Raymond Ellis Elem School, Round Lake Beach IL

Original Research by School Decision on Raymond Ellis Elem School

Raymond Ellis Elementary School serves grades 1 through 5 in Round Lake Beach, a postwar suburban village in western Lake County. The school enrolls a small-to-mid-sized student body distributed fairly evenly across grades, with the largest cohort in grade 5. The enrollment is notably diverse: roughly seven-eighths of students identify as Hispanic, with smaller populations of white, Black, and Asian students. Free-or-reduced-price-lunch data were not available for this school.

The most important fact about Raymond Ellis is its academic performance. State assessment results from the most recent testing cycle show proficiency rates substantially below state and regional norms across tested subjects and grades. In mathematics, proficiency ranges from roughly one in ten students in grade 5 to roughly one in six in grades 3 and 4. In English language arts, the rate is higher but still modest, ranging from about one in five in grade 3 to roughly one in four in grades 4 and 5. Science proficiency in grade 5 sits at roughly one in five. Across the tested subjects and grades available, the school's proficiency index places it in the bottom quartile among the fifty districts in Lake County. A parent may want to look into this further with the school, including what supports are in place for students working below grade level and what trajectory the school has been on over time; trend data were not available to show whether these numbers represent a shift or a stable pattern.

The school sits within Round Lake CUSD 116, which underwent a significant structural change in fall 2024. The district shifted from a traditional K-5 elementary model to what it calls a Partner School model, reorganizing which grades attend which buildings. All students in the district now receive iPads through the 1:Wonder Technology Program, embedding device-based instruction into daily learning. For math, the district is adopting i-Ready for grades K-8 beginning in 2025-26. The district also faced a budget forecasting error discovered early in the 2024-2025 school year, leading to reductions in administrative positions and limits on overtime spending over multiple years.

Round Lake Beach itself is a car-oriented suburb dominated by small-lot single-family homes on a rectangular grid south of Rollins Road, with newer subdivisions to the north. The community has matured from a 1920s summer resort into a postwar bedroom suburb; growth has slowed considerably in recent years, with the village adding only a modest percentage of residents since the early 2000s. The broader Round Lake area continues to expand at a faster pace. Civic life is anchored by Lakefront Park with its sandy beach and ancient oaks, the Cultural and Civic Center, and the Round Lake Area Public Library. The Metra North Central Service runs through the village, connecting to Chicago Union Station roughly 40 miles away. The local economy is small and dispersed: retail trade, manufacturing, and health care are the main employment sectors, and most residents commute elsewhere for work. The housing market in the broader area is moderately affordable by regional standards, with median home values in the mid-four-hundreds and median rent in the mid-two-thousands as of spring 2026.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 316%

School 16% · District 20% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▼ 31 pts below state median · ▼ 41 pts below county median

Grade 416%

School 16% · District 14% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▼ 21 pts below state median · ▼ 33 pts below county median

Grade 58%

School 8% · District 8% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▼ 22 pts below state median · ▼ 31 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 321%

School 21% · District 27% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▼ 23 pts below state median · ▼ 33 pts below county median

Grade 427%

School 27% · District 24% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▼ 21 pts below state median · ▼ 29 pts below county median

Grade 527%

School 27% · District 27%

▼ 25 pts below state median · ▼ 38 pts below county median

Science

Grade 519%

School 19% · District 21% · ▼ 2 pts below district

▼ 18 pts below state median · ▼ 29 pts below county median

This schoolRound Lake CUSD 116, 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.