The top reported proficiency rate is 49% in English language arts. The lowest is 25% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Mckinley Elem School
McKinley Elementary serves fourth and fifth grade students in South Holland, a mature, family-oriented suburb in Cook County shaped by single-family housing and a Dutch-Reformed legacy. The school sits within South Holland School District 150, which serves grades pre-K through 5 across two buildings. McKinley's enrollment is small, concentrated in two grade cohorts of roughly equal size, with the student body overwhelmingly Black (about nine in ten students) and a small number of Hispanic and multiracial students.
On state assessments administered in the 2024-25 school year, McKinley's results show below-average performance across tested subjects. In English language arts, fourth graders achieved a proficiency rate around two-fifths, while fifth graders performed better at just above half proficiency. Math proficiency ran lower, at about one-third for fourth grade and slightly higher for fifth grade. Science proficiency in fifth grade was the weakest of the available results, at roughly one-quarter. Within the Cook County district comparison set, McKinley's overall proficiency index falls below the midpoint. Test participation rates were very high across grades, exceeding 98 percent in most subjects.
State testing data for grades below fourth and above fifth are not available because Illinois does not assess those grades. The school's directory lists it as a regular public school with no specialized mission or magnet designation.
A parent should understand that McKinley's test results point to substantial academic gaps that merit direct conversation with the school about reading and math support. The fifth-grade strength in ELA relative to fourth-grade performance could reflect either grade-level differences in student cohorts or the effects of instruction; this detail is worth asking about. The school's small enrollment, while creating an intimate setting, also means fewer resources and program breadth than larger buildings might offer. The district's recent facility upgrades have gone to Greenwood Elementary (serving pre-K through 3); parents may want to ask what is in the pipeline for McKinley's building and learning environment.
South Holland itself is a built-out suburb organized around car travel and single-family zoning, with major employment in manufacturing, food processing, logistics, and healthcare. Housing in the immediate area is moderately valued, with most homes in the lower-to-middle range for the broader Chicago region. The community is pursuing reinvestment in existing housing stock through acquisition and rehabilitation programs rather than large new construction, reflecting a demographic posture of stabilization rather than rapid expansion.
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