Cullen Elem School, Chicago IL - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Cullen Elem School

Cullen Elem is a small neighborhood school serving kindergarten through grade 8 in the far South Side of Chicago. The school enrolls roughly a hundred and seventy students, nearly all of whom are Black, with a handful of Latino students. The student body is predominantly from a single neighborhood rather than drawn from across the city through choice enrollment, reflecting CPS's stated direction toward strengthening neighborhood schools.

The school's academic performance requires direct attention. On state assessments in 2024-25, proficiency rates across elementary grades (third through fifth) and middle grades (sixth through eighth) are uniformly low. In English language arts, a relative bright spot emerges in third grade, where proficiency reaches the low-to-mid range, and eighth grade performs at about half. But in fourth and fifth grade ELA, proficiency dips to the low-to-mid twenties. Math performance is substantially weaker throughout. In grades three through four, proficiency sits in the low-to-mid twenties; from fifth through seventh grade it falls to single digits; eighth grade recovers slightly to the low teens. Science proficiency in fifth grade registers in the low teens, and in eighth grade it is extremely low. These data reflect what the school faces: students are entering and moving through the grade levels with gaps in foundational skills, and the school is working with very constrained academic outcomes. High participation in testing, above 95 percent across most grades, indicates that the absences are not a significant driver of these numbers.

The school is a regular public school within Chicago Public Schools District 299, a major urban district currently in transition. The district has moved away from its decades-long school-choice model toward an explicit commitment to neighborhood schools, which means Cullen serves its geographic area and is positioned to benefit from the district's strengthened investment in neighborhood-based programming. The district has also rolled out a comprehensive PreK-12 curriculum called Skyline, available to all district-managed schools at no cost, and recently replaced its older numeric school ratings with new holistic dashboards that encompass school experience and resources, not just test scores. These changes reshape how resources flow and how schools are evaluated, and they signal a shift in what the district values for families like yours.

The broader South Side neighborhood where Cullen sits is part of Chicago's dense, mixed residential fabric. The city has resumed population growth in recent years after a long decline, with housing approvals rising and development concentrated in certain areas. Housing values in the school's zip code are moderate relative to the state and national benchmarks. Rents have risen notably. The local housing market is characteristic of a South Side residential neighborhood: neither downtown-proximate nor in the highest-growth corridors, but stable and functional as a family neighborhood.

A parent may want to reach out to the school directly to understand what instruction is targeting in math and science, what tutoring or intervention support is in place, and how the school is using Skyline curriculum to close skills gaps. The state data show the challenge clearly, and a conversation with school leadership about their plan to address it, their staffing and resources, and their student support approach would ground a decision about whether this is the right fit for your child.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 327%

School 27% · District 38% · ▼ 11 pts below district

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

Grade 425%

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

▼ 12 pts below state median · ▼ 4 pts below county median

Grade 59%

School 9% · District 24% · ▼ 15 pts below district

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

Grade 67%

School 7% · District 23% · ▼ 16 pts below district

▼ 17 pts below state median · ▼ 10 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 815%

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

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

English language arts

Grade 355%

School 55% · District 36% · ▲ 18 pts above district

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

Grade 425%

School 25% · District 39% · ▼ 14 pts below district

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

Grade 522%

School 22% · District 43% · ▼ 21 pts below district

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

Grade 640%

School 40% · District 45% · ▼ 5 pts below district

▼ 10 pts below state median · ▼ 3 pts below county median

Grade 736%

School 36% · District 46% · ▼ 10 pts below district

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

Grade 850%

School 50% · District 48% · ▲ 2 pts above district

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

Science

Grade 517%

School 17% · District 29% · ▼ 11 pts below district

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

Grade 85%

School 5% · District 31% · ▼ 26 pts below district

▼ 34 pts below state median · ▼ 21 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.