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Alumni: what's one memory from C M Bardwell Elem School that still sticks with you?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
679
Elementary
DISTRICT 427 · STATE 381
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·AURORA EAST USD 131·NCES 170468000146
C M Bardwell Elementary School
550 S Lincoln Ave, Aurora, IL 60505 · (630) 299-5300 · Kane County
GRADES PK–05ELEMENTARY21-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL679 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
17.0:1
40 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 16.4:1 · STATE 13.9:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
67%
456 students
DISTRICT 64% · 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-K | 72 | 11% |
| Kindergarten | 82 | 12% |
| Grade 1 | 88 | 13% |
| Grade 2 | 106 | 16% |
| Grade 3 | 110 | 16% |
| Grade 4 | 113 | 17% |
| Grade 5 | 108 | 16% |
This year's kindergarten class (82) is 24% smaller than its 5th grade class (108).
Student demographics
14%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 23% · 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
Test scores
IAR + ISA 2024-25 . % Proficient (Levels 4-5)English Language Arts
18.6%
IL avg 51.0% . +10.9pp since 2023
Math
7.8%
IL avg 37.9% . +5.2pp since 2023
What this means: On the IAR + ISA, Illinois's statewide test, about 19 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 8 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 11 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 5 points.
IAR + ISA results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 18.6% | 7.8% |
| 2023-24 | 7.7% | 2.6% |
% 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
UNDERPERFORMING
Bottom 10% of IL schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
12.6%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
32.7%
based on IL schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-20.1pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 13% of students here test proficient in math and reading, below the roughly 33% typical for Illinois schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations compares each school with others at the same poverty level, not by raw scores, so a school lands here when its results trail those comparable schools, which is not the same as having low scores. A higher-scoring school can still fall in this tier if similar schools score higher still.
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 C M Bardwell Elementary School
C M Bardwell Elementary School's state test result (12.6% proficient) is higher than 0 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| C M Bardwell Elementary School this school | 679 | 67.2% | 12.6% |
| Gallistel Elementary Language Academy Chicago | 597 | 69.5% | 26.7% |
| Coleman Elementary School Elgin | 641 | 70.2% | 21.4% |
| Nicholas A Hermes Elementary School Aurora | 607 | 63.4% | 15.5% |
| Lords Park Elementary School Elgin | 655 | 71.3% | 23.1% |
| Barbour Two-Way Lang Immersion Rockford | 628 | 72.1% | 29.7% |
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 C M Bardwell Elementary School ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Illinois | In Kane County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 12.6% | #1,822 of 1,925 | #70 of 72 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 7.8% | #1,969 of 2,077 ▲ 22 | #83 of 83 ▼ 1 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 18.6% | #1,950 of 2,077 ▲ 45 | #77 of 83 ▲ 2 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 679 | #146 of 2,419 | #7 of 88 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 17.0:1 | #1,845 of 2,035 | #71 of 87 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 14.0% | #1,789 of 2,042 | #81 of 87 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 67.2% | #811 of 2,132 | #21 of 77 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -17.3% | #559 of 1,461 | #16 of 51 |
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
679
-51 (-7%) vs 2020
-20% since 1990-91, when it was 845
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 | 679 | 40 | 17.0:1 | 67% (456) |
| 2023-24 | 686 | 38.8 | 17.7:1 | 75% (515) |
| 2022-23 | 710 | 39.5 | 18.0:1 | 75% (535) |
| 2020-21 | 730 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 2017-18 | 821 | 46.5 | 17.7:1 | 82% (675) |
| 2015-16 | 852 | 47 | 18.1:1 | 74% (634) |
| 2010-11 | 993 | 45 | 22.1:1 | 88% (877) |
| 2000-01 | 1,099 | 53 | 20.7:1 | N/A |
| 1990-91 | 845 | 42 | 20.1:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for C M Bardwell Elementary School.
Since 2017-18: students down 17% (821 to 679); teachers down 14% (46.5 to 40).
About C M Bardwell Elementary School
C M Bardwell Elementary School is an elementary school located in Aurora, Illinois, in Kane County. It offers pre-K through 5 and has 679 students enrolled. By comparison, elementary schools in Illinois enroll about 381 students on average.
A total of 18 schools make up Aurora East USD 131, with 12,187 students enrolled.
Hispanic students account for 93% of the school's enrollment. It is also 3% Black and 2% White. Kane County's residents are about 33% Hispanic, 59 points below the school's share. A diversity index of 14% means there is a 14% chance two randomly chosen students at C M Bardwell Elementary School are from different groups.
Classroom staffing at C M Bardwell Elementary School totals 40 full-time-equivalent teachers, and the student-to-teacher ratio is 17.0:1. The average for elementary schools in Illinois is 13.9:1, so this school has more students per teacher. Free or reduced-price lunch eligibility at C M Bardwell Elementary School is about 67%. For comparison, public schools in Kane County average 48%.
Predicted from its free or reduced-price lunch share, C M Bardwell Elementary School would score about 32.7%. It scores 12.6%, a bottom-10% result among Illinois schools on BeatsExpectations.
In the surrounding county, Kane County, the median household earns about $103,163 a year, the share of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher is 38%, and about 6% of people live in poverty. Counting C M Bardwell Elementary School, Kane County has 167 public schools.
K D Waldo Middle School is about 0.8 miles from C M Bardwell Elementary School, the shortest distance to any other public school. A five-mile radius around the school includes at least 8 other public schools. By average proficiency, C M Bardwell Elementary School is 7th among 9 schools close by.
C M Bardwell Elementary School has an NCES locale of Suburb: Large.
By 2024-25, enrollment had dropped to 679, from 730 in 2020-21.
The C M Bardwell Elementary School discussion page is a place for homework, tutoring, and testing dates. Teachers and staff are welcome to share updates too.
Kane County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
517,255
Census ACS
Median income
$103,163
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
38%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
6%
Below federal line
Schools in county
167
87,252 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Aurora East USD 131
- East High SchoolHigh · 4,020 students
- Henry W Cowherd Middle SchoolMiddle · 807 students
- C F Simmons Middle SchoolMiddle · 792 students
- K D Waldo Middle SchoolMiddle · 729 students
- Olney C Allen Elementary SchoolElementary · 712 students
- Nicholas A Hermes Elementary SchoolElementary · 607 students
Other schools in Aurora
- East High SchoolHigh · 4,020 students
- West Aurora High SchoolHigh · 3,641 students
- Waubonsie Valley High SchoolHigh · 2,849 students
- Metea Valley High SchoolHigh · 2,766 students
- Francis Granger Middle SchoolMiddle · 1,011 students
- Fischer Middle SchoolMiddle · 861 students
Nearby schools
- K D Waldo Middle School0.8 mi · 729
- Rose E Krug Elementary School0.9 mi · 271
- G N Dieterich Elementary School0.9 mi · 507
- John Gates Elementary School1.0 mi · 427
- Fred Rodgers Magnet Academy1.2 mi · 284
- East High School1.2 mi · 4,020
Frequently asked questions
About C M Bardwell Elementary SchoolHow large is C M Bardwell Elementary School?
C M Bardwell Elementary School enrolls approximately 679 students in grades PK-05.
What age range does C M Bardwell Elementary School serve?
C M Bardwell Elementary School serves students from grade PK through grade 05.
How many students per teacher at C M Bardwell Elementary School?
Approximately 17.0:1 students per teacher at C M Bardwell Elementary School.
How diverse is C M Bardwell Elementary School?
C M Bardwell Elementary School reports a student body of 2% White, 93% Hispanic, 3% Black, 0% Asian, 1% Two or more.
What district is C M Bardwell Elementary School in?
C M Bardwell Elementary School is part of Aurora East USD 131.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.