The top reported proficiency rate is 74% in English language arts. The lowest is 60% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Dewey Elem School
Dewey Elementary is a small, neighborhood school in Evanston serving children in kindergarten through fifth grade. About one-third of its students are white, roughly one-quarter Hispanic, and smaller shares Asian and Black, with a student body that reflects Evanston's residential diversity. The school serves families throughout the city; neither Title I status nor free-or-reduced-price lunch rates were available from public data.
On state assessments administered this spring, Dewey's third graders scored strongest, with proficiency rates in both English language arts and math well above the state threshold. Fourth graders showed solid performance in reading and notably lower gains in math. Fifth graders proved the most uneven group, with reading proficiency dropping substantially while math stayed moderate and science proficiency fell further still. The school's overall proficiency index ranks in the top quartile among Cook County districts, a meaningful marker of aggregate strength across tested grades and subjects. That said, the downward trend from third to fifth grade warrants attention; a parent may want to look into this further with the school, both to understand whether it reflects cohort differences or a pattern within Dewey's instruction, and what targeted support is available to struggling learners at the upper grades.
The Illinois Assessment of Readiness and the new science assessment brought cut-score changes this year, so year-to-year trend data were not available. The school administers these assessments to all students in tested grades, with full participation rates reported.
Dewey lies on Wesley Avenue in central Evanston, within walking distance of the city's downtown corridor and transit infrastructure. Evanston itself is a mixed-character lakefront city just north of Chicago, home to Northwestern University and a blend of older tree-lined residential blocks, newer apartments, and condos. The downtown and Main-Dempster Mile offer active street life with local shops, galleries, and restaurants, supported by extensive sidewalk coverage and a citywide Walk Score in the mid-range. Public transit includes CTA Purple Line stations and Metra Union Pacific North service at multiple downtown locations, making car-light living viable for many families. Housing in the area sits above state and national benchmarks, with median home values in the mid-range for the region and rents correspondingly steep; roughly one-third of renters spend above the standard affordability threshold for housing costs. Growth is underway: the city is pursuing a strategic housing plan to add units across affordability levels, with several apartment and mixed-use projects in construction or recent approval.
District 65, the elementary district serving Evanston and Skokie, is navigating significant structural change. The closure of Bessie Rhodes, the district's only entirely bilingual school, at the end of this school year will displace families and reshape school assignments across the elementary system. A new Foster Elementary is opening in fall 2026 to absorb many of those families and house a relocated Two-Way Immersion program. The district has also overhauled its literacy curriculum, moving away from Lucy Calkins Units of Study to a new foundational-reading focus purchased in 2023, and restructured middle-school math to eliminate acceleration testing and offer all students an advanced sequence. The district faces ongoing budget pressure from a structural deficit; property tax increases have been at the maximum rate in recent years, and a new operating referendum may be placed before voters as the district works toward financial sustainability. These shifts create both instability and opportunity: new curriculum and pedagogy reflect contemporary reading science and equitable access, but the closure and boundary changes create real disruption for families already in the system.
Dewey itself does not appear to be directly affected by the current closures, but the broader district environment of financial constraint, program consolidation, and changing attendance zones is a backdrop parents should understand.
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