The top reported proficiency rate is 56% in English language arts. The lowest is 41% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Jane Addams Elem School
Jane Addams Elementary School is a PreK through 6th grade public school in Melrose Park, a densely settled Cook County village west of Chicago with a long industrial and commercial heritage and a predominantly Latino neighborhood character. The school sits within the Maywood-Melrose Park-Broadview 89 district, a small urban system that has been reshaping its language offerings around dual-language and bilingual instruction.
The school serves a student body that is predominantly Hispanic, with a substantial share of students drawn from Spanish-speaking households. Enrollment is moderate for an elementary school, with meaningful numbers in every grade from pre-K through 6th, and the student composition reflects the village's demographics and economic circumstances. Free and reduced price lunch participation data were not available, so a reader cannot assess poverty rates directly; a parent may want to ask the school about the composition of students qualifying for meal assistance to understand economic context more fully.
On state assessments, Jane Addams shows a mixed academic profile across grades and subjects. In math, third graders are reaching proficiency at a rate somewhat above the midpoint, and fourth graders perform a bit better. Fifth grade math proficiency drops substantially, a notable softening that warrants attention and conversation with the school about curriculum continuity and support. In English language arts, the pattern is somewhat different: third grade is lower, but fourth and fifth grades both show solid proficiency. Fifth grade science proficiency sits in the low-to-mid range. The school's overall proficiency index places it above the midpoint among districts in Cook County, a meaningful position that reflects strength in some areas and areas where additional support may help students advance. Reading across grade levels, the data suggest that the school manages to reach a meaningful share of students in several areas, though progression is not uniform, and upper elementary math presents a real challenge that school leaders are likely aware of and addressing.
The school participates in the district's one-way dual language expansion, which began in kindergarten through third grade at Jane Addams, Lincoln, and Melrose Park schools. The program phases in one additional grade each year and is intended to phase out the older self-contained transitional bilingual model across the district. This is a deliberate, durable shift toward biliteracy across multiple neighborhood schools, part of a broader district move that also includes the K through 8 two-way dual language program at Washington Dual Language Academy. For families who value bilingual instruction or whose children are bilingual learners, this is a defining feature of the school's instructional direction.
Melrose Park itself is a mid-sized, highly walkable village with a residential grid adjacent to commercial corridors and industrial areas. Home values and rents are modest relative to regional benchmarks, and the housing market shows steady activity with some recent commercial reinvestment around corridors like North Avenue. Civic life is anchored by Gottlieb Memorial Hospital, the public library, parks including a newly renovated Bataan Park, and a Metra commuter rail station on the UP-W line with bus connections to Chicago. The village is largely built-out and mature rather than in rapid growth, with reinvestment in existing infrastructure more common than new housing development.
A parent evaluating Jane Addams should understand the school as a dual-language site within an urban, predominantly Hispanic neighborhood, with proficiency that reaches above the midpoint across the county but with a notable dip in fifth grade math that merits direct conversation with school staff about support and intervention. The school is embedded in a dense residential community with good transit access and modest housing costs, making it accessible to many working families; the district's focus on bilingual and dual-language instruction is central to its pedagogical identity.
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