Avalon Park Elem School

Set in Chicago, Illinois, Avalon Park Elem School is an intimate K-5 school, run under Chicago Public Schools Dist 299. It instructs 225 students across grades pre-K through 8. Compared to the state average of about 381 students per school, that is 41% smaller than typical.

Chicago Public Schools Dist 299 runs 622 schools in total, collectively educating 324,396 students. Avalon Park Elem School is one of those campuses.

For racial and ethnic makeup, Avalon Park Elem School shows that the student body is overwhelmingly Black (92%). Beyond that, the school records 7% Hispanic. The wider county runs roughly 22% Black, putting the school's mix meaningfully more Black than the area baseline.

On the resource side, On paper, Avalon Park Elem School has 16 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 14.1:1. The state averages about 13.9:1, putting this campus right in line with peers. Around 86% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment. By comparison, Cook County runs at roughly 66%, so the school's eligibility rate is higher than the surrounding baseline.

After controlling for student poverty, Avalon Park Elem School performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 22.0%, the actual is 18.8%, a residual of -3.2 points.

In the area at large, ACS estimates for Cook County put median household income runs about $83,498, 43% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 10%. Across Cook County's 1406 public schools (combined enrollment of about 697,934 students), Avalon Park Elem School is one campus in the mix.

The closest other public school is CICS - Avalon/South Shore, roughly 0.4 miles away. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools. On composite proficiency, Avalon Park Elem School comes 6th of 9 in the immediate cluster, below the nearby-schools average of 20.2%.

The campus sits in an inner-city setting.

Looking at the recent track record. Avalon Park Elem School's enrollment has edged down 24% since 2018, when it stood at 297 (now 225). Black enrollment moved from 99% to 92% across the same window. The student-to-teacher ratio fell from 25.4:1 in 2018 to 14.1:1 today.

In the discussion threads here, the page collects discussion, questions, and updates around sports schedules, lunch menu changes, and school spirit week. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.