Enrollment
288
Elementary
DISTRICT 463 · STATE 381
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·CHICAGO PUBLIC SCHOOLS DIST 299·NCES 170993000816
Gillespie Elementary School
9301 S State St, Chicago, IL 60619 · (773) 535-5065 · Cook County
GRADES PK–08ELEMENTARY11-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL288 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
11.8:1
25 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 14.6:1 · STATE 13.9:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
80%
230 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 | 18 | 6% |
| Kindergarten | 23 | 8% |
| Grade 1 | 28 | 10% |
| Grade 2 | 24 | 8% |
| Grade 3 | 33 | 11% |
| Grade 4 | 42 | 15% |
| Grade 5 | 35 | 12% |
| Grade 6 | 23 | 8% |
| Grade 7 | 29 | 10% |
| Grade 8 | 29 | 10% |
| Grade 9 | 4 | 1% |
This year's kindergarten class (23) is 21% smaller than its 8th grade class (29).
Student demographics
11%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
Gillespie Elementary School→Harlan Community Academy 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
28.3%
IL avg 51.0% . +13.9pp since 2023
Math
8.9%
IL avg 37.9% . +6.2pp since 2023
What this means: On the IAR + ISA, Illinois's statewide test, about 28 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 9 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 14 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 6 points.
IAR + ISA results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 28.3% | 8.9% |
| 2023-24 | 14.4% | 2.7% |
% 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
18.2%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
25.4%
based on IL schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-7.2pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 18% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 25% 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 Gillespie Elementary School
Gillespie Elementary School's state test result (18.2% proficient) is higher than 1 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gillespie Elementary School this school | 288 | 79.9% | 18.2% |
| Bennett Elementary School Chicago | 312 | 80.4% | 23.0% |
| Burnside Elementary Scholastic Academy Chicago | 264 | 81.4% | 32.2% |
| Univ of Chicago Chtr-Nth Kenwood Chicago | 304 | 77.6% | 35.5% |
| Wells Preparatory Elementary Academy Chicago | 308 | 82.8% | 32.8% |
| Oglesby Elementary School Chicago | 293 | 76.5% | 13.9% |
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 Gillespie Elementary School ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Illinois | In Cook County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 18.2% | #1,667 of 1,925 | #606 of 760 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 8.9% | #1,946 of 2,077 ▲ 41 | #736 of 829 ▲ 42 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 28.3% | #1,705 of 2,077 ▲ 77 | #629 of 829 ▲ 63 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 288 | #1,611 of 2,419 | #660 of 901 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 11.8:1 | #464 of 2,035 | #249 of 817 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 10.6% | #1,878 of 2,042 | #719 of 819 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 79.9% | #509 of 2,132 | #350 of 804 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -39.7% | #60 of 1,461 | #39 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
288
-141 (-33%) vs 2020
-67% since 1990-91, when it was 876
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 | 288 | 24.5 | 11.8:1 | 80% (230) |
| 2023-24 | 342 | 27.5 | 12.4:1 | 85% (291) |
| 2022-23 | 376 | 26 | 14.5:1 | 87% (328) |
| 2020-21 | 429 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 2017-18 | 478 | 26.6 | 17.9:1 | 95% (456) |
| 2015-16 | 527 | 32 | 16.5:1 | 97% (512) |
| 2010-11 | 486 | 29 | 16.8:1 | 98% (475) |
| 2000-01 | 838 | 40 | 20.9:1 | N/A |
| 1990-91 | 876 | 38 | 23.1:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Gillespie Elementary School.
Since 2017-18: students down 40% (478 to 288); teachers down 8% (26.6 to 24.5).
About Gillespie Elementary School
In Chicago, Illinois, part of Cook County, Gillespie Elementary School is an elementary school. The school has 288 students in 2024-25 across pre-K through 8. Elementary schools in Illinois average about 381 students, which makes this school 24% below average.
Chicago Public Schools Dist 299 counts 622 schools and 324,396 students, including Gillespie Elementary School.
Of every 100 students at Gillespie Elementary School, about 94 are Black. The remaining students are 5% Hispanic. Census figures show Cook County is about 22% Black. On a 0 to 100 scale, the school's diversity index is 11, compared with 70 nationally.
Gillespie Elementary School has 24.5 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of about 11.8:1. The school's 11.8:1 compares with an average of 13.9:1 for elementary schools in Illinois. Eligibility for free or reduced-price lunch, often used to gauge student poverty, is 80%. The rate at public schools in Cook County averages 66%, lower than here.
BeatsExpectations compares each school's average proficiency rate across its state test results with a prediction based on free or reduced-price lunch eligibility. For Gillespie Elementary School, the prediction is 25.4% and the result is 18.2%.
Looking at the county, Cook County, the median household earns about $83,498 a year, 43% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and about 10% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Counting Gillespie Elementary School, Cook County has 1,406 public schools.
Gillespie Elementary School is about 0.4 miles from Turner-Drew Elementary Language Academy, its nearest public school. Around the school, at least 8 other public schools are within five miles. Among its closest neighbors with test data, Gillespie Elementary School is 5th of 9 on proficiency.
Gillespie Elementary School has an NCES locale of City: Large.
From 429 students in 2020-21, enrollment fell to 288 by 2024-25.
You can use this page to share news and ask questions about fundraisers, report cards, and school supplies. Current and former families are welcome to add their experience.
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
- Turner-Drew Elementary Language Academy0.4 mi · 194
- Harlan Community Academy High School0.4 mi · 220
- McDade Elementary Classical School0.7 mi · 207
- Kipling Elementary School0.8 mi · 237
- Burnside Elementary Scholastic Academy0.8 mi · 264
- YCCS Chtr - Chatham0.9 mi · 104
Frequently asked questions
About Gillespie Elementary SchoolHow many students attend Gillespie Elementary School?
Gillespie Elementary School enrolls approximately 288 students in grades PK-08.
What age range does Gillespie Elementary School serve?
Gillespie Elementary School serves students from grade PK through grade 08.
How many teachers does Gillespie Elementary School have?
Gillespie Elementary School employs 25 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 11.8:1.
What is the racial breakdown of students at Gillespie Elementary School?
At Gillespie Elementary School, the student body is approximately 5% Hispanic, 94% Black, 0% Two or more.
Who oversees Gillespie Elementary School?
Gillespie 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.