Locke a Elem Charter Academy, Chicago IL

Original Research by School Decision on Locke a Elem Charter Academy

Locke A Elementary Charter Academy is a small, kindergarten-through-eighth-grade charter school located on West Jackson Boulevard in Chicago's Near West Side. The school serves a substantially Black student population, with the school body nearly entirely African American. Enrollment sits at modest levels across the grades, with the smallest cohorts in the upper elementary and middle school years.

Academic performance on Illinois state assessments shows a clear pattern: the lower elementary grades (third and fourth) reach into the low-to-mid range on math and English language arts proficiency, while proficiency drops notably in the upper grades. By fifth grade, math proficiency falls sharply to very low levels and remains low through eighth grade. English language arts holds better ground through the middle grades, with seventh and eighth graders showing substantially higher proficiency in ELA than their peers do in math. Science proficiency, tested in fifth and eighth grades, is very low. When measured against other districts in Cook County, the school's overall proficiency index falls below the county midpoint.

The school sits within Chicago Public Schools District 299, a system currently undergoing significant structural change. As of late 2024, the district is transitioning from a fully mayor-appointed school board to one elected by voters; all 21 seats will be up for election in November 2026. Beyond governance, the district has adopted a strategic plan called "Together We Rise" that signals a shift in priorities toward neighborhood schools and away from the school-choice model that has long characterized CPS enrollment policy. This reshaping of district values and resource allocation touches every school within the system. Additionally, CPS has rolled out Skyline, a comprehensive PreK-12 curriculum spanning six content areas—the first such district-wide curriculum in CPS history—available to all district-managed schools at no cost. The specifics of how Locke A has adopted or adapted Skyline were not available in the data.

The neighborhood surrounding the school sits in a dense, mixed-use urban context. Chicago as a whole is one of the most walkable major U.S. cities, served by an extensive CTA rail and bus network with 24-hour train service on some lines. The West Jackson corridor is part of the Near West Side, which has seen significant housing approvals and development in recent years. The median home value in the 60612 zip code is in the mid-range for Cook County, and median rent has been rising modestly. Mortgage rates, unemployment, and the broader economic context are typical of the metro area.

The school does not serve high school grades, so there is no graduation rate to report. Specific enrollment numbers for free-or-reduced-price lunch, special education, or English learner populations were not provided. Data on school discipline, attendance, or staffing were not available. The school's approach to program offerings, whether it operates under a particular instructional model or theme, and details about charter authorization were also absent from the data provided.

A parent may want to look into the school's instructional approach in math, where results tighten significantly as grade level rises, to understand what support or change may be underway. It would also be worth asking directly about how the school uses the Skyline curriculum and whether there are targeted efforts in place for the upper-grade academic gaps now showing in the data.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 358%

School 58% · District 38% · ▲ 20 pts above district

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

Grade 451%

School 51% · District 29% · ▲ 22 pts above district

▲ 14 pts above state median · ▲ 23 pts above county median

Grade 519%

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

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

Grade 631%

School 31% · District 23% · ▲ 8 pts above district

▲ 7 pts above state median · ▲ 14 pts above county median

Grade 733%

School 33% · District 27% · ▲ 6 pts above district

▲ 5 pts above state median · ▲ 12 pts above county median

Grade 813%

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

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

English language arts

Grade 353%

School 53% · District 36% · ▲ 16 pts above district

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

Grade 449%

School 49% · District 39% · ▲ 10 pts above district

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

Grade 556%

School 56% · District 43% · ▲ 13 pts above district

▲ 3 pts above state median · ▲ 10 pts above county median

Grade 659%

School 59% · District 45% · ▲ 14 pts above district

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

Grade 774%

School 74% · District 46% · ▲ 28 pts above district

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

Grade 877%

School 77% · District 48% · ▲ 30 pts above district

▲ 24 pts above state median · ▲ 31 pts above county median

Science

Grade 511%

School 11% · District 29% · ▼ 18 pts below district

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

Grade 83%

School 3% · District 31% · ▼ 28 pts below district

▼ 36 pts below state median · ▼ 23 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.