Ravenswood Elem School, Chicago IL

Original Research by School Decision on Ravenswood Elem School

Ravenswood Elem School sits in the Lakeview neighborhood of Chicago, serving students in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade. The school draws from a diverse student body in terms of race and ethnicity: the enrollment includes substantial shares of white, Hispanic, Black, and multiracial students, along with smaller numbers of Asian students. The school is small to mid-sized for its grade span, with roughly even distributions across elementary grades and a tapering enrollment in the middle grades.

In English language arts, Ravenswood shows a profile of strength in the lower and upper grades offset by softer performance in the middle grades. Third and fourth graders show proficiency rates in the low to mid-70s, while fifth graders hold steady in the high 70s. Sixth grade jumps to the low 90s, seventh grade settles at around 78 percent, and eighth grade recovers to the low 80s. The pattern suggests that students acquire language skills effectively in the early years and tend to demonstrate proficiency by seventh and eighth grade, though a dip appears in the middle. In mathematics, the trajectory is markedly different. Third graders show strong performance in the low 80s, but proficiency declines sharply as students progress. Fourth graders fall to the mid-60s, and the decline continues through the middle grades, bottoming out in eighth grade at around 31 percent. This downward slope in math across grades five through eight is a notable area a parent may want to look into further with the school. Science proficiency data are available only for grades five and eight; the school reports mid-50s proficiency in fifth grade and low 60s in eighth grade, both measured against the ISA assessment.

Across tested subjects, the school's overall proficiency index positions it in the top quartile among schools within Cook County, meaning it outperforms the typical school in the county. This standing rests chiefly on its strong English language arts results and its elementary-grade math performance, but the steep decline in mathematics proficiency from grades five onward is a visible tension in that profile.

Demographic and enrollment data show no missing-data flags for race and ethnicity. Free or reduced-price lunch eligibility data were not available, and similarly, the counts of students receiving special education services or identified as English learners were not reported. Attendance and discipline records were also absent from the available data.

The neighborhood context is relevant. Ravenswood draws from the Lakeview area, an established, predominantly white neighborhood with above-median housing values and rents, though the school's student body is considerably more racially mixed than the surrounding area. The broader Chicago housing market has seen modest growth in home values and rents over the past year, and the real estate supply remains relatively elevated compared to recent history. The city itself has resumed population growth after a prolonged decline, and approvals for new housing have risen, though completions remain concentrated in downtown and North Lakefront areas.

At the district level, Chicago Public Schools is undergoing significant shifts. A newly elected school board is taking shape, with all 21 seats to be filled through elections in November 2026. The district has formally begun moving away from a decades-long school-choice model toward an emphasis on neighborhood schools, though immediate changes to selective enrollment and magnet programs remain limited. In fall 2024, the district replaced its long-standing numeric school ratings with holistic accountability dashboards, changing how parents compare schools. The district has also rolled out Skyline, a comprehensive PreK-12 curriculum spanning multiple subjects and now available to all CPS schools at no per-school cost, marking the first district-wide curriculum framework in CPS history.

A parent considering Ravenswood should weigh the school's strong English proficiency alongside a clear need to understand the mathematics curriculum and support structures in grades five through eight, where performance drops substantially. The demographic composition differs from the surrounding neighborhood, which some families may view as a strength and others as a consideration in their choice. The evolving district priorities and new governance model will shape school-level resource allocation and policy, so tracking the direction of those changes and how they affect individual schools may be worthwhile as well.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 383%

School 83% · District 38% · ▲ 45 pts above district

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

Grade 464%

School 64% · District 29% · ▲ 35 pts above district

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

Grade 548%

School 48% · District 24% · ▲ 25 pts above district

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

Grade 667%

School 67% · District 23% · ▲ 44 pts above district

▲ 43 pts above state median · ▲ 50 pts above county median

Grade 744%

School 44% · District 27% · ▲ 17 pts above district

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

Grade 831%

School 31% · District 23% · ▲ 8 pts above district

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

English language arts

Grade 371%

School 71% · District 36% · ▲ 34 pts above district

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

Grade 476%

School 76% · District 39% · ▲ 37 pts above district

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

Grade 577%

School 77% · District 43% · ▲ 35 pts above district

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

Grade 693%

School 93% · District 45% · ▲ 49 pts above district

▲ 43 pts above state median · ▲ 51 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 883%

School 83% · District 48% · ▲ 36 pts above district

▲ 30 pts above state median · ▲ 37 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 860%

School 60% · District 31% · ▲ 28 pts above district

▲ 20 pts above state median · ▲ 33 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.