North Elementary School, Des Plaines IL

Original Research by School Decision on North Elementary School

North Elementary School in Des Plaines is a small, neighborhood elementary school serving kindergarten through fifth grade in a bustling O'Hare-adjacent suburb. The school draws from an ethnically and racially diverse enrollment, with substantial populations of Asian, white, Hispanic, and Black students, and a modest share of multiracial and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander students. A small number of sixth graders also attend, reflecting the school's grade configuration at the boundary of early elementary and middle school ages.

Academic performance on the most recent Illinois state assessments tells a clear story: proficiency is low and declining across tested grades and subjects. In third grade, about half the students meet proficiency in English language arts and roughly the same proportion in math. By fourth grade, those figures drop sharply, with fewer than two in five students proficient in either subject. In fifth grade, the decline deepens further, with only about one in four students reaching proficiency in math and roughly the same share in English language arts. Science performance in fifth grade is particularly weak, with only about one in six students proficient. A parent may want to look into this further with the school and district, both to understand what support systems are in place for students who are not yet meeting grade-level benchmarks and whether the school has any plans to reverse the trend.

Relative to districts across Cook County, North Elementary's overall proficiency is below the midpoint. The school's testing participation rates are high, in the mid- to upper-nineties across grades and subjects, so these results reflect widespread difficulty rather than testing gaps.

The school serves a student population of roughly mid-range size for its grade band, with kindergarten and third grade classes of similar size and fifth grade somewhat smaller. Free-and-reduced-price-lunch eligibility data was not available, so a parent cannot determine from this profile whether economic hardship is a significant factor in the school's enrollment. Special education and English learner enrollment counts were also unavailable.

Des Plaines itself is an established inner-ring suburb northwest of Chicago, adjacent to O'Hare, with a revitalized downtown centered around the Metra station and mixed-use development. The housing market in the zip code is moderately priced relative to the state and nation, with home values and rents showing modest appreciation. The city is pursuing downtown walkability and transit-oriented development, and civic anchors include the public library, parks, the Metra station on the Union Pacific Northwest line, and regular Pace bus service.

CCSD 62, the district serving this school, is implementing full-day kindergarten beginning in the 2026-27 school year, a structural change affecting family schedules and early childhood programming. The district also adopted a five-year strategic plan in 2024 centered on academic growth and readiness for high school, an inclusive learning culture, workforce investment, and community partnerships. How those commitments translate into classroom-level instruction and support for students struggling with core academics is worth exploring directly with the school and district.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 350%

School 50% · District 63% · ▼ 13 pts below district

▲ 4 pts above state median · ▲ 11 pts above county median

Grade 435%

School 35% · District 53% · ▼ 17 pts below district

▼ 1 pts below state median · ▲ 7 pts above county median

Grade 524%

School 24% · District 46% · ▼ 23 pts below district

▼ 6 pts below state median · ▲ 2 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 353%

School 53% · District 63% · ▼ 10 pts below district

▲ 9 pts above state median · ▲ 16 pts above county median

Grade 441%

School 41% · District 59% · ▼ 18 pts below district

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

Grade 536%

School 36% · District 64% · ▼ 28 pts below district

▼ 16 pts below state median · ▼ 10 pts below county median

Science

Grade 517%

School 17% · District 41% · ▼ 24 pts below district

▼ 20 pts below state median · ▼ 10 pts below county median

This schoolCCSD 62, 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.