Booth Tarkington Elem School

Booth Tarkington Elem School is an elementary-level community of medium-sized scale in Wheeling, Illinois, operated by Wheeling CCSD 21, serveing 540 students in grades pre-K through 5. Compared to the state average of about 381 students per school, that is 42% bigger than typical.

Within Wheeling CCSD 21, which oversees 12 schools and 6,298 students, Booth Tarkington Elem School is one campus in the system.

Looking at the student body, Booth Tarkington Elem School lists that the most-represented group is Hispanic (33%), with the rest of the student body spread across multiple groups; the rest consists of 30% White, 26% Asian, 7% multiracial, 4% Black.

On the resource side, Staff filings list 38 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 14.2:1 students per teacher. The state averages about 13.9:1, putting this campus right in line with peers. An estimated 45% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator. That share is below Cook County's rate of about 66%.

After controlling for student poverty, Booth Tarkington Elem School performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 45.3%, the actual is 43.4%, a residual of -1.9 points.

Around the school, the surrounding county (Cook County) records that median household income runs about $83,498, 43% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and the poverty rate sits near 10%. In all, Cook County runs 1406 public schools (combined enrollment of about 697,934 students), of which Booth Tarkington Elem School is one.

The closest other public school is Jack London Middle School, roughly 0.5 miles away. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Booth Tarkington Elem School at 4th of 8; the average score across the group is 44.9%.

Geographically, the school is in an outer-ring area.

Trend over the last 7 years. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Booth Tarkington Elem School has rose 22%, going from 443 students in 2018 to 540 in 2025. Hispanic enrollment moved from 54% to 33% across the same window. Class-load math has pulled in: from 21.0:1 in 2018 to 14.2:1 in 2025.

On allk12, posts here usually surface around fundraisers, lost-and-found posts, and report-card season. Contributors range from current parents to recent graduates and teachers.