Washington Dual Language Academy, Maywood IL

Original Research by School Decision on Washington Dual Language Academy

Washington Dual Language Academy is a small public school serving pre-K through 8th grade in Maywood, situated in a historically dense residential village with a mixed-race and predominantly Hispanic student body. The school's defining characteristic is its dual language instruction model, where English and Spanish speakers learn both languages from kindergarten through middle school in an integrated two-way program. This is a pedagogical commitment the district has been expanding district-wide, signaling that biliteracy is a durable priority in this community.

The school's academic profile shows substantial variation across grades and subjects. In English language arts, performance is stronger in the younger and oldest grades—third graders and eighth graders show proficiency near or above half—but fourth, fifth, and sixth graders show lower proficiency levels. Math results are more consistently uneven, with proficiency notably weak in fourth and fifth grades but recovering somewhat by sixth grade and middle school. Science results in grade five are particularly soft, while eighth-grade science performance reaches a stronger level. All students participate fully in state testing, and the data shows no prior-year trend, so readers cannot yet see whether these grade-by-grade patterns reflect the school's trajectory or mark a stable baseline.

When compared to other districts in Cook County, the school's overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades sits slightly below the midpoint of the county's distribution. A parent may want to look further into what the school and district attribute to this positioning—whether it reflects the learning demands of true bilingual instruction, a student population with a high proportion of active dual-language learners, or other instructional or support considerations. The school does not report free-or-reduced-price-lunch rates or English learner percentages, so the full context of student need is not visible here.

The student body is roughly three-quarters Hispanic and roughly one-fifth Black, with minimal representation of Asian, white, or multiracial students. The enrollment is small and stable across grades, ranging from about thirty to nearly forty students per grade in the elementary years and slightly smaller in middle school. The school sits on Washington Boulevard in Maywood, a walkable, transit-served village where the Metra stop is within neighborhood reach and century-old homes anchor a pedestrian-oriented commercial grid. Housing values in the zip code are moderate, reflecting the working-class character of the community, while rents are similarly affordable. The area's major employer, Loyola University Medical Center, anchors the southern edge of the village.

The dual-language mission itself carries both promise and challenge for families weighing this school. True bilingual instruction demands sustained attention to language development across the curriculum—a model that can build biliteracy and cross-cultural competence but also requires alignment between home language practices and classroom instruction. Families fluent in both English and Spanish, or those committed to Spanish language maintenance for children growing up in an English-dominant society, may find this model a direct match. Families new to the community or uncertain about the demands of bilingual learning may find it worth a direct conversation with the school about how students at different proficiency levels in each language are supported and how the model handles students who arrive speaking primarily one language.

No graduation rate appears in the data because the school ends at eighth grade. Enrollment, special-education status, and staff composition are not included in the available information. The school's website or a conversation with administration would clarify those details, as well as what supports exist for students whose proficiency in one or both languages may not yet match grade-level expectations, particularly in the grades showing lower state test results.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 350%

School 50% · District 30% · ▲ 20 pts above district

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

Grade 426%

School 26% · District 27% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▼ 11 pts below state median · ▼ 3 pts below county median

Grade 515%

School 15% · District 23% · ▼ 8 pts below district

▼ 15 pts below state median · ▼ 6 pts below county median

Grade 642%

School 42% · District 18% · ▲ 25 pts above district

▲ 18 pts above state median · ▲ 25 pts above county median

Grade 733%

School 33% · District 20% · ▲ 13 pts above district

▲ 5 pts above state median · ▲ 12 pts above county median

Grade 832%

School 32% · District 16% · ▲ 17 pts above district

▲ 10 pts above state median · ▲ 15 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 353%

School 53% · District 37% · ▲ 16 pts above district

▲ 9 pts above state median · ▲ 16 pts above county median

Grade 452%

School 52% · District 44% · ▲ 8 pts above district

▲ 4 pts above state median · ▲ 12 pts above county median

Grade 535%

School 35% · District 52% · ▼ 17 pts below district

▼ 17 pts below state median · ▼ 11 pts below county median

Grade 665%

School 65% · District 43% · ▲ 22 pts above district

▲ 15 pts above state median · ▲ 23 pts above county median

Grade 752%

School 52% · District 40% · ▲ 12 pts above district

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

Grade 877%

School 77% · District 46% · ▲ 31 pts above district

▲ 24 pts above state median · ▲ 31 pts above county median

Science

Grade 530%

School 30% · District 30% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▼ 7 pts below state median · ▲ 3 pts above county median

Grade 858%

School 58% · District 28% · ▲ 30 pts above district

▲ 19 pts above state median · ▲ 31 pts above county median

This schoolMaywood-Melrose Park-Broadview 89, 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.