Cics - Longwood Campus, Chicago IL

Original Research by School Decision on Cics - Longwood Campus

CICS - Longwood Campus is a charter school in Chicago's Longwood neighborhood serving students in grades 3 through 12. The student body is predominantly Black, with the vast majority of the roughly 1,200 students drawn from the immediate area.

State testing data from 2024-25 shows academic performance well below proficiency benchmarks across the tested subjects and grades. In math, proficiency rates range from single digits in fourth through seventh grades, reaching roughly one-fifth of students in third grade and one-ninth in eighth grade. English language arts performance is similarly low, clustering in the roughly one-fifth to one-quarter range across grades three through eight. Science proficiency, tested in grades 5 and 8, sits around one-tenth or below. The school's overall proficiency index places it in the bottom quartile relative to other schools and districts across Cook County.

Testing participation has been consistently strong across grades and subjects, with rates in the mid- to high-90s, so the low proficiency numbers reflect actual performance rather than incomplete assessment coverage. The school does not report free-or-reduced-price-lunch data, special education enrollment, or English learner counts, leaving gaps in the demographic picture beyond race and ethnicity. No graduation rate, chronic absenteeism figures, or staffing detail are available from the data provided.

CICS - Longwood is a relatively young charter school operating within Chicago Public Schools District 299. The district itself is in transition: governance is shifting from a mayor-appointed board to a fully elected one, with all 21 seats to be filled in November 2026, giving families a direct voice in policy for the first time. The district adopted a five-year strategic plan in 2024 called "Together We Rise" that emphasizes neighborhood schools and moves away from school-choice models that have long defined CPS. The district also replaced its numeric school ratings in December 2024 with holistic accountability dashboards that go beyond test scores, a change that directly alters how families compare and evaluate schools.

On the housing side, the neighborhood sits in a market with median home values and rents that have been rising modestly year over year. Median rents in the area are in the mid-range for Chicago, and median home values fall below both the state and national benchmarks, making it more affordable than many city and suburban markets. Supply in Cook County's real estate market has tightened slightly, while demand has picked up modestly from a year ago.

A parent considering CICS - Longwood would be evaluating a school with very low tested proficiency and no available data on graduation outcomes, attendance patterns, or program breadth. The school's size and charter status mean it operates independently within the public system, and its demographic composition is homogeneous by race. Families may want to look directly into the school's curriculum choices, instructional approach, teacher qualifications, and support systems to understand what is driving the academic gap and what classroom experience looks like day to day. The broader district context of governance reform and strategic refocus on neighborhood schools is worth tracking as it may affect resources, accountability expectations, and staffing priorities over coming years.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 322%

School 22% · District 38% · ▼ 16 pts below district

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

Grade 44%

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

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

Grade 57%

School 7% · District 24% · ▼ 17 pts below district

▼ 23 pts below state median · ▼ 14 pts below county median

Grade 68%

School 8% · District 23% · ▼ 15 pts below district

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

Grade 77%

School 7% · District 27% · ▼ 21 pts below district

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

Grade 812%

School 12% · District 23% · ▼ 12 pts below district

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

English language arts

Grade 322%

School 22% · District 36% · ▼ 15 pts below district

▼ 22 pts below state median · ▼ 16 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 519%

School 19% · District 43% · ▼ 24 pts below district

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

Grade 624%

School 24% · District 45% · ▼ 21 pts below district

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

Grade 719%

School 19% · District 46% · ▼ 27 pts below district

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

Grade 824%

School 24% · District 48% · ▼ 24 pts below district

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

Science

Grade 58%

School 8% · District 29% · ▼ 21 pts below district

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

Grade 810%

School 10% · District 31% · ▼ 21 pts below district

▼ 30 pts below state median · ▼ 17 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.