Woodrow Wilson Elem School, Cicero IL

Original Research by School Decision on Woodrow Wilson Elem School

Woodrow Wilson Elementary is a public school in Cicero serving about that size in enrollment across kindergarten through sixth grade. The school sits in a densely built, working-class Chicago inner-ring suburb that is predominantly Hispanic and Mexican, with a commercial spine along Cermak Road and residential neighborhoods woven throughout. The school's enrollment reflects Cicero's composition, with a vast majority of students identifying as Hispanic.

The academic picture here requires straightforward acknowledgment. State test results show proficiency rates that sit well below what most schools in Cook County report. In English language arts, the school's performance ranges from the low-to-mid twenty percent range in third and fourth grade, improves to about one-third in fifth grade, and reaches just under half in sixth grade. In math, the pattern is even more pronounced on the low end, with rates in the low-to-mid teens across fourth, fifth, and sixth grade, only reaching the mid-twenties in third. Science proficiency in fifth grade sits at about one-fifth. The data from testing has changed because Illinois shifted how it scores proficiency, so year-to-year comparison is not straightforward; still, a parent looking at these current results should understand that very few students are demonstrating proficiency as the state defines it. The school's overall proficiency index places it in the bottom quartile among Cook County districts. High rates of test participation, near or at full attendance, suggest engagement with assessment but not yet translation into proficiency gains.

Cicero School District 99, which operates Woodrow Wilson, has made deliberate instructional shifts intended to address this trajectory. The district adopted a structured literacy approach to reading across all elementary schools beginning in 2021–2022, with explicit, systematic instruction in word recognition and decoding. The 2024 state report card notes gains in reading district-wide tied to this work. The district has also embedded the Professional Learning Communities model, where teachers across schools collaborate in data cycles to improve instruction. These are substantial, durable changes in how teaching happens, not one-time initiatives. Whether these efforts have yet moved the needle at Woodrow Wilson specifically is a question a parent may want to discuss directly with the school and the district, given that the most recent test results show proficiency rates still at or below where they started.

The school's peer environment is consistent with Cicero itself: a working-class, predominantly Hispanic community where most daily life happens within dense, walkable neighborhoods. Bus lines and the Pink Line provide transit access to Chicago and surrounding areas. Housing in the 60804 zip code where the school sits is modest in value but increasingly stable; a parent renting or buying in the area would find median rents and property values substantially lower than broader Chicago, with housing market activity moderating from the inventory surge of the pandemic years.

Woodrow Wilson serves a neighborhood school population, embedded in residential blocks rather than on a separate campus. The absence of program-specific designation or specialized pathways is typical for an elementary school of this type and size. A parent choosing this school would be making a choice based on neighborhood proximity and the district's commitment to foundational reading and collaborative teaching approaches, while understanding that current proficiency results remain a significant area of work.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 325%

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

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

Grade 416%

School 16% · District 29% · ▼ 13 pts below district

▼ 21 pts below state median · ▼ 13 pts below county median

Grade 513%

School 13% · District 18% · ▼ 5 pts below district

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

Grade 617%

School 17% · District 22% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▼ 7 pts below state median · even with county median

English language arts

Grade 324%

School 24% · District 28% · ▼ 5 pts below district

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

Grade 422%

School 22% · District 28% · ▼ 6 pts below district

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

Grade 535%

School 35% · District 37% · ▼ 2 pts below district

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

Grade 649%

School 49% · District 40% · ▲ 9 pts above district

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

Science

Grade 518%

School 18% · District 25% · ▼ 7 pts below district

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

This schoolCicero SD 99, 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.