The top reported proficiency rate is 52% in Math. The lowest is 49% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on John F Kennedy Elem School
John F Kennedy Elementary serves pre-kindergarten through third grade in Schiller Park, a built-out, low-growth suburban village about thirteen miles west of downtown Chicago. The school sits in a community that has held its population stable since the early 1980s and is shaped by its proximity to O'Hare International Airport and the industrial-logistics economy tied to it. Housing stock is mostly 1950s–60s brick bungalows on modest lots, with limited new residential development; the neighborhood has gridded streets and moderate walkability, though major arterials and the Tri-State Tollway divide the village into separate zones.
The school enrolled about 606 students across its five grade bands as of the most recent count, making it a substantial building for its grade span. Roughly half the student body identifies as Hispanic, with a sizable white population making up much of the remainder; smaller shares of students are Asian, Black, and multiracial. The school serves the early elementary grades, so state assessment data appears only for third grade. In math, third-grade proficiency was slightly above the midpoint for its county peer set, with about half of tested students meeting proficiency criteria. In English language arts, third-grade proficiency was also slightly below half but similarly positioned. Data for fourth and fifth grades is not available because those students have transitioned to the district's other elementary building; free-or-reduced-price lunch rates, special education enrollment, and English learner counts were not reported, so a reader seeking that picture would need to contact the school directly.
The district has undertaken a major infrastructure investment recently, passing a referendum in early 2020 to replace Washington Elementary, the building that serves grades four and five. That newly built facility has opened with modern learning neighborhoods, a media center, and updated amenities, addressing enrollment growth. For families with children currently in pre-K through third grade, Kennedy is a stable neighborhood school with basic elementary academics. The early-grade years do not yield the standardized-test visibility that upper grades do, so a parent considering the school would benefit from visiting, speaking with teachers about literacy and numeracy approaches, and understanding how the transition to Washington happens and what that building's program looks like.
Schiller Park itself offers moderate transit access via a newly opened Metra station on the North Central Line, bus service through Pace, and proximity to forest preserve trails along the Des Plaines River. The housing market in the zip code sits modestly below state median value and is moderately affordable by Cook County standards, with rental rates in line with local norms. The community's major employers cluster around O'Hare-area logistics, warehousing, hospitality, and light industrial operations, shaping a working- and middle-class economic profile. A parent evaluating Kennedy would want to assess the school's specific reading and math instruction methods, the quality of the early-childhood program for pre-K and kindergarten, and how the school manages the transition point when third graders move to Washington.
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