Marya Yates Elementary School, Matteson IL

Original Research by School Decision on Marya Yates Elementary School

Marya Yates Elementary School serves kindergarten through fifth grade in Matteson, a south-suburban Chicago village in Cook County. The school enrolls a small population of about that size for its grade band, drawn primarily from the surrounding residential areas. The student body is predominantly Black, with small numbers of Hispanic, multiracial, Asian, and white students; free-or-reduced-price-lunch eligibility data was not available. Grade-level enrollment runs fairly evenly across the kindergarten-through-fifth span, with a small Pre-K program.

The school operates within Elementary School District 159, which serves Matteson, Richton Park, and Tinley Park. The district recently built a Community STEM Center featuring an aerospace lab, a Makerspace with 3D printing and robotics, and a foundational lab accessible to students and families. The district is also implementing a dual-language program option and has adopted a 2025-2030 strategic plan centered on consistent, evidence-based, standards-aligned core curriculum across all subject areas and schools.

Reading the most recent state test results, Marya Yates shows low proficiency across tested subjects and grades. In third-grade math, a small proportion of students met state proficiency benchmarks; in fourth-grade math, an even smaller fraction did so. Fifth-grade math and ELA results follow the same pattern. Science testing data for fifth grade showed similarly low results. Among Cook County's school districts, the school's overall proficiency index places it in the bottom quartile. A parent may want to explore directly with school leadership what supports exist for struggling learners, how the school approaches remediation and intervention, and what the trajectory of improvement looks like, since state testing alone does not capture the full picture of instructional quality or student growth.

The school participates in the district's strategic curriculum initiative, which aims to standardize core instruction around evidence-based practices. Matteson itself is a largely residential, auto-oriented suburban community organized around commercial corridors along Lincoln Highway and Cicero Avenue. Housing values in the area are moderate relative to broader Chicago region benchmarks. The Matteson Metra station, located about a short distance from the school's neighborhood, offers transit access. The village is planning a major mixed-use redevelopment called Market Square Crossing on the former Lincoln Mall site, which may shape community change over coming years. Civic anchors include the Matteson Area Public Library in Oakwood Park and several neighborhood parks serving local families.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 322%

School 22% · District 29% · ▼ 7 pts below district

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

Grade 415%

School 15% · District 20% · ▼ 5 pts below district

▼ 22 pts below state median · ▼ 14 pts below county median

Grade 512%

School 12% · District 10% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▼ 18 pts below state median · ▼ 10 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 319%

School 19% · District 26% · ▼ 7 pts below district

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

Grade 426%

School 26% · District 39% · ▼ 12 pts below district

▼ 22 pts below state median · ▼ 14 pts below county median

Grade 519%

School 19% · District 32% · ▼ 12 pts below district

▼ 33 pts below state median · ▼ 27 pts below county median

Science

Grade 514%

School 14% · District 20% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▼ 22 pts below state median · ▼ 13 pts below county median

This schoolESD 159, 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.