Highlands Elem School, Hazel Crest IL

Original Research by School Decision on Highlands Elem School

Highlands Elementary serves a small, densely enrolled school community in Hazel Crest's Prairie-Hills ESD 144 district. The school enrolls students from pre-K through fifth grade and sits in a predominantly residential village in Cook County's south suburbs, where most families own homes and the neighborhood character is quiet residential streets rather than walkable commercial corridors. A Metra Electric station nearby provides commute access to downtown Chicago.

The student body is predominantly Black, with smaller populations of Hispanic and multiracial students. Data on free-and-reduced-price lunch eligibility and English learner status were not available, so a reader looking for socioeconomic context would want to ask the school directly. The enrollment is modest and stable across pre-K through fifth grade, typical for a neighborhood elementary serving its immediate area.

Academic performance is a significant concern. In the most recent state testing, proficiency rates in both math and reading were substantially below the midpoint for schools across Cook County. In third through fifth grade, fewer than a quarter of students scored at proficient levels in either subject, with math showing particularly low results across the grade band. Science proficiency in fifth grade was also in the lowest range when compared with other county schools. The state assessment cut scores changed recently, which can make year-to-year comparisons difficult, but the current performance places this school in the bottom quartile by overall proficiency among the county's tested schools. Testing data for grades six through eight do not appear because this is an elementary school.

The district operates a STEAM-themed academy in nearby Markham as one of its elementary options, should families want a science and technology-focused curriculum pathway. Highlands itself does not appear to have specialized program offerings in the data available.

Housing in Hazel Crest is modestly valued, with the township showing stable to slightly declining property values on a year-over-year basis. The housing stock consists largely of owner-occupied bungalows, cottages, split-levels, and ranches, with a texture oriented toward family neighborhoods rather than active commercial walkability. Advocate South Suburban Hospital and Mi-Jack Products are major local employers, and the Palmer Lake Corporate Business Park anchors much of the area's industrial and commercial activity. The village is in a growth phase focused on rehabilitation and infill development rather than suburban sprawl; the park district, library, Metra station, and several Pace bus routes serve residents.

A parent or family considering Highlands should treat the test results as the starting point for a deeper conversation with the school about instructional strategies, support systems, and plans to raise proficiency. Enrollment is small enough that a school community can respond quickly to targeted academic work, and the neighborhood setting offers stability and residential affordability. The question of whether the school's approach to literacy and mathematics aligns with how your child learns, and what supplemental support you might need to provide, is worth exploring directly with staff.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 319%

School 19% · District 24% · ▼ 5 pts below district

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

Grade 416%

School 16% · District 17% · ▼ 1 pts below district

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

Grade 513%

School 13% · District 8% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▼ 17 pts below state median · ▼ 9 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 317%

School 17% · District 21% · ▼ 4 pts below district

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

Grade 435%

School 35% · District 36% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▼ 13 pts below state median · ▼ 5 pts below county median

Grade 521%

School 21% · District 22%

▼ 31 pts below state median · ▼ 24 pts below county median

Science

Grade 515%

School 15% · District 11% · ▲ 4 pts above district

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

This schoolPrairie-Hills ESD 144, 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.