Enrollment
259
Elementary
DISTRICT 463 · STATE 381
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·CHICAGO PUBLIC SCHOOLS DIST 299·NCES 170993000770
Fernwood Elementary School
10041 S Union Ave, Chicago, IL 60628 · (773) 535-2700 · Cook County
GRADES PK–08ELEMENTARY11-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL259 STUDENTS
C+
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 39% 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.
- B+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
14.4:1
18 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 14.6:1 · STATE 13.9:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
88%
227 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 | 17 | 7% |
| Kindergarten | 26 | 10% |
| Grade 1 | 23 | 9% |
| Grade 2 | 28 | 11% |
| Grade 3 | 30 | 12% |
| Grade 4 | 25 | 10% |
| Grade 5 | 18 | 7% |
| Grade 6 | 31 | 12% |
| Grade 7 | 31 | 12% |
| Grade 8 | 30 | 12% |
This year's kindergarten class (26) is 13% smaller than its 8th grade class (30).
Student demographics
21%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
Fernwood Elementary School→Julian 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
43.0%
IL avg 51.0% . +9.3pp since 2023
Math
21.3%
IL avg 37.9% . +7.4pp since 2023
What this means: On the IAR + ISA, Illinois's statewide test, about 43 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 21 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 9 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 7 points.
IAR + ISA results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 43.0% | 21.3% |
| 2023-24 | 33.7% | 13.9% |
% 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
26.9%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
20.9%
based on IL schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+6.0pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 27% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 21% 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 Fernwood Elementary School
Fernwood Elementary School's state test result (26.9% proficient) is higher than 5 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fernwood Elementary School this school | 259 | 87.6% | 26.9% |
| Neil Elementary School Chicago | 258 | 88.0% | 18.3% |
| Elizabeth Morris Elementary School Cahokia | 246 | 89.0% | 9.7% |
| Penniman Elementary School Cahokia | 250 | 88.0% | 4.6% |
| Parkside Elementary Community Academy Chicago | 283 | 88.3% | 17.4% |
| Cuffe Math-Sci Tech Elementary Academy Chicago | 249 | 86.7% | 19.4% |
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 Fernwood Elementary School ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Illinois | In Cook County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 26.9% | #1,384 of 1,925 | #450 of 760 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 21.3% | #1,560 of 2,077 ▼ 118 | #515 of 829 ▼ 49 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 43.0% | #1,245 of 2,077 ▼ 222 | #414 of 829 ▼ 82 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 259 | #1,777 of 2,419 | #727 of 901 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 14.4:1 | #1,359 of 2,035 | #608 of 817 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 21.5% | #1,580 of 2,042 | #592 of 819 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 87.6% | #344 of 2,132 | #246 of 804 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -14.0% | #713 of 1,461 | #378 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
259
-3 (-1%) vs 2020
-50% since 1990-91, when it was 518
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 | 259 | 18 | 14.4:1 | 88% (227) |
| 2023-24 | 255 | 14.5 | 17.6:1 | 94% (240) |
| 2022-23 | 265 | 15 | 17.7:1 | 88% (232) |
| 2020-21 | 262 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 2017-18 | 301 | 14.2 | 21.3:1 | 96% (290) |
| 2015-16 | 351 | 13 | 27.0:1 | 96% (337) |
| 2010-11 | 318 | 16 | 19.9:1 | 97% (310) |
| 2000-01 | 454 | 24 | 18.9:1 | N/A |
| 1990-91 | 518 | 22 | 23.6:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Fernwood Elementary School.
Since 2017-18: students down 14% (301 to 259); teachers up 27% (14.2 to 18).
About Fernwood Elementary School
Fernwood Elementary School is a small elementary school based in Chicago, Illinois. A total of 259 students attend the school, which covers pre-K through 8. The average for elementary schools in Illinois is about 381 students, so this school is 32% smaller than average.
Chicago Public Schools Dist 299 oversees Fernwood Elementary School and 621 other schools, with 324,396 students in total.
The large majority of students at Fernwood Elementary School, 88%, are Black. Beyond that, enrollment is 10% multiracial. The Black share of the county population is lower, at 22%. By the diversity index, Fernwood Elementary School comes in at 21%.
Fernwood Elementary School counts 18 full-time-equivalent teachers, about 14.4 students for each one. Elementary schools in Illinois average about 13.9:1, a similar figure. About 88% of enrolled students meet the income rules for free or reduced-price lunch. Compared with the 66% average for public schools in Cook County, the school's rate is higher.
Measured against Illinois public elementary schools, Fernwood 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.
Test results at Fernwood Elementary School are 6.0 points above what its free or reduced-price lunch share predicts (26.9% actual, 20.9% predicted).
Federal survey data for Cook County show that median household income is about $83,498, about 43% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and the poverty rate is about 10%. A total of 1,406 public schools operate in Cook County, serving about 697,934 students.
Evers Elementary School is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.3 miles away. A five-mile radius around the school includes at least 8 other public schools. Fernwood Elementary School ranks 2nd of 9 among nearby schools on average proficiency, with 26.9% against a local average of 20.8%.
By NCES locale, the school is City: Large, or inside a principal city with a population of 250,000 or more.
Compared with 2020-21, when it had 262 students, enrollment in 2024-25 was about the same at 259.
Discussions about Fernwood Elementary School may include sports tryouts, band and choir, and theater. 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
Other Fernwood Elementary schools
One other US public school is named Fernwood Elementary. Fernwood Elementary School is the 2nd largest of the 2.
- Fernwood ElementaryBothell, WA · 714 students
Nearby schools
- Evers Elementary School0.3 mi · 233
- Garvey M Elementary School0.5 mi · 262
- Wacker Elementary School0.5 mi · 217
- Hughes L Elementary School0.7 mi · 431
- Mount Vernon Elementary School0.7 mi · 245
- Julian High School0.8 mi · 440
Frequently asked questions
About Fernwood Elementary SchoolHow large is Fernwood Elementary School?
Fernwood Elementary School enrolls approximately 259 students in grades PK-08.
What grades does Fernwood Elementary School serve?
Fernwood Elementary School serves grades PK-08.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Fernwood Elementary School?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Fernwood Elementary School is approximately 14.4:1 (18 FTE teachers).
How diverse is Fernwood Elementary School?
Fernwood Elementary School reports a student body of 2% Hispanic, 88% Black, 10% Two or more.
Who oversees Fernwood Elementary School?
Fernwood Elementary School is overseen by Chicago Public Schools Dist 299 in Cook County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.