Beulah Park Elem School, Zion IL

Original Research by School Decision on Beulah Park Elem School

Beulah Park Elementary serves early learners through second grade in Zion, a small residential city in northern Lake County between Chicago and Milwaukee. The school enrolls a small cohort across pre-kindergarten, kindergarten, first grade, and second grade, with a student body that is majority Hispanic and Black, alongside smaller shares of White and multiracial students.

The school's academic performance data comes from state testing across grades three through six conducted in 2018-19. Math proficiency was consistently low across those grades, ranging from single digits to low teens. English language arts results were somewhat higher, spanning from the low teens to the low thirties. Science performance in grade five reached the mid-forties. Against other districts in Lake County, Beulah Park's overall proficiency index places it in the bottom quartile.

Parents should know the data carries a caveat: the Illinois Assessment of Readiness replaced an earlier test that year, and cut scores changed for both math and English language arts, so comparisons to prior years are not straightforward. The testing universe itself reflects grades that sit above this school's current grade band, meaning the data shows how students performed after they had moved on to upper elementary. Graduation rates and chronic absenteeism metrics do not apply to a school serving only pre-K through second grade.

Zion is a place of modest housing costs relative to the broader Chicago region. Home values in the zip code are mid-range, and rental rates align with local norms. The city's population has remained roughly stable in recent years, and the housing stock is predominantly older, built before the 1970s, with limited new residential development. Metra's Union Pacific North Line connects Zion to downtown Chicago about forty miles south, and the city sits near Lake Michigan, with Shiloh Park serving as a central community anchor. Zion's largest employer is City of Hope Chicago, a cancer hospital on Elisha Avenue, alongside manufacturing and retail sectors.

Zion Elementary School District 6, the parent district, was recently awarded a state Property Tax Relief Grant, which reduces local property taxes for homeowners and replaces that revenue with state funds. That grant amount is now a permanent fixture in the district's state funding base, delivering lasting property-tax relief for families in the district.

See more original research from School Decision →

Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 313%

School 13% · District 7% · ▲ 6 pts above district

▼ 33 pts below state median · ▼ 43 pts below county median

Grade 46%

School 6% · District 7% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▼ 31 pts below state median · ▼ 43 pts below county median

Grade 59%

School 9% · District 8% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▼ 21 pts below state median · ▼ 30 pts below county median

Grade 65%

School 5% · District 8% · ▼ 3 pts below district

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

English language arts

Grade 332%

School 32% · District 13% · ▲ 19 pts above district

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

Grade 414%

School 14% · District 13% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▼ 34 pts below state median · ▼ 42 pts below county median

Grade 524%

School 24% · District 23%

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

Grade 629%

School 29% · District 17% · ▲ 12 pts above district

▼ 22 pts below state median · ▼ 30 pts below county median

Science

Grade 544%

School 44% · District 14% · ▲ 30 pts above district

▲ 8 pts above state median · ▼ 4 pts below county median

This schoolZion ESD 6, 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.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 5Lower-income18%Higher-income46%27 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 5Lower-income5%Higher-income27%23 pp gap