Jesse C White Learning Academy, Hazel Crest IL

Original Research by School Decision on Jesse C White Learning Academy

Jesse C White Learning Academy is a public elementary and middle school serving prekindergarten through eighth grade in Hazel Crest, a dense residential village in Cook County's south suburbs of Chicago. The school is part of a significant structural change in the district: Hazel Crest School District 152-5 has consolidated its operations into two newly constructed academies—Barack H. Obama Learning Academy and Jesse C White Learning Academy—serving the area's roughly young people across East Hazel Crest, Hazel Crest, Markham, and part of South Harvey. This represents a consolidation from a five-school configuration that operated until recently. For families in the area, this means Jesse C White is now the permanent host school for its portion of the district and sits in a newly built facility.

The student body is predominantly African American, with small populations of Hispanic, multiracial, and Native American students and negligible representation of Asian or white students. Enrollment across the grade band is balanced, ranging from kindergarten through eighth grade with cohorts of roughly similar size. State testing data for free-or-reduced-price lunch eligibility was not available, so a reader cannot assess from this data the proportion of students from lower-income households.

Academic performance is a significant area of concern. On Illinois state assessments in 2024–25, the school's proficiency rates in mathematics are low across all tested grades. Third grade shows the strongest result, with roughly half the students meeting or exceeding state standards in math; fourth grade drops sharply to under one in ten. Fifth and sixth grades see nearly no students meeting math standards, and even seventh and eighth grades remain in single digits. English language arts results follow a similar trajectory: third grade shows close to half proficient, then falls steeply through the middle grades, bottoming out in seventh grade at under one in ten before a modest recovery to roughly one in four in eighth grade. Science proficiency is tested only in fifth and eighth grade and is very low in both, with fifth grade at roughly one in twenty and eighth grade at roughly one in four. Across all tested subjects and grades, the school's overall proficiency index places it in the bottom quartile relative to districts in Cook County.

Participation rates are consistently strong, hovering near or at full enrollment for assessments, indicating that low proficiency is not an artifact of testing logistics but reflects student performance across the board. Assessment design changed in Illinois in 2024–25 with new cut scores, so direct year-to-year trend data is not yet available.

The school does not serve high school grades, so a graduation rate does not apply. Chronic absenteeism data and other school-environment metrics such as discipline, staffing, attendance, or course offerings were not available from the data provided.

Hazel Crest itself is a quiet, auto-oriented village of modest owner-occupied homes—bungalows, worker's cottages, ranches, townhouses, and split-levels. The housing market is affordable relative to the Chicago metro region and the state; median home values are modest, and rents are similarly moderate. The major employer is Advocate South Suburban Hospital, with additional commercial and industrial activity in defined zones such as the Palmer Lake Corporate Business Park. The village is currently pursuing transit-oriented development and downtown revitalization efforts, with open houses underway to define a "Downtown Vision" at 175th and Dixie Highway. Transit access includes the Metra Electric Line, which connects to downtown Chicago, and several Pace bus routes. Schools serving Hazel Crest are spread across multiple districts, with junior and senior high students often attending campuses in neighboring Markham and Country Club Hills rather than within Hazel Crest itself.

A parent or resident considering Jesse C White should be clear about what the academic data shows: the school is currently not producing strong state proficiency results, and families seeking a school with demonstrated strength in standardized academic performance may want to look into this further with the district, including questions about instructional supports, recent staffing changes, and any improvement initiatives underway. For families whose priority is proximity, new school infrastructure, or the district structure itself, that context is distinct from the academic trajectory. The data provided does not include information about school culture, special programs, student support services, or other dimensions that might inform a fuller picture.

See more original research from School Decision →

Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 353%

School 53% · District 28% · ▲ 25 pts above district

▲ 7 pts above state median · ▲ 14 pts above county median

Grade 48%

School 8% · District 4% · ▲ 4 pts above district

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

Grade 50%

School 0% · District 1% · ▼ 1 pts below district

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

Grade 64%

School 4% · District 3% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▼ 20 pts below state median · ▼ 13 pts below county median

Grade 79%

School 9% · District 10% · ▼ 1 pts below district

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

Grade 84%

School 4% · District 2% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▼ 19 pts below state median · ▼ 13 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 349%

School 49% · District 26% · ▲ 22 pts above district

▲ 5 pts above state median · ▲ 11 pts above county median

Grade 413%

School 13% · District 14% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▼ 35 pts below state median · ▼ 27 pts below county median

Grade 513%

School 13% · District 16% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▼ 39 pts below state median · ▼ 32 pts below county median

Grade 69%

School 9% · District 15% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▼ 42 pts below state median · ▼ 34 pts below county median

Grade 77%

School 7% · District 18% · ▼ 11 pts below district

▼ 44 pts below state median · ▼ 38 pts below county median

Grade 824%

School 24% · District 20% · ▲ 4 pts above district

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

Science

Grade 55%

School 5% · District 6%

▼ 31 pts below state median · ▼ 22 pts below county median

Grade 828%

School 28% · District 19% · ▲ 8 pts above district

▼ 12 pts below state median · ▲ 1 pts above county median

This schoolHazel Crest SD 152-5, 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.