Wacker Elem School, Chicago IL - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Wacker Elem School

Wacker Elem School serves children from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade in Chicago's South Side, drawing a student body that is predominantly Black with small shares of Hispanic and multiracial students. The school is small, with a total enrollment distributed fairly evenly across its ten grade bands. Specific enrollment numbers and free-or-reduced-price-lunch data were not available in the public record, so families may want to contact the school directly for fuller demographic and economic context.

Test performance at Wacker is a significant concern. In English language arts, third graders performed notably better than the rest of the school, with about two-fifths meeting state proficiency standards. Fourth graders followed at roughly two-fifths as well. Performance drops sharply in grade five and again in grade six, where only about one-fifth of students meet standards. Seventh grade rebounds to about two-fifths proficient, then falls back to roughly one-quarter in eighth grade. Math results are considerably weaker across every grade. Third graders achieve proficiency at roughly one-fifth the rate, fourth graders at about one-quarter, and fifth graders at roughly one-twentieth. Sixth and seventh graders reach proficiency at roughly one-fifth, while eighth graders sit at about one-tenth. Science proficiency, tested only in grades five and eight, is similarly low. These results place Wacker in the bottom quartile when compared to other district-run schools in Cook County.

The school participates in the Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR) for English language arts and math in grades three through eight, and in the Illinois Science Assessment for grades five and eight. All students tested participated in these assessments. Proficiency is defined by state standards as performance at Levels 3 or 4.

The housing market in the 60643 zip code where Wacker sits shows modest values and is experiencing some rent growth. Homes in the area are worth modest amounts, and monthly rents have been rising. This is part of a broader Cook County market where housing supply remains elevated and demand moderate.

Wacker is part of Chicago Public Schools District 299, a district now navigating significant structural change. The Board of Education transitioned from full mayoral appointment to a hybrid model in 2024, with a fully elected board set to take office in 2027. The district adopted a five-year strategic plan in 2024 emphasizing neighborhood schools over the school-choice model that previously guided resource allocation. CPS also replaced its historic numeric ratings system with new holistic accountability dashboards launched in late 2024, shifting how schools are evaluated beyond test scores alone. Additionally, the district rolled out Skyline, a universal PreK-12 curriculum across all content areas beginning in 2021-2022, making standardized instructional materials available to all district schools at no cost. These system-wide changes affect how neighborhood schools like Wacker function and how parents assess them.

A parent considering Wacker should recognize that academic proficiency here is substantially below district and state averages and warrants close conversation with school leadership about instructional strategy, support systems, and the school's own improvement efforts. The school's location in a neighborhood with modest housing values and growing rents reflects a stable, established residential area on the South Side. For families committed to neighborhood schooling and seeking a pre-K-8 environment, Wacker offers that structure; for families prioritizing immediate academic strength, the recent test data suggest looking at other options.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 319%

School 19% · District 38% · ▼ 19 pts below district

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

Grade 423%

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

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

Grade 55%

School 5% · District 24% · ▼ 19 pts below district

▼ 25 pts below state median · ▼ 16 pts below county median

Grade 618%

School 18% · District 23% · ▼ 5 pts below district

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

Grade 720%

School 20% · District 27% · ▼ 7 pts below district

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

Grade 810%

School 10% · District 23% · ▼ 13 pts below district

▼ 12 pts below state median · ▼ 7 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 344%

School 44% · District 36% · ▲ 8 pts above district

even with state median · ▲ 7 pts above county median

Grade 439%

School 39% · District 39%

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

Grade 525%

School 25% · District 43% · ▼ 18 pts below district

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

Grade 618%

School 18% · District 45% · ▼ 27 pts below district

▼ 32 pts below state median · ▼ 25 pts below county median

Grade 740%

School 40% · District 46% · ▼ 6 pts below district

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

Grade 824%

School 24% · District 48% · ▼ 24 pts below district

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

Science

Grade 520%

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

▼ 17 pts below state median · ▼ 7 pts below county median

Grade 817%

School 17% · District 31% · ▼ 14 pts below district

▼ 22 pts below state median · ▼ 9 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.