Enrollment
321
Elementary
DISTRICT 463 · STATE 381
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·CHICAGO PUBLIC SCHOOLS DIST 299·NCES 170993000656
Cather Elementary School
2908 W Washington Blvd, Chicago, IL 60612 · (773) 534-6780 · Cook County
GRADES PK–08ELEMENTARY11-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL321 STUDENTS
C
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 27% of Illinois public elementary schools
- DTest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- BBeats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- ·Three-year trend Not available for this school, so the grade uses the other parts.
Grades compare a school only with schools in the same state, because every state gives its own test. How grades work · Top-graded Illinois public elementary schools
Student : Teacher
10.0:1
32 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 14.6:1 · STATE 13.9:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
97%
312 students
DISTRICT 78% · STATE 56%
Community
0
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 | 37 | 12% |
| Kindergarten | 24 | 7% |
| Grade 1 | 27 | 8% |
| Grade 2 | 34 | 11% |
| Grade 3 | 33 | 10% |
| Grade 4 | 30 | 9% |
| Grade 5 | 35 | 11% |
| Grade 6 | 31 | 10% |
| Grade 7 | 37 | 12% |
| Grade 8 | 33 | 10% |
This year's kindergarten class (24) is 27% smaller than its 8th grade class (33).
Student demographics
18%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 64% · 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
School pathway
Students here typically continue to
Cather Elementary School→Marshall Metropolitan High School
Based on published attendance-zone data from Chicago Public Schools Dist 299. Zones change; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
IAR + ISA 2024-25 . % Proficient (Levels 4-5)English Language Arts
26.2%
IL avg 51.0% . +10.2pp since 2023
Math
16.1%
IL avg 37.9% . +11.4pp since 2023
What this means: On the IAR + ISA, Illinois's statewide test, about 26 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 16 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 10 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 11 points.
IAR + ISA results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 26.2% | 16.1% |
| 2023-24 | 16.0% | 4.7% |
% 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
AS EXPECTED
Performing as predicted given the school's student profile
Actual proficiency
18.4%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
15.4%
based on IL schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+3.0pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 18% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 15% typical for Illinois schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations measures results against demographically similar schools rather than by raw scores, and this school falls within the typical range, neither among Illinois's top nor bottom 10%.
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 Cather Elementary School
Cather Elementary School's state test result (18.4% proficient) is higher than 3 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cather Elementary School this school | 321 | 97.2% | 18.4% |
| Bass Elementary School Chicago | 313 | 98.1% | 13.8% |
| Bernard Long Elementary School Madison | 337 | 98.2% | 10.7% |
| Owens Community Academy Elementary School Chicago | 340 | 95.3% | 24.9% |
| Drake Elementary School Chicago | 302 | 97.7% | 15.9% |
| Gresham Elementary School Chicago | 332 | 94.6% | 24.0% |
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 Cather Elementary School ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Illinois | In Cook County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 18.4% | #1,657 of 1,925 | #598 of 760 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 16.1% | #1,707 of 2,077 ▲ 172 | #589 of 829 ▲ 113 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 26.2% | #1,765 of 2,077 ▼ 54 | #670 of 829 ▼ 20 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 321 | #1,419 of 2,419 | #585 of 901 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 10.0:1 | #126 of 2,035 | #74 of 817 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 17.7% | #1,692 of 2,042 | #639 of 819 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 97.2% | #93 of 2,132 | #69 of 804 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -14.4% | #690 of 1,461 | #365 of 661 |
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
321
-35 (-10%) vs 2020
-47% since 1990-91, when it was 602
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 | 321 | 32 | 10.0:1 | 97% (312) |
| 2023-24 | 325 | 31.5 | 10.3:1 | 97% (315) |
| 2022-23 | 327 | 28 | 11.7:1 | 97% (316) |
| 2020-21 | 356 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 2017-18 | 375 | 24.7 | 15.2:1 | 93% (348) |
| 2015-16 | 364 | 21 | 17.3:1 | 96% (350) |
| 2010-11 | 222 | 15 | 14.8:1 | 99% (219) |
| 2000-01 | 482 | 26 | 18.5:1 | N/A |
| 1990-91 | 602 | 36 | 16.7:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Cather Elementary School.
Since 2017-18: students down 14% (375 to 321); teachers up 29% (24.7 to 32).
About Cather Elementary School
Cather Elementary School, located in Chicago, Illinois, is a small elementary school. Grades offered run from pre-K through 8, with 321 students enrolled.
Chicago Public Schools Dist 299 has a total of 622 schools and 324,396 students, Cather Elementary School among them.
About 90% of the student body at Cather Elementary School is Black. The rest of enrollment is 8% Hispanic. Census estimates put the Black share of Cook County's population at about 22%. The school's diversity index is 18%, meaning two students picked at random have an 18% chance of belonging to different racial or ethnic groups.
With 32 full-time-equivalent teachers in 2024-25, the ratio at Cather Elementary School was 10.0:1. On average, elementary schools in Illinois have 13.9:1, compared with 10.0:1 here. Cather Elementary School's free or reduced-price lunch eligibility rate is 97%. It compares with 66% for public schools in Cook County.
Measured against Illinois public elementary schools, Cather Elementary School receives a C. The grade weighs proficiency most heavily, then how results compare with what the school's low-income share predicts, then the three-year change.
Cather Elementary School posts an average proficiency rate on state tests of 18.4%, compared with a predicted 15.4%. It is not in the top or bottom 10% of Illinois schools on BeatsExpectations.
Cook County census figures show that the median household income is $83,498, about 43% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and roughly 10% of residents are in poverty. Cook County is home to 1,406 public schools and about 697,934 public school students.
The next-closest public school is LEARN Chtr - 7th Campus, about 0.3 miles away. The count of other public schools within five miles is at least 8. On proficiency, Cather Elementary School is behind the 22.9% nearby average, ranking 6th of 9.
The school's setting, by NCES definition, is City: Large: inside a principal city with a population of 250,000 or more.
2024-25 enrollment was 321, a 10% decrease from 356 in 2020-21.
Community posts for Cather Elementary School can cover school safety, transportation, and start times. Questions from prospective families are welcome too.
Cook County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
5,182,090
Census ACS
Median income
$83,498
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
43%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
10%
Below federal line
Schools in county
1,406
697,934 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Chicago Public Schools Dist 299
- Lane Technical High SchoolHigh · 4,604 students
- Taft High SchoolHigh · 4,487 students
- Curie Metropolitan High SchoolHigh · 3,099 students
- Kenwood Academy High SchoolHigh · 2,268 students
- Young Magnet High SchoolHigh · 2,223 students
- Lincoln Park High SchoolHigh · 2,214 students
Other schools in Chicago
- Lane Technical High SchoolHigh · 4,604 students
- Taft High SchoolHigh · 4,487 students
- Curie Metropolitan High SchoolHigh · 3,099 students
- Kenwood Academy High SchoolHigh · 2,268 students
- Young Magnet High SchoolHigh · 2,223 students
- Lincoln Park High SchoolHigh · 2,214 students
Nearby schools
- LEARN Chtr - 7th Campus0.3 mi · 144
- LEARN Charter Excel Campus0.3 mi · 379
- LEARN Chtr - Middle School0.3 mi · 176
- Beidler Elementary School0.3 mi · 232
- LEARN Chtr-Campbell Campus0.4 mi · 357
- Faraday Elementary School0.5 mi · 178
Frequently asked questions
About Cather Elementary SchoolHow many students attend Cather Elementary School?
Cather Elementary School enrolls approximately 321 students in grades PK-08.
Is Cather Elementary School an elementary, middle, or high school?
Cather Elementary School is an elementary school covering grades PK-08.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Cather Elementary School?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Cather Elementary School is approximately 10.0:1 (32 FTE teachers).
What is the racial breakdown of students at Cather Elementary School?
At Cather Elementary School, the student body is approximately 1% White, 8% Hispanic, 90% Black, 1% Two or more.
Is Cather Elementary School public or private?
Cather Elementary School is a public K-12 school, overseen by Chicago Public Schools Dist 299.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.