Ernest F Kolb Elem School, Oak Lawn IL

Original Research by School Decision on Ernest F Kolb Elem School

Ernest F Kolb Elementary is a small school serving pre-kindergarten through fifth grade in Oak Lawn, a mid-sized Cook County village southwest of Chicago with a diverse residential character and a notable Arab-American community. The school sits within Ridgeland School District 122, which in February 2024 eliminated student fees and device insurance charges—a concrete financial relief for families.

The school's enrollment is modest, distributed across early grades in proportions typical for suburban elementary schools. The student body is predominantly white, with meaningful representation of Hispanic, Asian, and Black students. Racial diversity is present across multiple groups, reflecting the broader Oak Lawn community. Data on free-or-reduced-price lunch eligibility and English learner populations were not available.

In state testing on the IAR (Illinois Assessment of Readiness), the school's proficiency rates across subjects and grades fall below the midpoint when compared to other public schools in Cook County. In third-grade math, about half the students performed at proficient levels or above. Fourth-grade math proficiency was notably lower, in the mid-range. Fifth-grade math and English language arts both sat in the low-to-mid range. Third-grade English language arts performance was similar to fourth-grade levels. Science proficiency in fifth grade, assessed on the ISA 2.0, was below math and ELA results. These results suggest the school is working with academic achievement gaps that merit attention. Trend data over time were not available due to assessment changes, so it is not yet clear whether performance is stable, declining, or improving.

The school serves only elementary grades, so no state testing data exist for middle or high school, and graduation rate is not applicable. Chronic absenteeism data and discipline information were not available.

Oak Lawn itself offers moderately priced housing by regional standards, with a median home value well below the Chicago median and rental costs in line with area norms. The village has undergone downtown redevelopment around the Oak Lawn Patriot Metra station since the mid-2000s, creating a walkable urban core with apartments, retail, and civic space, though neighborhoods surrounding the school campuses remain conventional postwar suburban in character. Transit access is stronger than typical for suburbs, with Metra service and multiple bus routes available. Health care anchors the local job market, followed by retail trade and education. The community feels established rather than rapidly growing, with limited new construction activity reported.

The school's location on Normandy Avenue places it in a neighborhood setting rather than downtown, typical for Ridgeland schools dispersed across several residential areas. Parents seeking elementary education in Oak Lawn should view this school as one option among several district schools and may want to look into further specifics with the school directly—particularly current strategies around literacy and numeracy, staffing stability, and any intervention or enrichment programming that might address the academic proficiency gaps shown in recent state 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 61% · ▼ 11 pts below district

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

Grade 436%

School 36% · District 45% · ▼ 9 pts below district

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

Grade 543%

School 43% · District 41% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▲ 13 pts above state median · ▲ 21 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 344%

School 44% · District 59% · ▼ 15 pts below district

even with state median · ▲ 7 pts above county median

Grade 440%

School 40% · District 58% · ▼ 18 pts below district

▼ 8 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 549%

School 49% · District 65% · ▼ 16 pts below district

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

Science

Grade 533%

School 33% · District 39% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▼ 4 pts below state median · ▲ 6 pts above county median

This schoolRidgeland SD 122, 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.