1
If you had an hour of school board time for Columbus West Elementary School, what would you bring up?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
534
Elementary
DISTRICT 494 · STATE 381
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·CICERO SD 99·NCES 171020002480
Columbus West Elementary School
5425 W 31st St, Cicero, IL 60804 · (708) 780-4482 · Cook County
GRADES PK–03ELEMENTARY21-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL534 STUDENTS
B-
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 46% of Illinois public elementary schools
- CTest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- A-Beats 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
13.3:1
40 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 15.4:1 · STATE 13.9:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
90%
483 students
DISTRICT 81% · 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 | 36 | 7% |
| Kindergarten | 123 | 23% |
| Grade 1 | 108 | 20% |
| Grade 2 | 131 | 25% |
| Grade 3 | 136 | 25% |
Student demographics
9%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 6% · 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
28.0%
IL avg 51.0% . +16.1pp since 2023
Math
41.6%
IL avg 37.9% . +24.0pp since 2023
What this means: On the IAR + ISA, Illinois's statewide test, about 28 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 42 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 16 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 24 points.
IAR + ISA results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 28.0% | 41.6% |
| 2023-24 | 11.9% | 17.6% |
% 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
AS EXPECTED
Performing as predicted given the school's student profile
Actual proficiency
28.1%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
19.3%
based on IL schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+8.8pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 28% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 19% 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 Columbus West Elementary School
Columbus West Elementary School's state test result (28.1% proficient) is higher than 2 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Columbus West Elementary School this school | 534 | 90.4% | 28.1% |
| Zapata Elementary Academy Chicago | 524 | 91.0% | 28.7% |
| Little Village Elementary School Chicago | 575 | 91.3% | 21.2% |
| Acero Chtr Network - Jovita Idar Chicago | 528 | 88.4% | 28.6% |
| Acero Chtr Network - PFC Torress Chicago | 528 | 88.4% | 18.0% |
| Lee Elementary School Chicago | 581 | 90.5% | 36.5% |
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 Columbus West Elementary School ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Illinois | In Cook County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 28.1% | #1,335 of 1,925 | #431 of 760 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 41.6% | #917 of 2,077 ▲ 365 | #272 of 829 ▲ 131 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 28.0% | #1,712 of 2,077 ▲ 160 | #633 of 829 ▲ 104 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 534 | #420 of 2,419 | #213 of 901 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 13.3:1 | #1,001 of 2,035 | #457 of 817 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 8.7% | #1,916 of 2,042 | #740 of 819 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 90.4% | #267 of 2,132 | #194 of 804 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -23.9% | #322 of 1,461 | #201 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
534
-135 (-20%) vs 2020
-61% since 2000-01, when it was 1,366
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 | 534 | 40.1 | 13.3:1 | 90% (483) |
| 2023-24 | 549 | 40.1 | 13.7:1 | 76% (419) |
| 2022-23 | 586 | 44 | 13.3:1 | 94% (553) |
| 2020-21 | 669 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 2017-18 | 702 | 53.9 | 13.0:1 | 70% (489) |
| 2015-16 | 909 | 59 | 15.4:1 | 93% (844) |
| 2010-11 | 943 | 66 | 14.3:1 | 88% (834) |
| 2000-01 | 1,366 | 67 | 20.4:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Columbus West Elementary School.
Since 2017-18: students down 24% (702 to 534); teachers down 26% (53.9 to 40.1).
About Columbus West Elementary School
In Cicero, Illinois, part of Cook County, Columbus West Elementary School is an elementary school. The school covers pre-K through 3 and reported 534 students in 2024-25. Across elementary schools in Illinois, the average enrollment is about 381.
Cicero SD 99 enrolls 8,664 students in 15 schools, including Columbus West Elementary School.
Hispanic students account for 96% of the school's enrollment. Beyond that, enrollment is 2% White. The Hispanic share of the county population is lower, at 27%. Its diversity index, the chance that two randomly chosen students belong to different racial or ethnic groups, is 9%.
On staff are 40.1 full-time-equivalent teachers; the student-to-teacher ratio is 13.3:1. It is about the same as the 13.9:1 average for elementary schools in Illinois. About 90% of students at Columbus West Elementary School are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. Across public schools in Cook County, the average is 66%.
Columbus West Elementary School holds a B- allk12 Grade, placing it above 46% of Illinois public elementary schools.
Columbus West Elementary School's actual average proficiency rate across its state test results (28.1%) and its predicted rate (19.3%) put it outside the top and bottom 10% of Illinois schools.
The school is in Cook County, where the median household earns about $83,498 a year, about 43% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and the poverty rate is about 10%. Columbus West Elementary School shares Cook County with 1,405 other public schools.
Straight-line distance to the nearest public school, Columbus East Elementary School, is less than a tenth of a mile. Other public schools within five miles: at least 8. Ranked by average proficiency, Columbus West Elementary School places 4th out of 8 schools in its immediate area.
The federal government classifies Columbus West Elementary School's location as Suburb: Large.
In 2024-25, the school enrolled 534, down from 669 in 2020-21.
This page collects posts and questions about Columbus West Elementary School, such as athletics, class schedules, and weather closures. Members of the school community can share what they know.
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 Cicero SD 99
- Unity Jr High SchoolMiddle · 1,919 students
- Abe Lincoln Elementary SchoolElementary · 717 students
- Warren Park SchoolElementary · 695 students
- Woodrow Wilson Elementary SchoolElementary · 622 students
- Sherlock Elementary SchoolElementary · 583 students
- Cicero West Elementary SchoolElementary · 557 students
Other schools in Cicero
- J Sterling Morton East High SchoolHigh · 3,394 students
- Unity Jr High SchoolMiddle · 1,919 students
- J Sterling Morton Freshman CntrHigh · 941 students
- Abe Lincoln Elementary SchoolElementary · 717 students
- Warren Park SchoolElementary · 695 students
- Woodrow Wilson Elementary SchoolElementary · 622 students
Nearby schools
- Columbus East Elementary School0.1 mi · 411
- District 99 Early Childhood Center0.5 mi · 232
- Drexel Elementary School0.6 mi · 396
- Goodwin Elementary School0.8 mi · 502
- Woodrow Wilson Elementary School0.9 mi · 622
- Abe Lincoln Elementary School0.9 mi · 717
Frequently asked questions
About Columbus West Elementary SchoolWhat is the total enrollment at Columbus West Elementary School?
Columbus West Elementary School enrolls approximately 534 students in grades PK-03.
Is Columbus West Elementary School an elementary, middle, or high school?
Columbus West Elementary School is an elementary school covering grades PK-03.
How many teachers does Columbus West Elementary School have?
Columbus West Elementary School employs 40 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 13.3:1.
What is the student diversity at Columbus West Elementary School?
Student demographics at Columbus West Elementary School are roughly 2% White, 96% Hispanic, 1% Black, 1% Asian, 0% Two or more.
Who oversees Columbus West Elementary School?
Columbus West Elementary School is overseen by Cicero SD 99 in Cook County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.