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What's one community event at Forest Elem School more people should show up to?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
658
Elementary
DISTRICT 363 · STATE 381
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·CCSD 62·NCES 171212001464
Forest Elementary School
1375 S 5th Ave, Des Plaines, IL 60018 · (847) 824-1380 · Cook County
GRADES PK–05ELEMENTARY13-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL658 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
12.4:1
53 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 9.9:1 · STATE 13.9:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
50%
331 students
DISTRICT 51% · 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 | 324 | 49% |
| Kindergarten | 62 | 9% |
| Grade 1 | 46 | 7% |
| Grade 2 | 59 | 9% |
| Grade 3 | 63 | 10% |
| Grade 4 | 42 | 6% |
| Grade 5 | 62 | 9% |
This year's kindergarten class (62) is about the same size as its 5th grade class (62).
Student demographics
68%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 69% · 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
69.9%
IL avg 51.0% . +3.9pp since 2023
Math
61.3%
IL avg 37.9% . +12.9pp since 2023
What this means: On the IAR + ISA, Illinois's statewide test, about 70 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 61 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 4 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 13 points.
IAR + ISA results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 69.9% | 61.3% |
| 2023-24 | 66.0% | 48.4% |
% 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
OUTPERFORMING
Top 10% of IL schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
59.6%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
42.5%
based on IL schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+17.1pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 60% of students here test proficient in math and reading, well above the roughly 42% typical for Illinois schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations ranks schools against others at the same poverty level, not by raw scores, so a school can post high scores and still fall short of its prediction, or post lower scores and still beat it. This school clears its prediction by about 17 points, placing it in Illinois's top 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 Forest Elementary School
Forest Elementary School's state test result (59.6% proficient) is higher than 4 of the 4 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Forest Elementary School this school | 658 | 50.3% | 59.6% |
| Budlong Elementary School Chicago | 776 | 54.8% | 48.2% |
| Holmes Elementary School Clarendon Hills | 519 | 48.7% | N/A |
| Maercker Elementary School Westmont | 456 | 50.0% | 55.9% |
| Clarence E Culver School Niles | 666 | 53.6% | 53.7% |
| Cloverdale Elementary School Carol Stream | 466 | 41.8% | 51.8% |
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 Forest Elementary School ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Illinois | In Cook County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 59.6% | #330 of 1,925 | #102 of 760 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 61.3% | #380 of 2,077 ▼ 38 | #130 of 829 ▼ 15 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 69.9% | #350 of 2,077 ▼ 186 | #130 of 829 ▼ 58 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 658 | #173 of 2,419 | #106 of 901 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 12.4:1 | #693 of 2,035 | #327 of 817 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 68.2% | #217 of 2,042 | #94 of 819 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 50.3% | #1,293 of 2,132 | #603 of 804 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +9.7% | #288 of 615 | #85 of 186 |
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
658
+116 (+21%) vs 2020
+59% since 1990-91, when it was 413
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 | 658 | 53 | 12.4:1 | 50% (331) |
| 2023-24 | 657 | 55.6 | 11.8:1 | 44% (289) |
| 2022-23 | 588 | 57.2 | 10.3:1 | 41% (243) |
| 2020-21 | 542 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 2017-18 | 600 | 53.6 | 11.2:1 | 38% (228) |
| 2015-16 | 647 | 46 | 14.1:1 | 43% (278) |
| 2010-11 | 430 | 25 | 17.2:1 | 29% (123) |
| 2000-01 | 446 | 24 | 18.6:1 | N/A |
| 1990-91 | 413 | 28 | 14.8:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Forest Elementary School.
Since 2017-18: students up 10% (600 to 658); teachers down 1% (53.6 to 53).
About Forest Elementary School
Forest Elementary School is a high-enrollment elementary school for students in Des Plaines, Illinois. Students in pre-K through 5 attend, and enrollment is 658 students. The school's enrollment is 73% larger than the 381 average for elementary schools in Illinois.
CCSD 62 is responsible for 11 schools, Forest Elementary School included, with 4,520 students in all.
No single group makes up more than half of enrollment at Forest Elementary School. The largest is White students, at 42%. The remaining students are 31% Hispanic, 19% Asian, 4% Black, and 3% multiracial. For comparison, Cook County is about 44% White. Forest Elementary School's diversity index is 68%, against a US figure of 70%.
Federal staffing data show 53 full-time-equivalent teachers at Forest Elementary School and a ratio of 12.4:1. This ratio sits 1.5 below the 13.9:1 average for elementary schools in Illinois. Free or reduced-price lunch eligibility covers 50% of students. The rate at public schools in Cook County averages 66%, higher than here.
The BeatsExpectations model predicts 42.5% for Forest Elementary School, given its share of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. The actual figure is 59.6%. The 17.1-point gap ranks in the top 10% of Illinois schools.
Recent Census Bureau figures for Cook County show that the median household income is $83,498, roughly 43% of adults have a four-year degree or more, and the share of residents below the poverty line is 10%. Forest Elementary School is one of 1,406 public schools in the county.
Nearby, Algonquin Middle School is about 0.2 miles away. Within five miles of Forest Elementary School, there are at least 8 other public schools. Ranked by average proficiency, Forest Elementary School places 2nd out of 8 schools in its immediate area.
On the NCES locale scale, the school is City: Small.
The school enrolled 658 students in 2024-25, 116 more than the 542 it had in 2020-21.
Topics for discussion here include school events, clubs, and volunteer needs. Alumni can share how the school prepared them.
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 CCSD 62
- Chippewa Middle SchoolMiddle · 652 students
- North Elementary SchoolElementary · 599 students
- Algonquin Middle SchoolMiddle · 597 students
- Iroquois Community SchoolElementary · 411 students
- Central Elementary SchoolElementary · 322 students
- Plainfield Elementary SchoolElementary · 285 students
Other schools in Des Plaines
- Maine West High SchoolHigh · 1,857 students
- Chippewa Middle SchoolMiddle · 652 students
- Friendship Jr High SchoolMiddle · 633 students
- North Elementary SchoolElementary · 599 students
- Algonquin Middle SchoolMiddle · 597 students
- Apollo Elementary SchoolElementary · 536 students
Other Forest Elementary schools
7 other US public schools in 7 states are named Forest Elementary. Forest Elementary School is the 2nd largest of the 8.
- Forest ElementaryFOREST, MS · 740 students
- FOREST ELEMENTARY SCHOOLWILLIAMSVILLE, NY · 515 students
- FOREST ELEMENTARYCRYSTAL, MN · 464 students
- Forest Elementary SchoolFARMINGTON HILLS, MI · 404 students
- Forest Elementary SchoolRIVERVIEW, MI · 395 students
Nearby schools
- Algonquin Middle School0.2 mi · 597
- Maine West High School0.5 mi · 1,857
- Plainfield Elementary School0.6 mi · 285
- Terrace Elementary School1.0 mi · 206
- Devonshire School1.0 mi · 370
- South Elementary School1.1 mi · 253
Frequently asked questions
About Forest Elementary SchoolHow large is Forest Elementary School?
Forest Elementary School enrolls approximately 658 students in grades PK-05.
What age range does Forest Elementary School serve?
Forest Elementary School serves students from grade PK through grade 05.
How many students per teacher at Forest Elementary School?
Approximately 12.4:1 students per teacher at Forest Elementary School.
What is the student diversity at Forest Elementary School?
Student demographics at Forest Elementary School are roughly 42% White, 31% Hispanic, 4% Black, 19% Asian, 3% Two or more.
What district is Forest Elementary School in?
Forest Elementary School is part of CCSD 62.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.