Sycamore Trails Elementary School, Bartlett IL

Original Research by School Decision on Sycamore Trails Elementary School

Sycamore Trails Elementary School serves pre-kindergarten through sixth grade in Bartlett, a mixed-use suburb northwest of Chicago in DuPage County. The school enrolls about a mid-sized population for an elementary building, spanning early learners through upper elementary years. The demographic makeup is predominantly white, with meaningful shares of Hispanic and Asian students, and a small number of students from other backgrounds. Free-or-reduced-price-lunch eligibility data and special-population counts are not publicly reported for this school.

In the tested subjects, Sycamore Trails shows uneven performance across grade levels. In English language arts, third graders reach close to proficiency, fourth graders are below that mark, but fifth and sixth graders recover to solid standing, with sixth grade particularly strong. Mathematics tells a steeper story: third graders meet expectations, fourth graders are near it, but performance drops notably in fifth grade and falls further by sixth grade, where less than half the students test proficient. Fifth-grade science results fall in the middle range. Test participation rates are very high across grades and subjects, indicating that nearly all eligible students are tested. These results position the school slightly above the midpoint among the county's districts in overall proficiency, though the downward trend in upper elementary mathematics may be worth examining.

The school is part of School District U-46, which covers Elgin and surrounding communities and is undergoing substantial transformation. A voter-approved bond in 2023, requiring no tax rate increase, is funding rebuilds of five aging elementary schools and construction of new middle schools, including Hawk Hollow Middle School in Bartlett, which opened this school year as the district's first newly built middle school in over a generation. In tandem, U-46 is shifting all middle grades to a 6-through-8 model with daily advisory periods for social-emotional learning and academic support. Additionally, starting in the 2025-26 school year, elementary schools in the district extended their instructional day under a new teachers contract, meaning families at Sycamore Trails are experiencing longer school days than before.

Bartlett itself is a car-oriented suburban community with pockets of walkability centered on a historic downtown around the Metra station, where the Bartlett Community Center and Public Library anchor civic life. The village has seen growth in recent years from both industrial expansion at Brewster Creek Business Park, a reclaimed quarry site now hosting over seventy businesses, and new residential subdivisions like D.R. Horton's Grasslands community. Housing values are in the mid-range for the Chicago area, with modest appreciation. The community is served by Metra commuter rail and Interstate access to Chicago and regional employment.

Sycamore Trails is a traditional public elementary school with no charter or magnet designation. A parent may want to look into the school's approach to mathematics instruction and support in the upper grades, given the proficiency decline in fifth and sixth grade, and to confirm what the extended school day looks like in practice and how it aligns with the family's schedule.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 372%

School 72% · District 45% · ▲ 26 pts above district

▲ 26 pts above state median · ▲ 6 pts above county median

Grade 467%

School 67% · District 39% · ▲ 27 pts above district

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

Grade 552%

School 52% · District 31% · ▲ 21 pts above district

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

Grade 644%

School 44% · District 26% · ▲ 18 pts above district

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

English language arts

Grade 374%

School 74% · District 38% · ▲ 36 pts above district

▲ 30 pts above state median · ▲ 12 pts above county median

Grade 462%

School 62% · District 42% · ▲ 20 pts above district

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

Grade 574%

School 74% · District 48% · ▲ 27 pts above district

▲ 22 pts above state median · ▲ 3 pts above county median

Grade 680%

School 80% · District 45% · ▲ 36 pts above district

▲ 30 pts above state median · ▲ 6 pts above county median

Science

Grade 559%

School 59% · District 32% · ▲ 28 pts above district

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

This schoolSD U-46, 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.