Swift Elem Specialty School, Chicago IL

Original Research by School Decision on Swift Elem Specialty School

Swift Elem Specialty School serves children from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade in the Uptown neighborhood on Chicago's North Side. The school draws about a third of its enrollment from Hispanic families, about a third from Black families, and a quarter from Asian families, with smaller shares of white students and others. The school's enrollment is modest and spreads fairly evenly across grades, with roughly consistent numbers in early grades and slightly smaller eighth-grade cohorts.

The school's recent state testing results show mathematics performance consistently below proficiency. Across third through eighth grades tested on the Illinois Assessment of Readiness, proficiency rates range from lows in the single digits to a high in the mid-forties, with most grades sitting between twenty and thirty percent. Third grade math is the stronger showing, and seventh grade reaches the mid-forties, but eighth grade drops sharply into single digits. English language arts performance is similarly variable but tends to run slightly higher, with third grade in the low twenties, grades four through six in the mid-to-high thirties and forties, and seventh grade reaching past fifty percent; eighth grade then dips to the low thirties. Science proficiency, tested in grades five and eight, sits around thirty percent in fifth grade and falls to below fifteen percent in eighth grade. These results suggest the school faces academic challenges especially in elementary-level math and in upper grades across subjects. The participation rates on state assessments are consistently high, with most grades at or above ninety-five percent, indicating the school is successfully getting students tested.

When compared to other districts across Cook County, Swift's overall proficiency index places it in the bottom quartile among schools with available data, meaning that relative to the pool of district schools countywide, its tested proficiency rates fall well below the median. This positions the school as a lower-performing option within the region, although relative position varies by subject and grade.

The school is located on Winthrop Avenue in Uptown, a neighborhood anchored by lakefront parks and transit access. Uptown sits along the 'L' network and serves as one of Chicago's more ethnically and economically mixed residential areas. The median home value in the school's zip code is roughly in the mid-two-hundreds of thousands, with median rent running in the mid-eighteen-hundreds monthly; these figures reflect moderate affordability relative to broader Chicago trends. The area has seen residential investment alongside ongoing transit-oriented development.

Swift operates as a neighborhood school within Chicago Public Schools District 299, which recently adopted a strategic shift toward strengthening neighborhood schools rather than relying primarily on school choice and selective enrollment. The district has also moved to a new school accountability system launched in late 2024 that emphasizes broader school experience and resource quality beyond test scores. At the state level, Illinois changed how it scores proficiency on its assessments, which may affect trend comparability of these test results to prior years.

A parent considering Swift would be looking at a school with below-average tested proficiency, especially in mathematics, where elementary grades show room for growth and eighth grade shows acute difficulty. The peer environment is multiethnic and the neighborhood has pedestrian amenities and transit access. The school's classification as a specialty school suggests it may offer programming beyond standard instruction, though specific program details were not available in the data provided. A parent may want to inquire with the school directly about what that specialization entails, what supports are in place for students struggling in math, and what the school's improvement plans are for the documented proficiency gaps.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 333%

School 33% · District 38% · ▼ 5 pts below district

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

Grade 423%

School 23% · District 29% · ▼ 6 pts below district

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

Grade 522%

School 22% · District 24% · ▼ 2 pts below district

▼ 8 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 620%

School 20% · District 23% · ▼ 3 pts below district

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

Grade 743%

School 43% · District 27% · ▲ 16 pts above district

▲ 15 pts above state median · ▲ 22 pts above county median

Grade 88%

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

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

English language arts

Grade 322%

School 22% · District 36% · ▼ 14 pts below district

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

Grade 428%

School 28% · District 39% · ▼ 11 pts below district

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

Grade 543%

School 43% · District 43%

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

Grade 648%

School 48% · District 45% · ▲ 3 pts above district

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

Grade 753%

School 53% · District 46% · ▲ 7 pts above district

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

Grade 832%

School 32% · District 48% · ▼ 16 pts below district

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

Science

Grade 529%

School 29% · District 29%

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

Grade 813%

School 13% · District 31% · ▼ 19 pts below district

▼ 27 pts below state median · ▼ 14 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.