Catalyst Charter-circle Rock Es, Chicago IL

Original Research by School Decision on Catalyst Charter-circle Rock Es

Catalyst Charter-Circle Rock ES is a small charter school serving kindergarten through eighth grade on the West Side of Chicago. The school enrolls a student body that is almost entirely African American, with a small number of students from other racial and ethnic backgrounds. The school participates in state testing in math and English language arts, as well as science at selected grades.

The academic picture is uneven across grade levels. In English language arts, students in grades three through six show modest proficiency rates in the low-to-mid range, while proficiency picks up noticeably in grades seven and eight, where results hover around the midpoint or slightly above. Math presents a steeper challenge. Third-grade proficiency is roughly at the midpoint, but from fourth grade onward proficiency drops sharply and remains very low through grade seven before ticking up slightly in eighth grade. Science proficiency in fifth grade sits in the low-to-mid range, and eighth-grade science proficiency is substantially lower. When proficiency rates are averaged across all tested subjects and grades, the school sits below the midpoint relative to other districts in Cook County. Students who have sat for state assessments have shown near-universal participation, suggesting the school administers tests with high attendance.

The school's enrollment is small, totaling roughly five hundred students spread evenly across nine grade levels, which is typical for a K-8 building. Because the school is a charter rather than a district-managed school, it does not report free-or-reduced-price-lunch counts or special-population enrollment data in the available sources. The school is located in the Austin neighborhood on the West Side, in an area where median home values are modest and remain relatively stable, and where rents are similarly modest. This neighborhood sits within Chicago's West Side corridor, an area with complex economic and demographic history that continues to evolve.

The broader context matters. Chicago Public Schools has undergone significant recent shifts. The district transitioned to a fully elected school board structure (completed in the fall of 2026), moving away from mayoral appointment. The district also adopted a five-year strategic plan emphasizing neighborhood schools and pulled back from major changes to selective enrollment and charter policies, at least in the near term. The district introduced a new comprehensive curriculum called Skyline and replaced its old numeric school ratings with holistic accountability dashboards, changing how families evaluate school performance across CPS. For a charter school like this one, these district-level movements create both constraints and opportunities, though how they will shape individual charter operations remains to be seen.

A parent considering this school would want to look into the math curriculum and instruction further with the school directly, given the steep proficiency decline across grades four through seven. Understanding what drives that drop and what intervention or support strategies the school has in place would be important. The strong point in seventh and eighth-grade English language arts warrants exploration as well: whether this pattern reflects curriculum strength in those grades, teacher expertise, or other factors would inform whether the middle-grade years represent a turnaround in student learning momentum. The school's small size and charter status shape the peer environment and governance, which some families prefer and others do not; visiting and speaking with current families would clarify fit.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 349%

School 49% · District 38% · ▲ 11 pts above district

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

Grade 433%

School 33% · District 29% · ▲ 4 pts above district

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

Grade 512%

School 12% · District 24% · ▼ 12 pts below district

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

Grade 65%

School 5% · District 23% · ▼ 18 pts below district

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

Grade 79%

School 9% · District 27% · ▼ 18 pts below district

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

Grade 816%

School 16% · District 23% · ▼ 8 pts below district

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

English language arts

Grade 341%

School 41% · District 36% · ▲ 4 pts above district

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

Grade 447%

School 47% · District 39% · ▲ 8 pts above district

▼ 1 pts below state median · ▲ 7 pts above county median

Grade 547%

School 47% · District 43% · ▲ 4 pts above district

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

Grade 640%

School 40% · District 45% · ▼ 4 pts below district

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

Grade 756%

School 56% · District 46% · ▲ 10 pts above district

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

Grade 859%

School 59% · District 48% · ▲ 11 pts above district

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

Science

Grade 538%

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

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

Grade 823%

School 23% · District 31% · ▼ 9 pts below district

▼ 17 pts below state median · ▼ 4 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.