The top reported proficiency rate is 54% in English language arts. The lowest is 45% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Hawthorn Sch of Dual Language
Hawthorn School of Dual Language serves kindergarten through fifth grade in Vernon Hills, a suburban village in Lake County about a short drive northwest of Chicago. The school is part of Hawthorn Community Consolidated School District 73, a district that has recently extended school days across all grade levels to align schedules, a change affecting every family's after-school planning and instructional delivery.
The school enrolls a student body reflective of Vernon Hills' character: roughly a majority of students are Hispanic, with white students forming a substantial second group, and smaller shares of students from Asian, Black, and multiracial backgrounds. Free-and-reduced-price lunch data for the school was not available, so a parent would want to check directly with the district about the share of students qualifying for meal assistance. Data on English learner enrollment and special education caseload was also not provided, though given the school's dual-language mission, asking the school about ELL services and support structures would be important for families considering enrollment.
On state testing, the school's proficiency rates in math and English language arts show a mixed profile across the elementary grades. In grade three math, about four in ten students met state proficiency. By grade four, just over half reached proficiency in both math and ELA, suggesting a step up in performance. Fifth grade shows a clearer strength in ELA, where nearly seven in ten students met the standard, while math proficiency held at around four in ten. Science proficiency in fifth grade was at about fifty percent. These results position the school slightly below the median proficiency index among Lake County districts, indicating that academic outcomes are not among the highest in the county peer group but reflect solid performance in pockets, particularly in upper elementary ELA.
The dual-language model is the school's defining feature. This is not a choice every family wants, and not every family's home language or educational philosophy aligns with it. For families seeking an immersive or heritage-language pathway, or for those drawn to bilingual education on principle, this is the core offering. For others, the dual-language requirement is a mismatch. The school does not appear to offer magnet or choice enrollment beyond its standard attendance pattern, so the program is essentially bound to the neighborhood attendance zone.
Vernon Hills itself is a planned suburban community that grew from a rural base in the 1950s into a regional retail hub by the 1980s. The village is undergoing visible redevelopment; the Hawthorn Mall, long a regional shopping anchor, is being reimagined as Hawthorn Row with mixed-use buildings, apartments, restaurants, and street-level retail meant to introduce walkability to a car-oriented landscape. Housing values in the immediate area are mid-range for the Chicago suburbs, and rental stock is available at moderate rates. The community is served by Metra commuter rail with a station in town, making it accessible to families with downtown Chicago employment, and the area hosts substantial corporate headquarters and office parks.
The district's voter-approved capital project completed major renovations and additions across multiple buildings, including work at the school's namesake Aspen building, with favorable financing terms that came in below originally projected costs to homeowners. This suggests recent investment in facilities and infrastructure. The district also consolidated all preschool services at a shared tri-district early learning center in Mundelein as of 2024-25, meaning families with preschoolers will attend off-campus at a separate facility rather than at their neighborhood school.
A parent considering Hawthorn School of Dual Language should verify enrollment in the attendance zone, understand the dual-language curriculum and expectations for home-language engagement, and ask directly about ELL and special education services and caseloads. The school's fifth-grade ELA results suggest solid progress at that level, while earlier grades and math warrant a closer look at the school's approach to skill-building and support for students not yet meeting proficiency. The setting is suburban and car-dependent, with new retail and mixed-use development nearby, and the broader community offers stable employment and moderate cost of living compared to central Chicago.
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