Carson Elem School, Chicago IL - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Carson Elem School

Carson Elementary serves pre-K through eighth grade on Chicago's Southwest Side, in a neighborhood that is almost entirely Hispanic and densely residential. The school sits within Chicago Public Schools District 299, which has recently moved away from its decades-long emphasis on school choice toward strengthening neighborhood schools as a central strategy. That shift frames the context for Carson as a neighborhood school serving local families.

On state assessments, Carson's performance is uneven and warrants attention. Third grade shows the strongest results, with about half of students meeting proficiency in English language arts and math. Performance drops noticeably in the middle grades: fourth-grade math proficiency falls to roughly one in five students, and sixth-grade math proficiency reaches only about one in six. By eighth grade, math improves to around two-fifths of students, while English language arts strengthens substantially to roughly four-fifths. Science results are similarly modest across tested grades. Across all tested subjects and grades, Carson's overall proficiency index sits below the midpoint when compared to other schools across Cook County, meaning academic performance here trails many peers. A parent should look into this further with the school to understand what instructional support and intervention strategies are in place, particularly in the middle grades where performance dips.

Enrollment is stable at around typical size for a K-8 school in Chicago, with the largest cohorts in the upper elementary and middle grades. Nearly all students come from Hispanic backgrounds. Free-or-reduced-price-lunch data and English learner rates were not available in the public record, though such information often matters for understanding family economic circumstances and language support needs; a parent can ask the school directly about these figures and the services available.

The school participates in the Skyline curriculum, a district-developed instructional framework now available to all CPS schools, which standardizes core instructional materials in English language arts, math, science, social science, world languages, and arts across the district. This is the first comprehensive curriculum CPS has deployed system-wide, replacing the older model where schools sourced their own materials.

The broader district context has shifted meaningfully in recent years. CPS is transitioning from a fully mayor-appointed school board to a fully elected 21-member board, with voters casting direct ballots for the first time in November 2026. The district also adopted a strategic plan in 2024 titled "Together We Rise" that explicitly prioritizes strengthening neighborhood schools, moving away from the school-choice policies that have long shaped CPS. Additionally, the district replaced its old numeric school ratings with holistic accountability dashboards in December 2024, changing how families evaluate school quality beyond test scores alone.

Chicago itself is a large, dense city with 77 community areas, one of the most walkable major U.S. cities by national ranking, and an extensive public transit network. The city has resumed population growth after nearly a decade of decline, and housing approvals have risen in 2025 and early 2026. Within the South Shore neighborhood where Carson sits, housing values are modest relative to other parts of Cook County, though rents have moved upward steadily in recent years.

For a family considering Carson, the core question is whether the school's current academic trajectory, combined with the support systems in place and the school's role as a neighborhood anchor, fits their needs. The uneven performance pattern, especially the pronounced dip in middle grades, suggests a parent should ask the school directly about its literacy and numeracy interventions, teacher training on reading and math instruction, and whether there are programs to address the transition from elementary to middle school. State testing data alone do not show the full picture of school life; a school visit, conversations with current families, and discussion of what specific academic supports a student would receive would round out the picture.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 348%

School 48% · District 38% · ▲ 11 pts above district

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

Grade 422%

School 22% · District 29% · ▼ 7 pts below district

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

Grade 535%

School 35% · District 24% · ▲ 12 pts above district

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

Grade 617%

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

▼ 7 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 723%

School 23% · District 27% · ▼ 4 pts below district

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

Grade 840%

School 40% · District 23% · ▲ 17 pts above district

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

English language arts

Grade 326%

School 26% · District 36% · ▼ 10 pts below district

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

Grade 421%

School 21% · District 39% · ▼ 17 pts below district

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

Grade 551%

School 51% · District 43% · ▲ 8 pts above district

▼ 1 pts below state median · ▲ 5 pts above county median

Grade 648%

School 48% · District 45% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▼ 3 pts below state median · ▲ 5 pts above county median

Grade 759%

School 59% · District 46% · ▲ 13 pts above district

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

Grade 878%

School 78% · District 48% · ▲ 31 pts above district

▲ 25 pts above state median · ▲ 32 pts above county median

Science

Grade 525%

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

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

Grade 833%

School 33% · District 31% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▼ 7 pts below state median · ▲ 6 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.