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What do you wish you knew before starting at Grand Prairie Elem School?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
494
Elementary
DISTRICT 563 · STATE 381
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·PLAINFIELD SD 202·NCES 173174003337
Grand Prairie Elementary School
3100 Caton Farm Rd, Joliet, IL 60431 · (815) 436-7000 · Will County
GRADES KG–05ELEMENTARY21-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL494 STUDENTS
C-
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 21% of Illinois public elementary schools
- C+Test scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- DBeats 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
11.9:1
42 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 13.6:1 · STATE 13.9:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
47%
230 students
DISTRICT 35% · 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Kindergarten | 57 | 12% |
| Grade 1 | 85 | 17% |
| Grade 2 | 71 | 14% |
| Grade 3 | 103 | 21% |
| Grade 4 | 80 | 16% |
| Grade 5 | 98 | 20% |
This year's kindergarten class (57) is 42% smaller than its 5th grade class (98).
Student demographics
66%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
37.7%
IL avg 51.0% . +9.7pp since 2023
Math
29.7%
IL avg 37.9% . +15.2pp since 2023
What this means: On the IAR + ISA, Illinois's statewide test, about 38 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 30 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 10 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 15 points.
IAR + ISA results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 37.7% | 29.7% |
| 2023-24 | 28.0% | 14.5% |
% 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
33.3%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
44.6%
based on IL schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-11.3pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 33% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 45% 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 Grand Prairie Elementary School
Grand Prairie Elementary School's state test result (33.3% proficient) is higher than 0 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grand Prairie Elementary School this school | 494 | 46.6% | 33.3% |
| Olive C Martin School Lake Villa | 511 | 47.6% | 43.9% |
| Sward Elementary School Oak Lawn | 457 | 44.2% | 51.1% |
| Troy Heritage Trail School Joliet | 480 | 49.6% | 43.5% |
| Troy Cronin Elementary School Shorewood | 466 | 45.5% | 50.0% |
| Oak Terrace Elementary School Highwood | 494 | 46.4% | 50.2% |
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 Grand Prairie Elementary School ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Illinois | In Will County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 33.3% | #1,147 of 1,925 | #73 of 94 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 29.7% | #1,294 of 2,077 ▲ 125 | #80 of 100 ▲ 1 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 37.7% | #1,424 of 2,077 ▼ 158 | #82 of 100 ▼ 4 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 494 | #580 of 2,419 | #42 of 116 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 11.9:1 | #518 of 2,035 | #21 of 107 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 65.9% | #311 of 2,042 | #29 of 108 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 46.6% | #1,393 of 2,132 | #45 of 103 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -15.8% | #627 of 1,461 | #31 of 71 |
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
494
-93 (-16%) vs 2020
+13% since 1990-91, when it was 436
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 | 494 | 41.5 | 11.9:1 | 47% (230) |
| 2023-24 | 538 | 39.3 | 13.7:1 | 47% (252) |
| 2022-23 | 548 | 41.5 | 13.2:1 | 50% (276) |
| 2020-21 | 587 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 2017-18 | 587 | 37.3 | 15.8:1 | 39% (226) |
| 2015-16 | 594 | 38 | 15.6:1 | 34% (199) |
| 2010-11 | 729 | 38 | 19.2:1 | 20% (149) |
| 2000-01 | 864 | 53 | 16.3:1 | N/A |
| 1990-91 | 436 | 21 | 20.8:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Grand Prairie Elementary School.
Since 2017-18: students down 16% (587 to 494); teachers up 11% (37.3 to 41.5).
About Grand Prairie Elementary School
Grand Prairie Elementary School is an elementary school in Joliet, Illinois, and it is part of Plainfield SD 202. Its 494 students are spread across kindergarten through 5. The school's enrollment is 30% above the 381 average for elementary schools in Illinois.
Plainfield SD 202 counts 30 schools and 24,556 students, including Grand Prairie Elementary School.
Grand Prairie Elementary School's enrollment has no majority group, and Hispanic students are the largest at 43%. Smaller groups are 38% White, 12% Black, and 6% multiracial. County-wide, 20% of Will County residents are Hispanic. The chance that two students picked at random at Grand Prairie Elementary School belong to different racial or ethnic groups, known as the diversity index, is 66%.
Teachers at Grand Prairie Elementary School total 41.5 full-time equivalents, and the ratio is 11.9:1. For comparison, elementary schools in Illinois average 13.9:1. Federal records put free or reduced-price lunch eligibility at 47%. Across public schools in Will County, the average is about the same, 44%.
Measured against Illinois public elementary schools, Grand Prairie 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.
In Illinois, Grand Prairie Elementary School is in the middle band of BeatsExpectations: 33.3% actual against a predicted 44.6%.
Grand Prairie Elementary School is located in Will County, where median household income is about $109,984, roughly 38% of adults have a four-year degree or more, and about 6% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Federal data list 209 public schools in Will County, with a combined enrollment of about 113,008.
Crystal Lawns Elementary School is the public school closest to Grand Prairie Elementary School, about 0.7 miles away. Inside a five-mile radius, there are at least 8 other public schools. Compared with its nearest neighbors, Grand Prairie Elementary School ranks 7th of 9 on average proficiency.
Grand Prairie Elementary School is coded as Suburb: Large in federal locale data.
The student count in 2024-25 was 494, 16% below the 587 of 2020-21.
Topics for discussion here include sports tryouts, band and choir, and theater. Alumni can share how the school prepared them.
Will County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
701,462
Census ACS
Median income
$109,984
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
38%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
6%
Below federal line
Schools in county
209
113,008 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Plainfield SD 202
- Plainfield North High SchoolHigh · 2,399 students
- Plainfield South High SchoolHigh · 2,323 students
- Plainfield East High SchoolHigh · 1,825 students
- Plainfield High SchoolHigh · 1,800 students
- John F Kennedy Middle SchoolMiddle · 912 students
- Timber Ridge Middle SchoolMiddle · 885 students
Other schools in Joliet
- Joliet West High SchoolHigh · 3,451 students
- Joliet Central High SchoolHigh · 3,295 students
- Hufford Junior High SchoolMiddle · 1,072 students
- Aux Sable Middle SchoolMiddle · 844 students
- Washington Jr High & Academy PrgmMiddle · 724 students
- Dirksen Junior High SchoolMiddle · 653 students
Other Grand Prairie Elementary schools
3 other US public schools in 2 states are named Grand Prairie Elementary. Grand Prairie Elementary School is the 2nd largest of the 4.
- Grand Prairie Elementary SchoolFrankfort, IL · 840 students
- Grand Prairie Elementary SchoolCentralia, IL · 63 students
- Grand Prairie Elementary SchoolWashington, LA · 264 students
Nearby schools
- Crystal Lawns Elementary School0.7 mi · 328
- Timber Ridge Middle School1.4 mi · 885
- River View Elementary School1.4 mi · 584
- Troy Craughwell School1.9 mi · 526
- Richland Elementary School1.9 mi · 774
- Carl Sandburg Elementary2.2 mi · 371
Frequently asked questions
About Grand Prairie Elementary SchoolWhat is the total enrollment at Grand Prairie Elementary School?
Grand Prairie Elementary School enrolls approximately 494 students in grades KG-05.
Is Grand Prairie Elementary School an elementary, middle, or high school?
Grand Prairie Elementary School is an elementary school covering grades KG-05.
How many students per teacher at Grand Prairie Elementary School?
Approximately 11.9:1 students per teacher at Grand Prairie Elementary School.
What is the racial breakdown of students at Grand Prairie Elementary School?
At Grand Prairie Elementary School, the student body is approximately 38% White, 43% Hispanic, 12% Black, 1% Asian, 6% Two or more.
Is Grand Prairie Elementary School public or private?
Grand Prairie Elementary School is a public K-12 school, overseen by Plainfield SD 202.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.