Onahan Elem School, Chicago IL - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Onahan Elem School

Onahan Elem School serves a pre-K through 8th grade enrollment of about seven hundred students in the Northwest Side neighborhood of Chicago. The school is part of Chicago Public Schools District 299, a district that now operates under a Board of Education transitioning from all mayoral appointees to a fully elected 21-member body following the first elections in late 2024.

The school's student body is predominantly white, with substantial representation from Hispanic families and smaller numbers of Asian, multiracial, Black, and Native American students. Free-and-reduced-price lunch data were not available, limiting clarity on economic need within the school. The school does not report data on students with individualized education programs or English learners, so the depth of those support systems remains undocumented here.

On state assessments, Onahan shows an uneven profile across grades and subjects. In English language arts, the school performs strongest in its upper-middle grades: 5th and 6th graders reach proficiency at notably higher rates, while 3rd and 4th graders fall measurably lower. Math performance is more volatile. Third graders perform well, fourth graders show a sharp decline, and the school recovers somewhat in grades 5 through 8, though proficiency remains below where it sits in English language arts for those grades. Science testing shows lower results in both tested grades, particularly 8th grade, where proficiency falls well below half. Participation rates across all assessments are very high, around ninety-five percent or better, suggesting that absences are not driving the proficiency outcomes.

Compared to other districts in Cook County, Onahan's overall proficiency index sits above the midpoint among the county's districts, positioning it in the upper half but not at the top. The school's academic trajectory within grades is uneven enough that a parent may want to look into this further with school staff: the dramatic fourth-grade math decline, the strength in upper-elementary English language arts, and the lower science results warrant conversation about curriculum, instruction, and any support structures in place.

Chicago has recently resumed population growth after a decade of decline, and the city's housing market shows moderate activity. The median home value in the school's zip code area reflects pricing that sits above the Illinois state benchmark but below the national median, placing the area in a middle range for the Chicago metro. Rental costs are moderate by city standards. The neighborhood itself sits on the Northwest Side, part of Chicago's vast patchwork of residential communities, and benefits from the city's comprehensive transit and park systems.

The district is undergoing structural shifts that touch school operations and family choice. The transition to an elected board reshapes governance, while the adoption of a five-year strategic plan called "Together We Rise" signals a move toward strengthening neighborhood schools and away from the choice-driven model that long defined CPS. The district has also implemented Skyline, a comprehensive K-12 curriculum spanning multiple subjects, which standardizes instructional materials across schools. Alongside these changes, CPS replaced its numeric school ratings with holistic dashboards in late 2024, altering how families assess and compare schools.

Onahan serves a stable, long-standing neighborhood school enrollment with reasonable access to city resources. The academic profile shows real strength in upper-elementary English language arts and recovery in upper grades, but also significant dips in fourth-grade math and across science testing that merit direct conversation with school leadership about causes and response strategies.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 366%

School 66% · District 38% · ▲ 28 pts above district

▲ 20 pts above state median · ▲ 27 pts above county median

Grade 429%

School 29% · District 29%

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

Grade 547%

School 47% · District 24% · ▲ 23 pts above district

▲ 17 pts above state median · ▲ 25 pts above county median

Grade 649%

School 49% · District 23% · ▲ 26 pts above district

▲ 25 pts above state median · ▲ 32 pts above county median

Grade 764%

School 64% · District 27% · ▲ 37 pts above district

▲ 35 pts above state median · ▲ 43 pts above county median

Grade 849%

School 49% · District 23% · ▲ 26 pts above district

▲ 27 pts above state median · ▲ 32 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 347%

School 47% · District 36% · ▲ 10 pts above district

▲ 3 pts above state median · ▲ 9 pts above county median

Grade 458%

School 58% · District 39% · ▲ 19 pts above district

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

Grade 582%

School 82% · District 43% · ▲ 39 pts above district

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

Grade 679%

School 79% · District 45% · ▲ 34 pts above district

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

Grade 778%

School 78% · District 46% · ▲ 32 pts above district

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

Grade 873%

School 73% · District 48% · ▲ 25 pts above district

▲ 20 pts above state median · ▲ 27 pts above county median

Science

Grade 557%

School 57% · District 29% · ▲ 28 pts above district

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

Grade 843%

School 43% · District 31% · ▲ 11 pts above district

▲ 3 pts above state median · ▲ 16 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.