Sutherland Elem School, Chicago IL

Original Research by School Decision on Sutherland Elem School

Sutherland Elementary serves kindergarten through grade 8 on the South Side of Chicago, in the 60643 zip code area. The school has roughly six hundred students, spread across nine grade levels, with a student body that is majority Black, with smaller shares of white, Hispanic, and multiracial students, and very few Asian students and no Native American students.

The academic picture is mixed. In English language arts, Sutherland shows strength in the middle grades: grade 4 students perform above the midpoint for their grade, and grade 5 performs well above it. Grade 3 shows solid results, and grades 6 through 8 cluster in the mid-range, with grade 7 landing lower. Math proficiency is notably weaker, with elementary grades (3 through 5) in the low-to-mid range and grades 6 through 8 dropping substantially, particularly grade 6 and 7. Science testing is available for grades 5 and 8 only, and both show proficiency below the midpoint. When proficiency rates across all tested subjects and grades are combined, Sutherland sits below the midpoint relative to other Cook County school districts. A parent may want to ask the school directly about the pattern in math and what instructional moves are underway, especially in the middle grades.

Student attendance rates and data on students with disabilities or English learner status are not publicly available, so those are areas to explore directly with the school. Free or reduced lunch eligibility data was also not provided, which would help contextualize economic factors in the enrollment.

Sutherland is a regular neighborhood public school, not a magnet or charter. Chicago Public Schools, the district, is undergoing significant structural change. The school board was historically mayoral-appointed but is transitioning to full election: ten members were elected in late 2024, and all 21 will be elected in late 2026. The district has also moved away from its long-standing school-choice model and is now focused on strengthening neighborhood schools. Additionally, CPS rolled out its Skyline universal curriculum across all subjects starting in 2022, ending the era when schools purchased their own materials. These shifts affect resource allocation and enrollment strategy across the system.

The South Side neighborhood where Sutherland sits is part of Chicago's larger geography as a dense, mixed-use city with extensive transit, parks, and cultural institutions. Housing values in the school's zip code are moderate relative to the city and region, and the rental market has seen cost increases. The broader Chicago region has resumed population growth after years of decline, with the metro area growing and recent housing approvals up, though most new multifamily development concentrates downtown and along the North Lakefront rather than on the South Side.

Sutherland is a school within its neighborhood fabric, attending to a local enrollment rather than drawing from across the city. For a family in the area, it offers a complete K-8 pathway on one campus. The language arts results in the middle elementary grades suggest some instructional strength there, but the math weakness, especially in the middle school grades, and the overall proficiency positioning below the county median are realities a prospective parent should weigh alongside school visits and conversations with current families and staff.

See more original research from School Decision →

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 438%

School 38% · District 29% · ▲ 9 pts above district

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

Grade 535%

School 35% · District 24% · ▲ 11 pts above district

▲ 5 pts above state median · ▲ 13 pts above county median

Grade 619%

School 19% · District 23% · ▼ 4 pts below district

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

Grade 716%

School 16% · District 27% · ▼ 11 pts below district

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

Grade 833%

School 33% · District 23% · ▲ 10 pts above district

▲ 11 pts above state median · ▲ 16 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 346%

School 46% · District 36% · ▲ 9 pts above district

▲ 2 pts above state median · ▲ 8 pts above county median

Grade 456%

School 56% · District 39% · ▲ 18 pts above district

▲ 8 pts above state median · ▲ 16 pts above county median

Grade 563%

School 63% · District 43% · ▲ 20 pts above district

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

Grade 651%

School 51% · District 45% · ▲ 7 pts above district

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

Grade 746%

School 46% · District 46%

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

Grade 840%

School 40% · District 48% · ▼ 7 pts below district

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

Science

Grade 536%

School 36% · District 29% · ▲ 7 pts above district

even with state median · ▲ 9 pts above county median

Grade 842%

School 42% · District 31% · ▲ 11 pts above district

▲ 3 pts above state median · ▲ 15 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.