Burnside Elem Scholastic Academy

As a close-knit elementary-level community in Chicago, Illinois, Burnside Elem Scholastic Academy works with 264 students from grades pre-K through 8, run under Chicago Public Schools Dist 299. Enrollment runs roughly 31% below the state mean of about 381.

Within Chicago Public Schools Dist 299, which oversees 622 schools and 324,396 students, Burnside Elem Scholastic Academy is one campus in the system.

On demographics, Burnside Elem Scholastic Academy logs that 97% of students identify as Black, making the school strongly Black-majority. The remainder breaks down as 2% Hispanic. That is noticeably more Black than the county at large, where the share is closer to 22%.

In terms of school funding signals, Staff filings list 21 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 12.6:1 students per teacher. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 13.9:1, putting Burnside Elem Scholastic Academy tighter than the state norm the norm. Roughly 81% of students at Burnside Elem Scholastic Academy qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment. That share is above Cook County's rate of about 66%.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, Burnside Elem Scholastic Academy tracks the demographic baseline. The model predicts 24.5% given the school's FRL share; actual proficiency is 32.2%.

In the broader community, community-level numbers for Cook County indicate the typical household earns roughly $83,498 per year, about 43% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 10%. In all, Cook County runs 1406 public schools (combined enrollment of about 697,934 students), of which Burnside Elem Scholastic Academy is one.

YCCS Chtr - Chatham is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.1 miles from this campus. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Burnside Elem Scholastic Academy at 2nd of 9; the average score across the group is 25.2%.

Geographically, the school is in a metropolitan area.

Trend over the last 7 years. Burnside Elem Scholastic Academy's enrollment has shrank 43% since 2018, when it stood at 463 (now 264). Class-load math has tightened: from 17.4:1 in 2018 to 12.6:1 in 2025.

On the community side, the page collects discussion, questions, and updates around fundraisers, lost-and-found posts, and report-card season. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.