Ogden Elem School, Chicago IL - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Ogden Elem School

Ogden Elem serves pre-K through eighth grade in Chicago's Near North Side, drawing from a diverse neighborhood population across the city's central urban core. The school enrolls a moderate-sized student body drawn from all racial and ethnic backgrounds: a substantial portion are Black students, with significant shares of White, Hispanic, and Asian students, along with smaller numbers of students identifying as two or more races. Data on free-or-reduced-price lunch eligibility and English learner enrollment were not available, so a reader would want to ask the school directly about the socioeconomic profile and language support services.

Academic performance across state assessments shows consistent struggle. In English language arts, proficiency ranges from the low end in fourth grade up to around forty percent in eighth grade, with fifth grade also showing modest results. Math performance is notably weaker, with proficiency in the single digits by sixth and eighth grade, dipping to around fifteen percent in fifth grade and dropping steeply from the low teens in seventh grade. Third grade is the strongest grade in math at roughly forty-five percent, but the pattern is one of declining proficiency as students advance. Science results, measured only in fifth and eighth grade, show similar low performance. Across all tested grades and subjects, Ogden's overall proficiency index places it in the bottom quartile relative to other schools in Cook County. Participation rates in testing are consistently high, suggesting the data reflects actual student performance rather than incomplete testing.

It is worth noting that Illinois changed its proficiency cut scores across subjects between last year and this year, which the state flags as affecting trend comparability. This means year-over-year changes cannot be safely computed, so a parent should not draw conclusions about whether the school is improving or declining based on these numbers alone.

The school sits in a downtown-adjacent neighborhood that has seen housing appreciation and modest rental growth; median home values in the area are well below the national benchmark, while rents have climbed several percent year-over-year. The broader Cook County housing market shows reduced inventory and slightly declining demand, though the region is still adding new listings and housing units as development continues. A parent weighing Ogden should understand that the immediate area has seen investment, but school performance data suggests academic support needs are significant.

Chicago Public Schools is currently in transition. The district adopted a five-year strategic plan in 2024 that prioritizes neighborhood schools and is phasing out its previous school-choice emphasis. A newly elected school board began taking office after November 2024 elections, and by 2027 the entire 21-member board will be elected rather than mayoral-appointed, giving families a direct democratic voice in district governance. The district also replaced its former numeric school ratings with new holistic accountability dashboards in December 2024, changing how schools are evaluated beyond test scores. Additionally, CPS rolled out Skyline, a district-developed PreK-12 curriculum across six subjects starting in 2021-22, now available to all district schools.

Ogden's test results indicate that a family enrolling here should anticipate significant gaps in foundational math and reading skills as students move through the grades, particularly in the upper elementary and middle school years. A parent may want to speak directly with school leadership about interventions, supplemental support, literacy acceleration, and math remediation, and to understand what the school's specific improvement targets are and what role family engagement plays in supporting academic work at home.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 346%

School 46% · District 38% · ▲ 8 pts above district

even with state median · ▲ 6 pts above county median

Grade 426%

School 26% · District 29% · ▼ 3 pts below district

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

Grade 515%

School 15% · District 24% · ▼ 9 pts below district

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

Grade 68%

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

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

Grade 722%

School 22% · District 27% · ▼ 5 pts below district

▼ 7 pts below state median · ▲ 1 pts above 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 340%

School 40% · District 36% · ▲ 4 pts above district

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

Grade 424%

School 24% · District 39% · ▼ 14 pts below district

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

Grade 537%

School 37% · District 43% · ▼ 5 pts below district

▼ 15 pts below state median · ▼ 8 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 731%

School 31% · District 46% · ▼ 15 pts below district

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

Grade 840%

School 40% · District 48% · ▼ 8 pts below district

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

Science

Grade 524%

School 24% · District 29% · ▼ 5 pts below district

▼ 13 pts below state median · ▼ 3 pts below county median

Grade 836%

School 36% · District 31% · ▲ 5 pts above district

▼ 3 pts below state median · ▲ 10 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.