The top reported proficiency rate is 68% in English language arts. The lowest is 59% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Highland Elementary School
Highland Elementary is a small school serving kindergarten through fifth grade in Skokie, located in Cook County's northwest inner ring, with an enrollment of about three hundred students. The school sits in a diverse, transit-accessible suburban village about fifteen miles north of downtown Chicago, characterized by tree-lined residential blocks, major commercial corridors, and a population where children speak more than ninety languages.
Test results show middling performance on the Illinois Assessment of Readiness across grades three, four, and five. In mathematics, proficiency rates range from roughly mid-range in third grade to low-sixties in grades four and five. In English language arts, third grade is near mid-range, fourth grade is low-sixties, and fifth grade is notably stronger at around eighty percent proficient. Science results for grade five show proficiency near sixty percent. Across the school, test participation is high and most grades achieved full participation in math. The assessments themselves underwent scoring changes between prior years and this cycle, so year-to-year comparisons are not clean.
When positioned against the districts across Cook County, Highland's overall proficiency index places it in the top quartile among schools county-wide. That said, the raw numbers show room for growth: more than half of third graders in math and English did not meet proficiency, and while fourth and fifth grades improve, they remain below where districts with stronger reputations typically sit.
The student body is genuinely diverse. Asian students represent roughly a third of enrollment, white students another third, with Black, Hispanic, multiracial, and other groups making up the remainder. Free-or-reduced-price lunch data was not available; demographic information on English learners and students with IEPs was also missing. Skokie itself is an economically stable community with homeownership strong, median home values in the mid-range for the Chicago area, and rental markets consistent with suburban Chicago. The area is in the midst of substantial new housing development and transit-oriented redevelopment, especially around the CTA Yellow Line's Oakton station downtown.
The district, Skokie School District 68, is in the middle of a significant capital modernization effort called BuilD68, which includes geothermal heating and cooling upgrades and new sewer infrastructure across its schools. At the same time, the district's finances have shifted notably. Cash reserves have fallen from a healthier level to a reduced amount, and projections show they could dip below the state-preferred threshold absent spending adjustments. The district adopted a new strategic plan for 2026 forward, built around student success, staff development, equity, and community engagement. A parent considering Highland should weigh these infrastructure improvements, which promise better learning environments, against the district's financial trajectory, which may constrain programs or affect future property-tax decisions.
Highland appears to be the kind of school that draws from a walkable, mixed neighborhood with solid civic anchors—the Skokie Public Library, parks, the sculpture park system, and Yellow Line access are genuine assets for families. The test results suggest the school is competent but not exceptional, performing better than many county peers on an aggregate index but showing uneven grade-level patterns that bear watching as a child progresses. A parent should ask about specific supports for students not yet proficient, the school's reading and math intervention structures, and how the BuilD68 work is affecting daily operations. This is a serviceable, community-embedded elementary school in a diverse, developing suburb where families have options and should make their choice based on their child's learning profile and the school's specific programs, not on test numbers alone.
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