The top reported proficiency rate is 53% in English language arts. The lowest is 50% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Americana Elementary School
Americana Elementary School serves kindergarten through fourth grade in Glendale Heights, a residential far-west Chicago suburb in DuPage County about 26 to 30 miles from downtown. The school is part of Queen Bee School District 16, which recently completed a major reconfiguration, turning Americana and Glen Hill into separate K-4 elementary buildings while converting Glenside into a 5-8 middle school. Americana received a new gymnasium and multifunction room addition along with library renovations as part of this shift.
The school enrolls a small population for its grade band, with roughly balanced representation across kindergarten through third grade and a slightly smaller cohort in fourth grade. The student body is notably diverse: a substantial majority are Hispanic or Latino, with significant Asian populations, and smaller shares of white, Black, and multiracial students. Exact counts on students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch and on English learner enrollment are not published for this school.
In academic performance, the school shows mixed results on the Illinois Assessment of Readiness administered to third and fourth graders. In third-grade math, students performed roughly at the median for the county's elementary schools when proficiency is averaged across tested grades and subjects. Fourth-grade performance was weaker, with proficiency notably below the median. Third-grade English language arts results were comparable to math, while fourth-grade ELA proficiency sat roughly at the median. The school achieved very high participation rates on both tests, above 98 percent. Science data from an earlier statewide assessment in 2019 showed about half of fifth graders meeting proficiency. One note: Illinois revised its proficiency cut scores for math and English language arts beginning with the 2024-25 school year, so direct comparison to prior years is not reliable.
The housing market around the school reflects suburban stability. Homes in the Glendale Heights zip code are priced modestly, well below national and state medians, with rental costs also lower than national benchmarks. Price appreciation has been modest, and the market favors buyers relative to sellers. The village itself is almost entirely auto-oriented, with commercial activity clustered at arterial intersections rather than in a walkable downtown, though Camera Park and the Glenside Public Library sit nearby on East Fullerton Avenue, adjacent to the school. The area has been losing population gradually over the past two decades as the postwar housing stock matures and household formation slows.
The school's recent physical improvements and its position within the newly reconfigured district may appeal to families seeking modern facilities and a smaller K-4 setting. A parent may want to look into the school's specific instructional approach and how it addresses the softer fourth-grade math and ELA results. The district's new central operations center, located at Glenside Middle School, represents an infrastructure and service consolidation that families can access for district-level support.
See more original research from School Decision →