Cardenas Elem School

Cardenas Elem School operates as a substantial elementary campus in Chicago, Illinois, run under Chicago Public Schools Dist 299. Current enrollment sits at 764 students spanning grades pre-K through 8. By comparison, Illinois's public schools average about 381 students each, so Cardenas Elem School sits 101% bigger than that benchmark.

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

Looking at the student body, Cardenas Elem School lists that the student body is overwhelmingly Hispanic (93%). Beyond that, the school records 4% White, 3% Black. By comparison, Cook County as a whole is about 27% Hispanic, so the school skews noticeably more Hispanic than its surroundings.

In terms of school funding signals, On paper, Cardenas Elem School has 56 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 13.6:1. That tracks the state average closely. An estimated 96% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, often used as a Title I proxy. By comparison, Cook County runs at roughly 66%, so the school's eligibility rate is meaningfully above the surrounding baseline.

On a demographically-adjusted basis, Cardenas Elem School ranks in the top 10% of Illinois public schools. The BeatsExpectations model, a per-state regression of composite proficiency on FRL share, predicts schools with this student profile to land around 16.2%; Cardenas Elem School posts 37.2%, +21.0 points above that line.

In the broader community, Cook County reports that median household income runs about $83,498, about 43% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and roughly 10% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Across Cook County's 1406 public schools (combined enrollment of about 697,934 students), Cardenas Elem School is one campus in the mix.

Nearest neighbor: Crown Elem Comm Acd Fine Arts Ctr, around 0.3 miles off. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools. On composite proficiency, Cardenas Elem School comes 1st of 8 in the immediate cluster, ahead of the nearby-schools average of 17.4%.

Geographically, the school is in a city-core area.

Over the past 7-year window. Cardenas Elem School's enrollment has increased 36% since 2018, when it stood at 561 (now 764). Class-load math has pulled in: from 19.6:1 in 2018 to 13.6:1 in 2025.

Inside the community feed, the page collects discussion, questions, and updates around science fair prep, picture-day reminders, and bus-route questions. Contributors range from current parents to recent graduates and teachers.