Zapata Elem Academy, Chicago IL - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Zapata Elem Academy

Zapata Elem Academy serves students from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade in Chicago's Lower West Side, a neighborhood with a predominantly Hispanic population and significant economic pressure. The school enrolls a modest-sized student body across its span, with most grades in the mid-forties to mid-sixties. The student composition is markedly homogeneous: the vast majority of enrolled students identify as Hispanic, with very small counts of students from other racial and ethnic backgrounds. Free-or-reduced-price lunch eligibility data was not available, so the economic profile rests on what the neighborhood itself suggests: a housing market where median values are modest and rent is the more common form of occupancy.

The school's latest state assessment results in math and English language arts, reported for the 2024-25 school year, show proficiency concentrated in the lower ranges. Math proficiency across grades three through eight sits between roughly one in ten students at grade six and about one in four at grades four and five, with particularly weak results in the sixth-grade cohort. English language arts is more variable: it climbs sharply in the seventh and eighth grades, reaching nearly half the students at grade seven and approaching a majority at grade eight, but drops substantially in the third through sixth grades, where proficiency hovers in the low-to-mid range. Science results, reported at grades five and eight, reflect similar struggle. This overall performance is well below the median among Cook County's school districts, placing Zapata in the bottom quartile on a composite proficiency index across tested subjects and grades.

It is important to note that Illinois changed the proficiency cutoffs across its assessments in 2024-25, so long-term trend data are not comparable with prior years. That caveat aside, the current results suggest that academic support for foundational skills in upper elementary and middle grades is an area a parent may want to look into further with the school.

The school is part of Chicago Public Schools, a district in the midst of substantial structural and policy change. A newly elected board is reshaping governance to give families more direct voice, and the district has adopted a strategic plan called Together We Rise that prioritizes neighborhood schools over the choice-based enrollment model that long defined CPS. The district rolled out Skyline, a standardized PreK-12 curriculum in six content areas, providing uniform instructional materials across schools at no added cost. This places Zapata within a system actively reworking how it allocates resources and where it directs families' attention, a shift that affects what resources flow to neighborhood schools like this one. State assessment results were recently supplemented by new district accountability dashboards that reflect a broader view of school quality beyond test scores alone.

The broader Chicago housing market shows stability with modest recent declines in values and a slow rental market. The neighborhood around Zapata is working-class, with a strong established presence of Hispanic families. For families already rooted in or committed to this neighborhood, the school offers a full K-8 pathway in a welcoming local setting.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 321%

School 21% · District 38% · ▼ 16 pts below district

▼ 25 pts below state median · ▼ 18 pts below county median

Grade 426%

School 26% · District 29% · ▼ 3 pts below district

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

Grade 524%

School 24% · District 24%

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

Grade 69%

School 9% · District 23% · ▼ 13 pts below district

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

Grade 715%

School 15% · District 27% · ▼ 12 pts below district

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

Grade 823%

School 23% · District 23% · ▼ 1 pts below district

even with state median · ▲ 5 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 320%

School 20% · District 36% · ▼ 17 pts below district

▼ 24 pts below state median · ▼ 18 pts below county median

Grade 437%

School 37% · District 39% · ▼ 2 pts below district

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

Grade 536%

School 36% · District 43% · ▼ 7 pts below district

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

Grade 632%

School 32% · District 45% · ▼ 13 pts below district

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

Grade 748%

School 48% · District 46% · ▲ 2 pts above district

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

Grade 862%

School 62% · District 48% · ▲ 15 pts above district

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

Science

Grade 524%

School 24% · District 29% · ▼ 4 pts below district

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

Grade 830%

School 30% · District 31% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▼ 9 pts below state median · ▲ 4 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.