The top reported proficiency rate is 72% in Science. The lowest is 67% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Country Meadows Elem School
Country Meadows Elementary serves the K–5 grades in Long Grove, a small, historically rooted residential village about 35–40 miles northwest of Chicago. The school is part of Kildeer Countryside CCSD 96 and sits within a community that has resisted typical suburban sprawl, preserving large lots, forests, and conservation areas alongside a modest historic downtown core. The housing market in the area reflects that care and scarcity: home values are solidly above the state median, with rents also elevated. This is an affluent, stable community where families are often long-term residents, and the school draws from that stable population base.
The school enrolls a modest-sized student body. Enrollment is fairly distributed across the grade levels, with slightly larger cohorts in grades two and four. The student population reflects the community's composition: a majority white population, with meaningful shares of Asian, Hispanic, and multiracial students. Specific data on free-or-reduced-price lunch eligibility, English learner count, and special education enrollment were not available, so a parent would want to contact the school directly to understand the degree of economic diversity or need support services the school serves.
State assessment results show mixed performance across subjects and grades. In math, third graders performed above the median proficiency level. Fourth and fifth graders showed lower attainment in math, each below that threshold. In English language arts, results were more consistent: third, fourth, and fifth graders all performed in the moderate range, with fifth grade reaching the highest mark. Fifth-grade science proficiency was also in the moderate zone. Because the school serves grades one through five and the state tests only grades three through five in most subjects, results cover only the upper half of the school's grade span. A parent may want to look into what the school offers in early literacy and numeracy for the younger grades, since public data do not illuminate that foundation work.
The district itself has made two recent moves worth noting. Kildeer Countryside opened a new STEM-focused "Collaboratory" learning space at one middle school in fall 2024 and opened a second at another middle school in fall 2025. These feature makerspaces, 3D printing labs, and recording studios used across content areas. While Country Meadows feeds into middle school later, the district's investment in hands-on, interdisciplinary learning signals a pedagogical direction families may want to monitor. The district also runs an optional Spanish/English Dual Language Program that started several years ago and has continued to expand grade by grade, entered through a kindergarten lottery. That program is offered in select schools and may be of interest to families seeking bilingual experience, though it does not appear Country Meadows itself is the designated site.
Long Grove itself is a place of quiet, pastoral character. Life outside the compact historic downtown is low-density and car-oriented, built around large residential lots. The nearest commuter rail station is in adjacent Buffalo Grove, so families working in downtown Chicago would rely on car commute or a shuttle bus. The village has resisted new sprawl through deliberate land-use choices and architectural preservation, which has kept it feeling separate from the wider suburban ring. That separation and stability have costs and benefits: a parent values the setting and school environment or seeks more urban convenience and density.
Relative to other districts in Lake County, Country Meadows' overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades sits above the midpoint. This is a position of modest strength, neither leading the county nor lagging it. The school is performing at a level consistent with a stable suburban elementary serving an educated, resourced community, with room in some grade-level cohorts for growth in math fluency.
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