Enrollment
321
Elementary
DISTRICT 463 · STATE 381
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·CHICAGO PUBLIC SCHOOLS DIST 299·NCES 170993000778
James Farmer Jr. Elementary
4214 S Saint Lawrence Ave, Chicago, IL 60653 · (773) 535-1687 · Cook County
GRADES PK–08ELEMENTARY11-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL321 STUDENTS
C-
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 24% of Illinois public elementary schools
- DTest 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
16.9:1
19 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 14.6:1 · STATE 13.9:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
94%
302 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 | 20 | 6% |
| Kindergarten | 24 | 7% |
| Grade 1 | 22 | 7% |
| Grade 2 | 26 | 8% |
| Grade 3 | 28 | 9% |
| Grade 4 | 31 | 10% |
| Grade 5 | 38 | 12% |
| Grade 6 | 32 | 10% |
| Grade 7 | 55 | 17% |
| Grade 8 | 40 | 12% |
| Grade 9 | 4 | 1% |
| Grade 10 | 1 | 0% |
This year's kindergarten class (24) is 40% smaller than its 8th grade class (40).
Student demographics
12%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
Test scores
IAR + ISA 2024-25 . % Proficient (Levels 4-5)English Language Arts
24.9%
IL avg 51.0% . +0.4pp since 2023
Math
13.6%
IL avg 37.9% . +7.5pp since 2023
What this means: On the IAR + ISA, Illinois's statewide test, about 25 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 14 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Illinois schools, those numbers are about 51 and 38. Reading and writing scores have held steady since 2023, while math scores are up about 8 points.
IAR + ISA results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 24.9% | 13.6% |
| 2023-24 | 24.5% | 6.1% |
% 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
18.9%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
17.2%
based on IL schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+1.7pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 19% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 17% 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 James Farmer Jr. Elementary
James Farmer Jr. Elementary's state test result (18.9% proficient) is higher than 3 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| James Farmer Jr. Elementary this school | 321 | 94.1% | 18.9% |
| Gresham Elementary School Chicago | 332 | 94.6% | 24.0% |
| Owens Community Academy Elementary School Chicago | 340 | 95.3% | 24.9% |
| Smith W Elementary School Chicago | 340 | 95.3% | 17.0% |
| Foster Park Elementary School Chicago | 345 | 93.3% | 17.7% |
| Highlands Elementary School Hazel Crest | 311 | 93.6% | 17.7% |
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 James Farmer Jr. Elementary ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Illinois | In Cook County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 18.9% | #1,640 of 1,925 | #588 of 760 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 13.6% | #1,782 of 2,077 ▲ 25 | #633 of 829 ▲ 24 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 24.9% | #1,811 of 2,077 ▼ 419 | #696 of 829 ▼ 201 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 321 | #1,420 of 2,419 | #586 of 901 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 16.9:1 | #1,837 of 2,035 | #758 of 817 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 12.4% | #1,834 of 2,042 | #697 of 819 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 94.1% | #181 of 2,132 | #134 of 804 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -13.5% | #733 of 1,461 | #388 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
321
-47 (-13%) vs 2020
-45% since 1990-91, when it was 588
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 | 321 | 19 | 16.9:1 | 94% (302) |
| 2023-24 | 306 | 19 | 16.1:1 | 93% (284) |
| 2022-23 | 317 | 17 | 18.6:1 | 94% (299) |
| 2020-21 | 368 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 2017-18 | 371 | 18.8 | 19.7:1 | 97% (361) |
| 2015-16 | 386 | 21 | 18.4:1 | 98% (377) |
| 2010-11 | 213 | 16 | 13.3:1 | 99% (210) |
| 2000-01 | 417 | 21 | 19.9:1 | N/A |
| 1990-91 | 588 | 26 | 22.6:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for James Farmer Jr. Elementary.
Since 2017-18: students down 13% (371 to 321); teachers up 1% (18.8 to 19).
About James Farmer Jr. Elementary
James Farmer Jr. Elementary is an elementary school located in Chicago, Illinois, in Cook County. A federal count lists 321 students at the school, in pre-K through 8.
Chicago Public Schools Dist 299 counts 324,396 students in its 622 schools, and James Farmer Jr. Elementary is one of them.
James Farmer Jr. Elementary enrolls a student body that is 93% Black. It is also 4% Hispanic. For comparison, the population of Cook County is roughly 22% Black. By the diversity index, James Farmer Jr. Elementary comes in at 12%.
At James Farmer Jr. Elementary, 19 full-time-equivalent teachers work with students, a ratio of about 16.9:1. That ratio is over the 13.9:1 average for elementary schools in Illinois. Students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch make up 94% of enrollment. Compared with the 66% average for public schools in Cook County, the school's rate is higher.
Measured against Illinois public elementary schools, James Farmer Jr. Elementary 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.
The allk12 BeatsExpectations score for James Farmer Jr. Elementary is +1.7 points: 18.9% actual, 17.2% predicted.
According to the American Community Survey, in Cook County, median household income is about $83,498, a bachelor's degree or higher is held by about 43% of adults, and the share of residents below the poverty line is 10%. James Farmer Jr. Elementary is one of 1,406 public schools in Cook County, which together enroll about 697,934 students.
The next-closest public school is Mollison Elementary School, about 0.3 miles away. There are at least 8 more public schools inside five miles. James Farmer Jr. Elementary's average proficiency of 18.9% compares with 27.1% for its nearest scored neighbors.
By NCES locale, the school is City: Large, or inside a principal city with a population of 250,000 or more.
James Farmer Jr. Elementary saw enrollment fall 13% between 2020-21 and 2024-25.
Parents and students can post about enrollment questions, class placement, and PTA news at James Farmer Jr. Elementary. 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
Nearby schools
- Mollison Elementary School0.3 mi · 237
- Woodson South Elementary School0.3 mi · 298
- King College Prep High School0.6 mi · 819
- Phillips Academy High School0.6 mi · 467
- Univ of Chicago Chtr-Donoghue0.7 mi · 499
- Robinson Elementary School0.7 mi · 117
Frequently asked questions
About James Farmer Jr. ElementaryHow large is James Farmer Jr. Elementary?
James Farmer Jr. Elementary enrolls approximately 321 students in grades PK-08.
What grades does James Farmer Jr. Elementary serve?
James Farmer Jr. Elementary serves grades PK-08.
How many teachers does James Farmer Jr. Elementary have?
James Farmer Jr. Elementary employs 19 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 16.9:1.
How diverse is James Farmer Jr. Elementary?
James Farmer Jr. Elementary reports a student body of 4% Hispanic, 93% Black, 2% Two or more.
Who oversees James Farmer Jr. Elementary?
James Farmer Jr. Elementary 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.