Christopher House Chrt Es, Chicago IL

Original Research by School Decision on Christopher House Chrt Es

Christopher House is a small charter school serving pre-K through eighth grade in Chicago's Humboldt Park neighborhood, located on Belden Street on the city's West Side. The school enrolls about four hundred and fifty students, with a student body that is predominantly Hispanic; the enrollment also includes a smaller number of Black students and very few white or Asian students. The school does not report free-and-reduced-price lunch status, nor does it report special education or English learner rates, so a parent would need to ask the school directly about the composition of its student population by income or need.

Academic performance data from the 2024-2025 school year shows persistent challenges across mathematics and English language arts. In mathematics, proficiency rates are low across all tested grades. Third grade shows the highest rate; by fourth grade, proficiency drops sharply and remains in single digits through sixth grade. Seventh and eighth grade math proficiency edges up slightly, but overall the picture is one of very few students meeting state proficiency standards. In English language arts, the pattern is somewhat different: early grades and middle grades show modest proficiency, but seventh and eighth grade show notably higher performance, with nearly half of eighth graders meeting proficiency. Science proficiency in fifth grade is very low; eighth grade science is higher but still below half. The school's overall proficiency index, comparing it to other schools in Cook County, places it in the bottom quartile of schools in the county.

The reasons behind these academic patterns merit direct conversation with the school's leadership. Some students may face gaps in foundational skills or literacy. The school's charter status and choice of curriculum matter. The school uses the Skyline curriculum, CPS's relatively new district-wide system rolled out beginning in 2021-2022; whether Skyline is being implemented with fidelity or whether the school is adapting it to its student population would be worth asking. The school's staffing, professional development, and support for teachers in high-need subjects like math are also relevant to the picture. A parent considering this school may want to look into further detail with the school leadership about instructional practices, curriculum implementation, and plans for raising proficiency.

The school itself is a regular public charter school operated through Chicago Public Schools District 299. It sits within a city undergoing steady demographic and policy shifts. Chicago has resumed population growth after years of decline, and the broader metro area is in its third consecutive year of regional growth. The neighborhood around Belden Street is predominantly Hispanic residential, with commercial corridors typical of midtown Chicago. Housing values in the school's zip code are moderate relative to much of the city, though rents have been rising. The district itself has undergone several shifts in recent years: the school board transitioned from mayoral appointment to a hybrid elected-and-appointed model in 2024 and will become fully elected in November 2026, a change that gives families a direct voice in district governance. The district also launched new school accountability dashboards in late 2024, moving away from numeric ratings to a more holistic evaluation of school quality.

Christopher House serves its neighborhood and does not employ selective admissions; it is available to families living in its attendance area or to those who apply through the district's choice process. With no reported graduation rate data (the school serves only through eighth grade, so this metric does not apply), and with significant gaps in proficiency, the school's academic trajectory is the central question a prospective family faces. The school's strength lies in access, affordability, and neighborhood siting; its challenge is ensuring that students build the literacy and numeracy skills the state assessments measure and that form the foundation for high school readiness.

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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% · ▼ 17 pts below district

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

Grade 46%

School 6% · District 29% · ▼ 23 pts below district

▼ 31 pts below state median · ▼ 22 pts below county median

Grade 50%

School 0% · District 24% · ▼ 24 pts below district

▼ 30 pts below state median · ▼ 21 pts below county median

Grade 66%

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

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

Grade 717%

School 17% · District 27% · ▼ 10 pts below district

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

Grade 822%

School 22% · District 23% · ▼ 2 pts below district

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

English language arts

Grade 325%

School 25% · District 36% · ▼ 11 pts below district

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

Grade 416%

School 16% · District 39% · ▼ 22 pts below district

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

Grade 513%

School 13% · District 43% · ▼ 30 pts below district

▼ 39 pts below state median · ▼ 33 pts below county median

Grade 627%

School 27% · District 45% · ▼ 18 pts below district

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

Grade 740%

School 40% · District 46% · ▼ 6 pts below district

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

Grade 846%

School 46% · District 48% · ▼ 2 pts below district

▼ 8 pts below state median · ▼ 1 pts below county median

Science

Grade 57%

School 7% · District 29% · ▼ 21 pts below district

▼ 29 pts below state median · ▼ 20 pts below county median

Grade 826%

School 26% · District 31% · ▼ 5 pts below district

▼ 13 pts below state median · ▼ 1 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.