Twain Elem School, Chicago IL - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Twain Elem School

Twain Elem serves a school community from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade in Chicago's southwest side. The student body is overwhelmingly Hispanic, reflecting the neighborhood's demographic composition. Enrollment spans all grade levels, with roughly equivalent cohort sizes across the tested grades.

The academic picture is mixed and grade-dependent. In English language arts, the school shows a clear upward trajectory across the grade span. Performance in the upper middle grades (sixth and seventh) is notably stronger, with a substantial majority of students reaching proficiency. Third and fourth grade results are more modest. Math performance is considerably weaker across the board. Proficiency rates drop significantly as students advance, falling sharply by fifth grade and remaining subdued through eighth. Science results, where tested, fall below the school's ELA levels. Across all subjects, student participation in state testing is near universal, indicating consistent assessment completion.

Within the Cook County district comparison set, Twain's overall proficiency index places it above the midpoint among the county's schools. This positioning reflects the school's ELA strength in the upper grades offset by consistently lower math attainment.

The school sits in a city experiencing renewed residential growth and housing demand after years of decline. The local market has modest median home values for an urban setting, and rental availability is steady. Employment and economic conditions in Cook County are stable, with unemployment moderate and median household income in line with national benchmarks.

Chicago Public Schools itself is undergoing significant structural change. An elected school board is now in place, shifting governance from mayoral appointment to direct voter choice; all 21 seats will be up for election in 2026. The district has formally moved away from its historical school-choice model and now emphasizes neighborhood schools as a priority. This represents a real change in resource allocation philosophy that will shape the district's near-term trajectory. The district has also replaced its longtime numeric school ratings with broader accountability dashboards, giving parents a different lens for evaluating performance. A universal curriculum, Skyline, is now available across the district, standardizing core instructional materials.

For a parent or resident considering this school, the key questions are whether the strong English language arts performance in the upper grades fits their child's needs, whether the early-grade starting point in math and the sustained gap warrant additional academic support, and whether the neighborhood school priority aligns with your preference for local attendance. A parent may want to look further into what math support and intervention structures the school offers, especially for students who will progress to high school. The school's position above county midpoint on overall proficiency suggests it is serving its population effectively, but the subject-to-subject variation means the fit depends on where a student's strengths and challenges lie.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 349%

School 49% · District 38% · ▲ 11 pts above district

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

Grade 446%

School 46% · District 29% · ▲ 17 pts above district

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

Grade 515%

School 15% · District 24% · ▼ 8 pts below district

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

Grade 624%

School 24% · District 23% · ▲ 1 pts above district

even with state median · ▲ 7 pts above county median

Grade 737%

School 37% · District 27% · ▲ 10 pts above district

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

Grade 826%

School 26% · District 23% · ▲ 2 pts above district

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

English language arts

Grade 343%

School 43% · District 36% · ▲ 7 pts above district

▼ 1 pts below state median · ▲ 6 pts above county median

Grade 455%

School 55% · District 39% · ▲ 17 pts above district

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

Grade 551%

School 51% · District 43% · ▲ 8 pts above district

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

Grade 670%

School 70% · District 45% · ▲ 25 pts above district

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

Grade 780%

School 80% · District 46% · ▲ 34 pts above district

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

Grade 873%

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

▲ 19 pts above state median · ▲ 26 pts above county median

Science

Grade 526%

School 26% · District 29% · ▼ 2 pts below district

▼ 10 pts below state median · ▼ 1 pts below county median

Grade 835%

School 35% · District 31% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▼ 5 pts below state median · ▲ 8 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.