Earhart Elem Opt for Knowl School

Earhart Elem Opt for Knowl School, a modestly sized primary school in Chicago, Illinois, part of Chicago Public Schools Dist 299, instructs 195 students, covering grades K through 8. By comparison, Illinois's public schools average about 381 students each, so Earhart Elem Opt for Knowl School sits 49% leaner than that benchmark.

Chicago Public Schools Dist 299 comprises 622 schools with combined enrollment of 324,396 students; Earhart Elem Opt for Knowl School is among them.

Demographically, Earhart Elem Opt for Knowl School records that 96% of students identify as Black, making the school strongly Black-majority. The remainder is composed of 4% Hispanic. By comparison, Cook County as a whole is about 22% Black, so the school skews meaningfully more Black than its surroundings.

On the income-and-resources front, On paper, Earhart Elem Opt for Knowl School has 16 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 12.2:1. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 13.9:1, putting Earhart Elem Opt for Knowl School tighter than the state norm the norm. Around 71% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, Earhart Elem Opt for Knowl School sits in the top 10% of Illinois schools after the BeatsExpectations adjustment. Predicted proficiency for the school's FRL share is roughly 30.4%; actual is 47.5%, +17.1 points clear of the demographic baseline.

In the surrounding community, community-level numbers for Cook County indicate median household income runs about $83,498, 43% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and the poverty rate sits near 10%. In all, Cook County runs 1406 public schools (combined enrollment of about 697,934 students), of which Earhart Elem Opt for Knowl School is one.

Black Magnet Elem School is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.4 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around Earhart Elem Opt for Knowl School. On composite proficiency, Earhart Elem Opt for Knowl School comes 2nd of 9 in the immediate cluster, ahead of the nearby-schools average of 26.8%.

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

Over the past 7-year window. Over the past 7-year window, the student count contracted 18%: 239 students in 2018 compared to 195 in 2025. Class-load math has fell: from 21.7:1 in 2018 to 12.2:1 in 2025.

Inside the community feed, the page collects discussion, questions, and updates around enrollment questions, classroom assignments, and PTA news. Parents, students, alumni, and staff are welcome to weigh in.