Hughes L Elem School

Hughes L Elem School, a moderately sized elementary school in Chicago, Illinois, part of Chicago Public Schools Dist 299, hosts 431 students, covering grades pre-K through 8.

Chicago Public Schools Dist 299 comprises 622 schools with combined enrollment of 324,396 students; Hughes L Elem School is among them.

In terms of who attends, Hughes L Elem School records that 87% of students identify as Black, making the school strongly Black-majority; the rest breaks down as 12% Hispanic. By comparison, Cook County as a whole is about 22% Black, so the school skews considerably more Black than its surroundings.

Looking at the economic backdrop, On paper, Hughes L Elem School has 40 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 10.9:1. That figure is tighter than the state norm's 13.9:1 average. Roughly 87% of students at Hughes L Elem School qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. Set against Cook County (around 66%), the school's rate is north of typical.

On a demographically-adjusted basis, Hughes L Elem School tracks the demographic baseline. The model predicts 21.3% given the school's FRL share; actual proficiency is 13.0%.

Across the wider county, census data for Cook County shows the typical household earns roughly $83,498 per year, about 43% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and roughly 10% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Hughes L Elem School is one of 1406 public schools in Cook County (combined enrollment of about 697,934 students).

Lavizzo Elem School is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.6 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around Hughes L Elem School. Among the 9 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Hughes L Elem School ranks 8th on composite proficiency, behind the local average of 21.6%.

The campus sits in a metropolitan setting.

Looking at the recent track record. Hughes L Elem School's enrollment has edged down 5% since 2018, when it stood at 456 (now 431). Over the same period, the Black share edged down from 96% to 87%. Class-load math has pulled in: from 14.7:1 in 2018 to 10.9:1 in 2025.

On the community side, posts here usually surface around classroom updates, athletics, and weather closures. Members of the school community can share what they know.