The top reported proficiency rate is 74% in English language arts. The lowest is 57% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Longfellow Elem School
Longfellow Elementary is a smaller public school in Oak Park serving about five hundred students from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade. The student body is diverse, with roughly half white students, a substantial share of Black and Hispanic students, and smaller numbers of Asian and multiracial children. Free-or-reduced-price lunch data was not available, so a parent would want to ask the school directly about economic diversity in the enrollment.
The school sits in a densely walkable Chicago suburb where homes are mid-range in price and families tend to cluster near good schools and transit. Oak Park itself is primarily residential, threaded with small business districts and anchored by Frank Lloyd Wright architecture and strong pedestrian infrastructure. Schools are embedded in neighborhood blocks rather than on isolated campuses, so Longfellow's location on Highland Avenue places it within walking distance of homes and the smaller parks scattered through the area.
On state testing, Longfellow shows uneven strength across subjects and grades. Third- and fourth-grade mathematics proficiency sits in the mid-range. Third-grade English language arts is somewhat below fifth-grade, which is the school's strongest performance. Science proficiency in fifth grade trails the other subjects. Across grades three through five, English language arts and mathematics are the areas where the school has reported results; science was assessed only in grade five. Grade six science and eighth-grade results do not appear in the data, likely because the school does not serve grades six through eight, though grades tested do reach beyond the school's official fifth-grade cap according to the testing data shown. A parent looking at these numbers would see that the school is performing modestly on state measures, with fifth-grade language arts as the relative bright spot. When compared against the performance of schools across Cook County, Longfellow's overall proficiency index places it in the top quartile, a meaningful position.
Longfellow is currently part of a district in transition. District 97 is working through a multi-year change in how it teaches reading and writing at the elementary level, having piloted three new curricula during the past school year to replace an earlier approach. This redesign reflects a deliberate effort to strengthen early literacy instruction and is the kind of foundational shift parents notice. The district also recently cut staff—two central-office administrator positions and eight teaching positions for the coming year—a retrenchment that signals tightening finances and may affect class sizes and program depth over time. Neither change directly reflects Longfellow's capacity, but both shape the environment around it.
The school does not report its own program offerings, attendance, or staff composition in the available data, so a parent would want to contact the school directly to understand what specialties, student support services, or classroom structures it offers. State assessment participation rates were high, suggesting the school has strong testing administration. The school's location in a well-served transit and walkable neighborhood makes it accessible to families living throughout the village.
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