The top reported proficiency rate is 51% in English language arts. The lowest is 39% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Thomas Jefferson Elem Sch
Thomas Jefferson Elementary is a kindergarten-through-fifth-grade school in Joliet serving a student body that is racially and ethnically mixed, with substantial shares of white, Hispanic, and Black students, along with a smaller Asian population. The school enrolls a modest number of students across its grade bands, with slightly larger classes in the primary grades.
The school's academic results show a pattern worth understanding clearly. In third grade, just over half of students meet proficiency in English language arts, and a similar share in math. By fourth grade, proficiency in math drops to about one-third of students, while English language arts holds in the low-to-mid forty percent range. In fifth grade, math proficiency falls further to around one-quarter of students, though English language arts stays close to half. Science proficiency in fifth grade sits near forty percent. Across these three tested grades, the school's overall proficiency index places it in the bottom quartile when compared to other schools in Kendall County. The decline in math performance as students move from third to fifth grade is particularly steep and a parent may want to look into this further with the school, including what supports exist for students struggling with math, whether curriculum or instructional approaches are shifting between grade levels, and what strategies the school is using to address the gap.
The school is part of Plainfield School District 202, which covers Joliet, Plainfield, and Bolingbrook. The district recently underwent two significant changes. In fall 2025 it redesigned kindergarten with full-time paraprofessionals in every classroom and a staggered start week, and it earned a commendable state designation across all its schools. However, the district was reclassified from a Tier 1 to Tier 2 funding category, resulting in a substantial annual cut to state funding that the district has signaled may force staffing and program reductions beginning in 2026-27. Parents should be aware that class sizes and elective offerings may face pressure in coming years.
Additionally, Plainfield's Board of Education approved high school boundary changes effective in 2026-27 that will reassign students from certain subdivisions on Joliet's west side to different high schools to address overcrowding at Plainfield North. While this does not directly affect Thomas Jefferson, it signals the district is managing significant enrollment pressure and growth in certain neighborhoods.
Joliet itself is a large suburban city southwest of Chicago with a mixed character: older, denser neighborhoods on the east side near downtown, and extensive newer single-family subdivisions on the west side. Housing values in the area have been moving upward, and the rental market remains tight. Downtown Joliet has seen recent public investment in streetscape improvements and a new city square plaza, and the Joliet Gateway Center multimodal transit hub opened in 2021 with Metra and Amtrak service. Employment is anchored by logistics and manufacturing (Amazon, IKEA, ExxonMobil) alongside healthcare, education, and gaming. The economy is stable, though the city's population growth has slowed in recent years after decades of expansion.
Thomas Jefferson serves families in a neighborhood where housing is becoming pricier and where the school's instructional outcomes, particularly in upper elementary math, lag the county average. The school is part of a district investing in early-childhood structure but facing state funding pressure that will likely reshape resources and class composition over the next budget cycle.
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