Elem School

Nettelhorst Elementary sits on Broadway in Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood, serving pre-K through eighth grade in a regular public school. The building enrolls a substantial population, with a balanced grade band spread across both elementary and early middle school. The student composition leans toward white families, who form a majority of enrollment, alongside meaningful shares of Hispanic, multiracial, Asian, and Black students. Title I status and free-or-reduced-price-lunch rates are not reported in the data.

The school's recent academic performance shows a profile consistent with many Chicago public schools navigating the Illinois Assessment of Reading and Mathematics (IAR) and science accountability tests. In the lower elementary grades tested (three through four), math proficiency holds around seventy percent. By fifth and sixth grade, math proficiency softens to the mid-to-lower range, and by seventh grade it drops further to below fifty percent. English language arts tells a different story: third grade trails math at two-thirds proficient, but fourth grade jumps to above eighty percent, and the upper elementary and middle grades hold broadly in the mid-to-upper sixties and seventies. Science results from fifth and eighth grade sit in the mid-range. Across the board, student participation rates are high and strong, with nearly all students taking the tests in most grades.

Against other districts in Cook County, Nettelhorst's overall proficiency index lands in the top quartile, a meaningful position that reflects the school's standing within the broader county. That said, the trajectory from lower to upper grades—particularly the dip in middle school math—is a pattern worth monitoring. The school carries participation rates that suggest engagement rather than opt-out effects, so the performance gap appears tied to content difficulty rather than testing logistics.

Nettelhorst sits in a neighborhood with a solidly rising housing market. Recent home values have climbed at a rate above the state benchmark, and rental costs have risen similarly, with the affordability calculation suggesting that housing consumes a modest share of median household income relative to national figures. The area is walkable and well-served by transit; the Lakeview neighborhood sits adjacent to the lakefront, within range of the Chicago Park District's extensive system, and has easy CTA access.

The school serves a neighborhood-based enrollment rather than a choice or magnet population, fitting within Chicago Public Schools' broader shift toward neighborhood school emphasis announced in its five-year strategic plan. This is a regular public school without selective admission or screened enrollment. CPS has recently moved away from its former numeric school ratings and now provides holistic accountability dashboards; parents evaluating Nettelhorst will find updated district tools for comparison that go beyond test scores alone.

Program offerings and staffing detail were not available in the data. The school does not report a high school graduation rate because it serves through eighth grade only. A parent may want to connect directly with the school or review the new CPS accountability dashboards to understand how Nettelhorst structures its upper-middle-grades pathway and what electives or specialized courses it offers in the sixth-through-eighth bands, particularly given the performance pattern in those grades.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 370%

School 70% · District 38% · ▲ 33 pts above district

▲ 24 pts above state median · ▲ 31 pts above county median

Grade 471%

School 71% · District 29% · ▲ 42 pts above district

▲ 34 pts above state median · ▲ 42 pts above county median

Grade 560%

School 60% · District 24% · ▲ 36 pts above district

▲ 30 pts above state median · ▲ 39 pts above county median

Grade 657%

School 57% · District 23% · ▲ 34 pts above district

▲ 33 pts above state median · ▲ 40 pts above county median

Grade 747%

School 47% · District 27% · ▲ 20 pts above district

▲ 18 pts above state median · ▲ 26 pts above county median

Grade 855%

School 55% · District 23% · ▲ 32 pts above district

▲ 33 pts above state median · ▲ 38 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 366%

School 66% · District 36% · ▲ 30 pts above district

▲ 22 pts above state median · ▲ 29 pts above county median

Grade 484%

School 84% · District 39% · ▲ 45 pts above district

▲ 36 pts above state median · ▲ 44 pts above county median

Grade 572%

School 72% · District 43% · ▲ 29 pts above district

▲ 20 pts above state median · ▲ 26 pts above county median

Grade 664%

School 64% · District 45% · ▲ 19 pts above district

▲ 14 pts above state median · ▲ 22 pts above county median

Grade 768%

School 68% · District 46% · ▲ 22 pts above district

▲ 17 pts above state median · ▲ 23 pts above county median

Grade 879%

School 79% · District 48% · ▲ 32 pts above district

▲ 26 pts above state median · ▲ 33 pts above county median

Science

Grade 566%

School 66% · District 29% · ▲ 37 pts above district

▲ 29 pts above state median · ▲ 39 pts above county median

Grade 864%

School 64% · District 31% · ▲ 32 pts above district

▲ 24 pts above state median · ▲ 37 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.