Huff Elem School, Elgin IL - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Huff Elem School

Huff Elementary is a public school serving pre-K through sixth grade in Elgin, located on Hastings Street on the city's mixed residential and commercial near-west side. The school is part of School District U-46, a large district spanning Elgin and surrounding suburbs in Cook County. Huff's student population is small to mid-sized for its grade band, with a substantial majority of students identifying as Hispanic, alongside smaller communities of white, Black, and Asian students. The school's enrollment reflects the broader composition of Elgin, a mid-sized city with deep roots in manufacturing, now a multicultural hub with significant Latino and Laotian American communities. Free-or-reduced-price-lunch data was not available for Huff, so enrollment context by income cannot be fully drawn here.

State assessment results from the most recent year show proficiency rates that place Huff in the bottom quartile among schools tested in Cook County. In mathematics, proficiency ranged from roughly one in ten students in grade six to about one in four in grades four and five, with grade three near one in six. In English language arts, performance was similarly low, with grade three and four at roughly one in five and one in six respectively, though fifth grade improved to about four in ten. Science results from grade five showed proficiency around one in four. These numbers reflect significant academic gaps and a parent may want to look further into the school's support structures, intervention programs, and school-level context that might explain the pattern. Testing participation was strong and near-universal across grades, suggesting these results represent actual student performance rather than missing data.

The district is undergoing substantial change. A voter-approved bond referendum in 2023, passed with no tax increase, is funding the rebuilding of several aging elementary schools including Lowrie, McKinley, and Century Oaks in Elgin. Huff's condition and construction timeline under this program is not specified in available data. Additionally, the district extended the school day for elementary students starting in 2025-26 by a modest increment, a change negotiated in the recent Elgin Teachers Association contract. Middle grades are shifting to a 6-8 model with a new daily advisory period for social-emotional learning and academic support, and new math and literacy resources are being rolled out.

Elgin itself is in an active growth phase. Downtown has seen openings of new apartments, the Lodge performing arts venue, and expansion around the Fox River and Metra stations. The west side, where new residential development is concentrated near Randall Road and the Bowes Road corridor, is seeing numerous new single-family homes. Home values in the 60120 zip code (Elgin's broader area) are mid-range for Cook County, and rental rates are modest relative to the broader regional market. The housing market shows moderate supply and soft demand compared to nearby areas. This growth may bring shifts in enrollment and demographic composition to Huff and other U-46 schools over the next several years.

Huff is a neighborhood elementary serving pre-K through grade six in a diverse, working-to-middle-class urban-suburban setting. Academic results currently show substantial room for improvement, and prospective families should have a direct conversation with school leadership about specific reading, math, and writing support models, the school's experience with English learners if that applies, and how the extended school day is being used to bolster core instruction.

See more original research from School Decision →

Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 316%

School 16% · District 45% · ▼ 29 pts below district

▼ 30 pts below state median · ▼ 23 pts below county median

Grade 426%

School 26% · District 39% · ▼ 14 pts below district

▼ 11 pts below state median · ▼ 3 pts below county median

Grade 526%

School 26% · District 31% · ▼ 5 pts below district

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

Grade 612%

School 12% · District 26% · ▼ 14 pts below district

▼ 12 pts below state median · ▼ 5 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 316%

School 16% · District 38% · ▼ 22 pts below district

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

Grade 420%

School 20% · District 42% · ▼ 22 pts below district

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

Grade 540%

School 40% · District 48% · ▼ 8 pts below district

▼ 12 pts below state median · ▼ 6 pts below county median

Grade 625%

School 25% · District 45% · ▼ 19 pts below district

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

Science

Grade 524%

School 24% · District 32% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▼ 12 pts below state median · ▼ 3 pts below 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.