Newberry Elem Math & Science Acad, Chicago IL

Original Research by School Decision on Newberry Elem Math & Science Acad

Newberry Elementary Math & Science Academy is a public elementary and middle school in Chicago serving prekindergarten through eighth grade. The school is small, with an enrollment distributed across ten grade levels. The student body is predominantly Black, with a substantial Hispanic presence and a small number of students from other racial and ethnic backgrounds. Free-or-reduced-price lunch status and counts of students in special education or as English learners were not available in the data.

The school's name reflects a mathematics and science focus, though specific program details were not provided. It sits at 700 West Willow Street in the 60614 zip code, part of Chicago Public Schools District 299, which serves the city and has recently undergone significant governance change. A newly elected school board began taking office in 2026 alongside mayoral appointees, and the district adopted a five-year strategic plan emphasizing neighborhood schools. The district also introduced new school accountability dashboards in late 2024 and has rolled out a district-wide PreK-12 curriculum called Skyline.

Academic performance shows weakness in mathematics and mixed results in English language arts. In mathematics across grades three through eight, proficiency ranges from low to mid-range, with third-grade proficiency notably higher than grades four through eight, where attainment drops sharply. Fourth through eighth graders show particularly low mathematics proficiency. English language arts proficiency is higher than mathematics overall, with strong performance in grades six, seven, and eight, but lower proficiency in grades three through five. Science data is available only for grades five and eight, both showing low proficiency. When proficiency rates across all tested subjects and grades are combined, the school's overall proficiency index places it in the bottom quartile relative to other districts in Cook County.

The dip in performance between grades three and four is notable. A parent may want to ask the school directly about the instructional transition between elementary and upper elementary, and whether the school has identified specific supports to address the performance decline at that juncture.

Chicago's housing market in the school's zip code shows home values in the mid to upper range and rental costs moderately elevated. The neighborhood where the school sits is part of a city in population growth after years of decline. The city's economic base is diversified, anchored by major employers in finance, healthcare, technology, and the public sector. The Chicago Park District manages thousands of parks and more than one thousand acres of green space citywide. The city is highly walkable and served by extensive public transit, including the CTA's eight rail lines and a comprehensive bus network.

A family choosing Newberry should understand that the school's academic trajectory shows strength in upper grades for literacy but consistent challenge in mathematics across the grade span. The school's name suggests intentional focus on math and science, but the academic results do not yet bear out outperformance in those domains. The school is small enough that individual teaching quality and classroom placement likely matter significantly. The neighborhood context is urban, dense, and transit-accessible, not suburban. Parents weighing this school should ask directly about the math curriculum, any supports for the third-to-fourth-grade transition, and what benchmark or goal the school sets for student proficiency growth.

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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

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

Grade 418%

School 18% · District 29% · ▼ 11 pts below district

▼ 19 pts below state median · ▼ 10 pts below county median

Grade 517%

School 17% · District 24% · ▼ 7 pts below district

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

Grade 615%

School 15% · District 23% · ▼ 8 pts below district

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

Grade 720%

School 20% · District 27% · ▼ 7 pts below district

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

Grade 818%

School 18% · District 23% · ▼ 5 pts below district

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

English language arts

Grade 329%

School 29% · District 36% · ▼ 8 pts below district

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

Grade 427%

School 27% · District 39% · ▼ 11 pts below district

▼ 21 pts below state median · ▼ 13 pts below county median

Grade 533%

School 33% · District 43% · ▼ 10 pts below district

▼ 20 pts below state median · ▼ 13 pts below county median

Grade 647%

School 47% · District 45% · ▲ 2 pts above district

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

Grade 755%

School 55% · District 46% · ▲ 9 pts above district

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

Grade 853%

School 53% · District 48% · ▲ 5 pts above district

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

Science

Grade 522%

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

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

Grade 832%

School 32% · District 31% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▼ 7 pts below state median · ▲ 6 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.