The top reported proficiency rate is 89% in Math. The lowest is 82% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Prospect Elem School
Prospect Elementary School serves kindergarten through fifth grade in Clarendon Hills, a leafy, affluent west-suburban village roughly a short distance west of Chicago in DuPage County. The school enrolls a small student body made up largely of white students, with a substantial share of Asian students and smaller shares of Hispanic and multiracial students. Data on free-or-reduced-price lunch eligibility was not available, as is common for schools in high-income areas. The school feeds into Clarendon Hills Middle School and, at the high school level, into Hinsdale Central in neighboring Hinsdale.
On state assessments administered in spring 2025, Prospect's students showed strong proficiency across the tested subjects and grades. In math, third-grade students scored well above the midpoint, while fourth- and fifth-grade math proficiency was solid and in the strong range. In English language arts, third through fifth graders all met proficiency at respectable levels, with fifth grade performing especially well. In science, fifth-grade students also performed solidly. Across tested subjects and grades, the school's overall proficiency index places it in the top quartile relative to districts in DuPage County.
The school is small for its grade band, with enrollments distributed fairly evenly across grades, though with a notably small number of students in sixth grade, likely a transitional cohort still at the elementary building. All tested students participated fully in state assessments.
Hinsdale CCSD 181, the district serving Prospect, has recently adopted i-Ready Classroom Mathematics as its K-5 math curriculum, a shift the district describes as emphasizing problem-solving and peer discourse. The district has also formalized placement criteria for advanced and accelerated math in grades 3-5, creating defined gating for math acceleration that will shape which middle and high school trajectories students can enter. The district has publicly committed to maintaining a traditional algebra-geometry-algebra 2 sequence rather than adopting an integrated math pathway, a decision that locks in the math pathway structure for students advancing from elementary school through high school.
Housing in Clarendon Hills and the surrounding zip code is notably expensive, with median home values well above the state benchmark and monthly rents similarly elevated. The market has cooled modestly from a year prior, though homes still sell within a relatively short timeframe. The affordability picture shows home purchase significantly costlier than renting, and the price-to-income ratio is well above the national average, reflecting a demographic skew toward affluent households.
Clarendon Hills itself is a built-out community centered on a compact downtown anchored by the Metra station on Prospect Avenue, where Village Hall and the public library also cluster. The village functions primarily as a residential commuter community with no dominant employer; most working residents commute out. Parks and outdoor space are accessible within the village and at nearby preserves. The village is pursuing infill and redevelopment rather than greenfield expansion, with projects including new row homes and a proposed mixed-use building near downtown.
A parent considering Prospect should understand that this is a strong-performing elementary school in an affluent, suburban setting where state test results are solid and the math curriculum emphasizes conceptual understanding alongside calculation. The school's peer environment reflects the community's economic and ethnic makeup. The learning model, recent curriculum adoption, and math acceleration criteria are all worth discussing directly with the school and district to understand how they align with a particular family's approach and expectations.
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