Ridge Lawn Elementary School, Chicago Ridge IL

Original Research by School Decision on Ridge Lawn Elementary School

Ridge Lawn Elementary is a public K-5 school serving about five hundred elementary students in Chicago Ridge, a built-out southwest Cook County suburb. The school draws a student body that is predominantly white, with a notable minority presence of Black and Hispanic students in roughly equal proportions. Free-or-reduced-price lunch data was not available, so the share of economically disadvantaged students cannot be measured here.

The school's academic performance shows consistent strain across tested grades and subjects. In mathematics, third-grade students posted proficiency rates in the mid-range, but performance declined markedly through upper elementary. Fourth graders showed lower rates, and fifth graders achieved proficiency in only a small portion of the tested population. Science in fifth grade similarly reported very low proficiency. English language arts followed a similar arc: third grade was below state middle, fourth grade posted modest results, and fifth grade showed proficiency for less than a third of tested students. State testing data for grades six and above is not reported because the school serves only through grade five.

These results position the school below the median across Cook County districts when proficiency is averaged across subjects and grades. The scope and consistency of these gaps across grades and subjects suggests that students encounter headwinds in building math and literacy skills as they progress through the elementary years. A parent may want to ask the school directly about the instructional approaches and targeted support in place to address these patterns, and whether tutoring or intervention services are available.

The school participates in the Chicago Ridge School District 127-5, a small district serving the village. The district adopted a multi-year Strategic Plan in winter 2022 focused on student needs, building and finance, curriculum and instruction, technology, and professional development. That plan remains the framework for district-wide direction.

Chicago Ridge itself is a fully built, mature suburb with mixed residential, commercial, and industrial zones anchored by Chicago Ridge Mall. Housing values and rents are moderate relative to the Chicago metro region. The village has a Metra station on the SouthWest Service line connecting to Chicago, along with local Pace bus service. Employment among residents spans retail, healthcare, and manufacturing sectors tied to the regional economy. Population growth has been flat or minimal in recent years.

Ridge Lawn's enrollment is stable across its grade band, with classes ranging from mid-sized to smaller as students progress toward fifth grade. The school building is located on 105th Street, centrally positioned within the village. Specific information on special education enrollment, English learner populations, staffing, and school discipline policies was not available, so readers should seek those details directly from the school.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 346%

School 46% · District 36% · ▲ 10 pts above district

even with state median · ▲ 6 pts above county median

Grade 434%

School 34% · District 35% · ▼ 1 pts below district

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

Grade 513%

School 13% · District 15% · ▼ 2 pts below district

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

English language arts

Grade 328%

School 28% · District 32% · ▼ 4 pts below district

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

Grade 436%

School 36% · District 45% · ▼ 8 pts below district

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

Grade 532%

School 32% · District 43% · ▼ 11 pts below district

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

Science

Grade 515%

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

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

This schoolChicago Ridge SD 127-5, 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.