Talman Elem School, Chicago IL - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Talman Elem School

Talman Elementary School serves pre-K through eighth grade and sits within Chicago Public Schools, the nation's third-largest district. The school enrolls a modest-sized population centered in the Bridgeport neighborhood on the South Side. Its student body is overwhelmingly Hispanic, with English learner status and free-or-reduced-price-lunch eligibility information not publicly available from the data.

The state testing data reveals uneven academic performance across grade levels and subjects. In English language arts, proficiency is strongest in the upper grades: eighth-grade students show solid performance, and sixth and seventh graders perform above the midpoint. The lower elementary grades (third and fourth) cluster around or just below half of students meeting proficiency. Mathematics presents a steeper challenge. Third-grade math proficiency sits at about half, but it drops significantly in the middle grades, falling to roughly a third in fourth and fifth grade, then declining further to a tenth or less in seventh and eighth grade. Fifth-grade science proficiency mirrors the math trend, at roughly a third, while eighth-grade science sits at about two-fifths. Across all state assessments, the school achieved full participation rates. A parent may want to look into the school's approach to mathematics instruction and support for older elementary and middle grades, as this is where the most substantial proficiency gaps appear. The state assessments changed their cut scores across subjects in recent years, so direct comparison to prior performance is not available.

Overall, Talman's proficiency index sits below the midpoint when compared to other schools in Cook County, though the precise standing cannot be stated from the data provided.

The school occupies a neighborhood context within Chicago's broader growth. The city resumed population growth after a long decline, and the metro area has experienced three consecutive years of expansion. Housing values in the zip code are modest relative to national benchmarks, with rents rising modestly year-over-year. The broader Cook County housing market shows falling inventory and slightly weakening demand, though still elevated supply relative to historical norms. In this context, neighborhood schools like Talman serve families with roots in their community rather than those selecting into choice programs.

Chicago Public Schools has undergone significant structural changes in recent years. The district adopted a five-year strategic plan in 2024 that explicitly pivots toward neighborhood school strength and away from the choice-driven model that had dominated policy. Importantly, the district rolled out Skyline, a PreK-12 universal curriculum in English language arts, mathematics, science, social science, world languages, and the arts. This marks the first time CPS has offered a comprehensive, districtwide curriculum available free to all district-managed schools, replacing a prior system where schools assembled their own materials. The district also replaced its longtime numeric school ratings with holistic accountability dashboards, launched in December 2024. Additionally, CPS transitioned from a fully mayor-appointed school board to a hybrid model with the first 10 elected members joining 11 mayoral appointees in late 2024, moving toward a fully elected board by 2027. For families evaluating Talman, these structural shifts matter: the district is now explicitly prioritizing neighborhood schools, has standardized curriculum across campuses, and is shifting governance toward direct parent voice.

Housing in the immediate area is affordable relative to the city and county, and the neighborhood has the character of a long-established, diverse residential community. The school's academic profile—solid in English language arts for older students, weaker in mathematics across the grade band, with particular softness in the upper middle grades—reflects a school that may benefit from the curriculum standardization and neighborhood-focused investment CPS has committed to, but where progress in mathematics will require targeted effort.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 352%

School 52% · District 38% · ▲ 14 pts above district

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

Grade 438%

School 38% · District 29% · ▲ 9 pts above district

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

Grade 531%

School 31% · District 24% · ▲ 7 pts above district

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

Grade 631%

School 31% · District 23% · ▲ 9 pts above district

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

Grade 713%

School 13% · District 27% · ▼ 14 pts below district

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

Grade 817%

School 17% · District 23% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▼ 6 pts below state median · even with county median

English language arts

Grade 346%

School 46% · District 36% · ▲ 9 pts above district

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

Grade 446%

School 46% · District 39% · ▲ 7 pts above district

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

Grade 554%

School 54% · District 43% · ▲ 11 pts above district

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

Grade 660%

School 60% · District 45% · ▲ 15 pts above district

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

Grade 748%

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

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

Grade 863%

School 63% · District 48% · ▲ 15 pts above district

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

Science

Grade 531%

School 31% · District 29% · ▲ 2 pts above district

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

Grade 840%

School 40% · District 31% · ▲ 9 pts above district

even with state median · ▲ 13 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.