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Honest take: what's the hardest part about being a student at Apollo Elem School?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
536
Elementary
DISTRICT 433 · STATE 381
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·EAST MAINE SD 63·NCES 171314000063
Apollo Elementary School
10100 Dee Rd, Des Plaines, IL 60016 · (847) 827-6231 · Cook County
GRADES KG–05ELEMENTARY21-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL536 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
11.1:1
48 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 13.3:1 · STATE 13.9:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
68%
366 students
DISTRICT 58% · STATE 56%
Community
5
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other elementary schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Kindergarten | 82 | 15% |
| Grade 1 | 105 | 20% |
| Grade 2 | 96 | 18% |
| Grade 3 | 90 | 17% |
| Grade 4 | 86 | 16% |
| Grade 5 | 77 | 14% |
This year's kindergarten class (82) is 6% larger than its 5th grade class (77).
Student demographics
73%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 74% · STATE 69% · US 70%
Student head counts by race/ethnicity from federal NCES enrollment data. District, state, and US figures are each group's share of all public school students in that area (US excludes territories). Very small groups may be suppressed in the source, so categories do not always sum exactly to total enrollment.
Gender split
School pathway
Students here typically continue to
Apollo Elementary School→Gemini Middle School
Based on grade levels within East Maine SD 63. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
IAR + ISA 2024-25 . % Proficient (Levels 4-5)English Language Arts
37.1%
IL avg 51.0% . +14.4pp since 2023
Math
30.5%
IL avg 37.9% . +9.5pp since 2023
What this means: On the IAR + ISA, Illinois's statewide test, about 37 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 31 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Illinois schools, those numbers are about 51 and 38. Reading and writing scores are up about 14 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 10 points.
IAR + ISA results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 37.1% | 30.5% |
| 2023-24 | 22.7% | 21.0% |
% Proficient (Levels 4-5), all students and all tested grades.
Source: IAR + ISA. All students, all grades. See all years and grades →
BeatsExpectations
Demographically-adjusted score · methodologyTier
AS EXPECTED
Performing as predicted given the school's student profile
Actual proficiency
33.4%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
32.1%
based on IL schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+1.3pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 33% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 32% typical for Illinois schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations measures results against demographically similar schools rather than by raw scores, and this school falls within the typical range, neither among Illinois's top nor bottom 10%.
BeatsExpectations runs a per-state regression of proficiency on free/reduced-lunch share, then scores each school by residual. How this is calculated →
Schools most like Apollo Elementary School
Apollo Elementary School's state test result (33.4% proficient) is higher than 1 of the 4 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apollo Elementary School this school | 536 | 68.3% | 33.4% |
| North Elementary School Des Plaines | 599 | 71.1% | 32.8% |
| Mark Twain Elementary School Niles | 489 | 66.5% | 40.2% |
| Madison Elementary School Skokie | 609 | 59.6% | N/A |
| Stone Elementary Scholastic Academy Chicago | 553 | 60.8% | 62.7% |
| Jamieson Elementary School Chicago | 825 | 67.6% | 47.0% |
Matched among Illinois elementary schools on enrollment, the share of students from low-income families (eligible for free or reduced-price lunch), and racial and ethnic makeup. Proficient is the average share of students meeting the state standard across all of the school's state tests in 2023-24 and 2024-25, the same combined score our test-score rankings use. Online schools and schools serving specialized populations are not matched.
Where Apollo Elementary School ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Illinois | In Cook County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 33.4% | #1,143 of 1,925 | #342 of 760 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 30.5% | #1,266 of 2,077 ▼ 128 | #388 of 829 ▼ 45 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 37.1% | #1,448 of 2,077 ▲ 20 | #512 of 829 ▲ 19 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 536 | #413 of 2,419 | #210 of 901 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 11.1:1 | #298 of 2,035 | #164 of 817 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 73.3% | #47 of 2,042 | #23 of 819 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 68.3% | #773 of 2,132 | #469 of 804 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -9.5% | #941 of 1,461 | #472 of 661 |
Ranked against other public elementary schools. Online schools are left out of every list, and test-score lists leave out schools that serve specialized populations. Each rank links to the full list. Arrows under a test-score rank show places moved since the prior test year, among schools tested both years.
4-year change
SY 2020-21 vs SY 2024-25Enrollment
536
+19 (+4%) vs 2020
-14% since 2000-01, when it was 623
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
Enrollment and staffing by year
| School year | Students | Teachers (FTE) | Students per teacher | Free and reduced lunch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 536 | 48.4 | 11.1:1 | 68% (366) |
| 2023-24 | 530 | 46.7 | 11.3:1 | 72% (380) |
| 2022-23 | 497 | 44.4 | 11.2:1 | 71% (353) |
| 2020-21 | 517 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 2017-18 | 592 | 41.5 | 14.3:1 | 60% (357) |
| 2015-16 | 613 | 43 | 14.3:1 | 56% (345) |
| 2010-11 | 569 | 42 | 13.6:1 | 53% (299) |
| 2000-01 | 623 | 40 | 15.6:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Apollo Elementary School.
Since 2017-18: students down 9% (592 to 536); teachers up 17% (41.5 to 48.4).
About Apollo Elementary School
Apollo Elementary School is a mid-sized elementary school located in Des Plaines, Illinois. Total enrollment is 536 students, and the grades served are kindergarten through 5. Elementary schools in Illinois have about 381 students on average; enrollment here is 41% higher.
East Maine SD 63 has 3,706 students in 7 schools, and Apollo Elementary School is one of those schools.
The largest racial or ethnic group at Apollo Elementary School is Asian, with 39% of students. The next largest groups are 24% Hispanic, 22% White, 8% Black, and 7% multiracial. The school's Asian share is 31 points above the 8% share among Cook County residents. Measured by the diversity index, the student body scores 73%.
The school lists 48.4 full-time-equivalent teachers and a student-to-teacher ratio of 11.1:1. Statewide, elementary schools in Illinois average 13.9:1. Free or reduced-price lunch covers 68% of the student body. The figure for public schools in Cook County is close, at 66%.
The BeatsExpectations prediction for Apollo Elementary School is 32.1%, and its average proficiency rate across its state test results is 33.4%.
In the surrounding county, Cook County, median household income comes to about $83,498, about 43% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and roughly 10% of residents are in poverty. The county has 1,406 public schools and about 697,934 students.
Straight-line distance to the nearest public school, Early Learning Center, is about 0.1 miles. There are at least 8 other public schools within five miles. By average proficiency, Apollo Elementary School is 6th among 6 schools close by.
Locale: Suburb: Large. In NCES terms, the school is in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population of 250,000 or more.
The school grew from 517 students in 2020-21 to 536 in 2024-25.
People can post here about open houses, carpools, and field trips and other school topics. Parents, students, alumni, and staff are welcome to post.
Cook County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
5,182,090
Census ACS
Median income
$83,498
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
43%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
10%
Below federal line
Schools in county
1,406
697,934 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in East Maine SD 63
- Gemini Middle SchoolMiddle · 1,111 students
- Mark Twain Elementary SchoolElementary · 489 students
- V H Nelson Elementary SchoolElementary · 479 students
- Washington Elementary SchoolElementary · 406 students
- Melzer SchoolElementary · 395 students
- Early Learning CenterElementary · 290 students
Other schools in Des Plaines
- Maine West High SchoolHigh · 1,857 students
- Forest Elementary SchoolElementary · 658 students
- Chippewa Middle SchoolMiddle · 652 students
- Friendship Jr High SchoolMiddle · 633 students
- North Elementary SchoolElementary · 599 students
- Algonquin Middle SchoolMiddle · 597 students
Other Apollo Elementary schools
6 other US public schools in 6 states are named Apollo Elementary. Apollo Elementary School is the 4th largest of the 7.
- Apollo Elementary SchoolAledo, IL · 362 students
- Apollo Elementary SchoolBossier City, LA · 756 students
- APOLLO ELEMENTARY SCHOOLTITUSVILLE, FL · 596 students
- Apollo Elementary SchoolGoddard, KS · 544 students
- Apollo Elementary SchoolBethany, OK · 509 students
Nearby schools
- Early Learning Center0.1 mi · 290
- Glen Grove Elementary School0.7 mi · 398
- Mark Twain Elementary School0.9 mi · 489
- Henking Elementary School1.4 mi · 470
- Westbrook Elementary School1.5 mi · 467
- Springman Middle School1.7 mi · 811
Frequently asked questions
About Apollo Elementary SchoolWhat is the total enrollment at Apollo Elementary School?
Apollo Elementary School enrolls approximately 536 students in grades KG-05.
What grades does Apollo Elementary School serve?
Apollo Elementary School serves grades KG-05.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Apollo Elementary School?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Apollo Elementary School is approximately 11.1:1 (48 FTE teachers).
What is the racial breakdown of students at Apollo Elementary School?
At Apollo Elementary School, the student body is approximately 22% White, 24% Hispanic, 8% Black, 39% Asian, 7% Two or more.
Who oversees Apollo Elementary School?
Apollo Elementary School is overseen by East Maine SD 63 in Cook County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.