The top reported proficiency rate is 64% in English language arts. The lowest is 51% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Kingsley Elementary School
Kingsley Elementary School is a regular public school serving kindergarten through fifth grade in Evanston, located in the Evanston/Skokie School District 65. The school currently enrolls students across those six grades, with a student body that is roughly evenly split between white and Black students, with smaller populations of Hispanic and multiracial children and very few Asian students. The school is situated in a neighborhood setting on Green Bay Road in Evanston's north-central area.
Recent state testing data from the Illinois Assessment of Reading (IAR) and Illinois Science Assessment show mixed proficiency results. In English language arts, third and fourth grade students scored above the midpoint: third grade registered strong performance while fourth grade posted a solid proficiency rate. Fifth grade proficiency in ELA dropped a bit lower but remained above half. In math, the picture is more uneven: third grade proficiency matched ELA levels, fourth grade mirrored that, but fifth grade proficiency in math declined noticeably. Science proficiency at the fifth-grade level was slightly above half. None of these results place the school in the top tier, but they do position Kingsley above the median among the school systems in Cook County overall. Participation rates were high, showing the school had strong testing engagement. State testing data note that scoring cut scores changed in this assessment year, which means direct year-over-year comparison is not straightforward.
One critical fact shapes the immediate future of this school: Kingsley Elementary will close at the end of the 2025-26 school year. This is part of the district's broader response to a structural budget deficit and follows the closure of the Dr. Bessie Rhodes School of Global Studies. Families currently at Kingsley will face reassignment to other district schools, and attendance boundaries across the elementary grades will shift. The district is opening a new Foster Elementary School in the Fifth Ward for the 2026-27 school year, which will absorb displaced families and will house the relocated Two-Way Immersion program, materially reshaping feeder patterns and school assignments across the district.
This closure means Kingsley is in a period of transition. Parents should plan for their children's reassignment and should familiarize themselves with the district's boundary changes well before the school year ends. The district's website and official communications from District 65 will carry details on where Kingsley students will be routed and on enrollment timelines for the 2026-27 school year.
Beyond the closure, Kingsley is operating within a district that has made deliberate shifts in elementary literacy instruction and middle school math. In 2023, District 65 adopted a new K-5 literacy curriculum to replace the previously used Lucy Calkins approach, aiming for stronger foundational reading instruction. This change affects how children learn to read and write across the elementary grades. At the middle school level, the district eliminated separate accelerated math tracks and now places all students on a common advanced sequence, a policy shift that families with higher-performing math students should understand.
District 65 has raised property taxes by the maximum allowed amount in recent years and is weighing whether to put an operating referendum on a future ballot to address continuing budget pressures. These financial dynamics underpin the closures and restructuring families are experiencing.
Evanston itself is a walkable, mixed-character city north of Chicago with a notable university presence, dense commercial core, and residential neighborhoods of historic homes and apartments. Housing values have appreciated modestly, and the city is actively pursuing housing growth through several major development projects. The community has strong civic infrastructure including libraries, parks, beaches on Lake Michigan, and frequent public transit via the CTA Purple Line and Metra stations.
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