Early Childhood Center

Early Childhood Center is an elementary-level community of small scale in Bellwood, Illinois, overseen by Bellwood SD 88, enrolling 178 students in grade pre-K. That puts it 53% smaller than the typical public school in Illinois, which averages around 381 students.

Early Childhood Center is one of 6 schools operated by Bellwood SD 88, a district that works with 1,998 students overall.

For racial and ethnic makeup, Early Childhood Center shows that the most-represented group is Black (49%), with the rest of the student body spread across multiple groups. The remainder comes out to 46% Hispanic, 4% multiracial. By comparison, Cook County as a whole is about 22% Black, so the school skews noticeably more Black than its surroundings.

In terms of school funding signals, Staff filings list 7 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 25.4:1 students per teacher. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 13.9:1, putting Early Childhood Center higher than the state norm the norm.

In the broader community, ACS estimates for Cook County put median household income runs about $83,498, roughly 43% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 10% of residents live below the federal poverty line. In all, Cook County runs 1406 public schools (combined enrollment of about 697,934 students), of which Early Childhood Center is one.

Lincoln Elementary School is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.2 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around Early Childhood Center.

The campus sits in an outer-ring setting.

Five-year trend. Over the past 7-year window, the student count edged down 27%: 245 students in 2018 compared to 178 in 2025. Black enrollment moved from 42% to 49% across the same window. The student-to-teacher ratio narrowed from 27.2:1 in 2018 to 25.4:1 today.

Within the allk12 community for this school, members of the Early Childhood Center community share and discuss sports schedules, lunch menu changes, and school spirit week. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.