Roosevelt Elem School, Chicago Heights IL

Original Research by School Decision on Roosevelt Elem School

Roosevelt Elementary School serves kindergarten through fifth grade in Chicago Heights, an industrial suburb south of Chicago with a diverse population and established residential neighborhoods. The school's enrollment is small, drawn mostly from nearby families, with a student body that is predominantly Hispanic and Latino, alongside Black, white, and Asian students in smaller numbers.

Roosevelt sits in a neighborhood environment reflective of Chicago Heights' character: a car-dependent suburb with access to bus transit rather than commuter rail, local parks, and a historic downtown a short drive away. The school building is located on Sunnyside Avenue in a residential area. Families choosing Roosevelt typically live in or near the neighborhood and value proximity to their community.

On state assessments in mathematics, third and fourth graders showed modest proficiency, with fewer than half meeting state standards; fifth graders showed significantly weaker results in math, with very few meeting proficiency targets. In English language arts, results were similarly mixed: third and fourth graders achieved proficiency in the low-to-mid range, while fifth graders showed stronger performance. Science proficiency in fifth grade was low. Across tested grades and subjects, Roosevelt's overall proficiency index places it below the midpoint among Cook County school districts. Testing participation was high and consistent across grades. A parent may want to look into the school's approach to math instruction and support, particularly for upper elementary students, as the data shows a notable decline in proficiency as students advance.

The district itself has made recent investments in facilities and pedagogy. Chicago Heights School District 170 opened a new middle school in 2020 serving sixth through eighth graders, giving the district a modern facility for that transition. More relevant to families at the elementary level, the district has built a district-wide dual-language program using the Literacy Squared biliteracy model, with dedicated Spanish-English classrooms at several schools and ongoing bilingual teacher hiring. For the roughly three-quarters of students in the district who are Hispanic and Latino, this commitment to bilingual literacy instruction shapes how children learn to read and write and represents a lasting pedagogical direction for the district.

State testing data for grades six and higher are not reported for Roosevelt because the school does not serve those grades. Free and reduced lunch rates, special education and English learner counts, detailed staffing information, and chronic absenteeism data were not available in the publicly reported information examined.

Roosevelt is a neighborhood elementary school serving a diverse, predominantly Latino community in a stable residential area of Chicago Heights. Its test results show particular need in mathematics instruction and varied performance across grades, while the broader district context reflects investment in modern facilities and bilingual programming that shapes the learning environment across the system.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 343%

School 43% · District 47% · ▼ 4 pts below district

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

Grade 433%

School 33% · District 35% · ▼ 2 pts below district

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

Grade 55%

School 5% · District 15% · ▼ 10 pts below district

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

English language arts

Grade 338%

School 38% · District 44% · ▼ 6 pts below district

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

Grade 443%

School 43% · District 47% · ▼ 5 pts below district

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

Grade 546%

School 46% · District 41% · ▲ 5 pts above district

▼ 6 pts below state median · even with county median

Science

Grade 531%

School 31% · District 25% · ▲ 6 pts above district

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

This schoolChicago Heights SD 170, 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.