Reavis Elem Math & Sci Spec Schl, Chicago IL

Original Research by School Decision on Reavis Elem Math & Sci Spec Schl

Reavis Elementary Math & Science Specialist School is a pre-K through eighth-grade school in Chicago with about a quarter of its enrollment in pre-K. The student body is predominantly African American, with a very small Hispanic population and a handful of students identifying as two or more races. Demographic data on free-or-reduced-price lunch eligibility and special education or English learner populations were not available.

The school's academic performance, measured by state testing in math, English language arts, and science, is substantially below the state baseline. In mathematics, proficiency rates across grades three through eight range from near zero to around one quarter, with most grades showing single-digit or low double-digit percentages. English language arts results are similarly low, spanning from around seven percent to thirty-two percent proficiency. Science proficiency, tested in grades five and eight, shows only about three percent to ten percent of students meeting standards. Test participation rates are high across the board, typically in the mid-to-high nineties, indicating these results reflect actual student performance rather than opt-out patterns.

When positioned against other schools in Cook County, Reavis falls in the bottom quartile on overall proficiency, well below the county median. A parent may want to look into these numbers further with the school to understand what instructional supports are in place and what progress, if any, has been tracked over time. The school's name signals a focus on math and science, yet the data suggest students are struggling across all measured subjects at all grade levels.

The school serves a neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, where housing values and rents are below both the state and national medians. The area remains a working neighborhood with access to the broader city's transit infrastructure and parks. Chicago itself has resumed population growth and is actively approving housing in concentrated zones, though the immediate school attendance area has not been a focus of recent development.

Chicago Public Schools is currently undergoing significant structural change. The district adopted a new strategic direction in 2024 toward strengthening neighborhood schools and has moved away from school-choice enrollment policies that historically shaped how families accessed schools. A fully elected school board, the first in decades, will be in place after November 2026 elections, giving parents direct democratic input. The district has also replaced numeric school ratings with new accountability dashboards and rolled out Skyline, a universal district curriculum in multiple subjects, available at no cost to schools that use the district-managed model.

Reavis is part of this broader district ecosystem. Families choosing this school should expect a neighborhood-facing institution serving a predominantly Black South Side community, with below-grade proficiency across tested subjects and grade levels. The school's specialist designation and the district's investment in universal curriculum suggest an intentional academic model, but the performance data warrant direct conversation with school leadership about instructional strategy, recent trends, and concrete evidence of how students are progressing.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 325%

School 25% · District 38% · ▼ 13 pts below district

▼ 21 pts below state median · ▼ 14 pts below county median

Grade 49%

School 9% · District 29% · ▼ 20 pts below district

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

Grade 50%

School 0% · District 24% · ▼ 24 pts below district

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

Grade 60%

School 0% · District 23% · ▼ 23 pts below district

▼ 24 pts below state median · ▼ 17 pts below county median

Grade 78%

School 8% · District 27% · ▼ 19 pts below district

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

Grade 80%

School 0% · District 23% · ▼ 23 pts below district

▼ 23 pts below state median · ▼ 17 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 332%

School 32% · District 36% · ▼ 4 pts below district

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

Grade 422%

School 22% · District 39% · ▼ 17 pts below district

▼ 26 pts below state median · ▼ 18 pts below county median

Grade 57%

School 7% · District 43% · ▼ 36 pts below district

▼ 45 pts below state median · ▼ 39 pts below county median

Grade 617%

School 17% · District 45% · ▼ 28 pts below district

▼ 34 pts below state median · ▼ 26 pts below county median

Grade 728%

School 28% · District 46% · ▼ 18 pts below district

▼ 23 pts below state median · ▼ 17 pts below county median

Grade 828%

School 28% · District 48% · ▼ 20 pts below district

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

Science

Grade 54%

School 4% · District 29% · ▼ 25 pts below district

▼ 33 pts below state median · ▼ 23 pts below county median

Grade 810%

School 10% · District 31% · ▼ 21 pts below district

▼ 29 pts below state median · ▼ 16 pts below 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.