Jefferson Elem School

Jefferson Elem School, a small K-5 school in Dekalb, Illinois, one of the schools within DeKalb CUSD 428, instructs 308 students, covering grades K through 5.

DeKalb CUSD 428 runs 12 schools in total, collectively educating 6,771 students. Jefferson Elem School is one of those campuses.

Demographically, Jefferson Elem School records that the largest single group is White at 36%, but no single group is in the majority. The remainder consists of 31% Black, 18% Hispanic, 8% multiracial, 7% Asian. By comparison, DeKalb County as a whole is about 74% White, so the school skews meaningfully less White than its surroundings.

On the income-and-resources front, Staff filings list 28 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 11.2:1 students per teacher. That figure is tighter than the state norm's 13.9:1 average. About 57% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, often used as a Title I proxy. That share is north of DeKalb County's rate of about 48%.

After controlling for student poverty, Jefferson Elem School sits in the middle band of the BeatsExpectations distribution. Schools with this campus's student mix typically land near 38.7%; this one delivers 45.0%.

In the surrounding community, ACS estimates for DeKalb County put median household earnings sit near $70,724, about 33% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 10%. Across DeKalb County's 43 public schools (combined enrollment of about 16,328 students), Jefferson Elem School is one campus in the mix.

DeKalb High School is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.5 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around Jefferson Elem School. On composite proficiency, Jefferson Elem School comes 1st of 8 in the immediate cluster, ahead of the nearby-schools average of 19.5%.

The campus sits in a commuter-belt setting.

Trend over the last 7 years. Jefferson Elem School's enrollment has fell 5% since 2018, when it stood at 325 (now 308). Over the same period, the Black share ticked up from 15% to 31%. Class-load math has fell: from 14.8:1 in 2018 to 11.2:1 in 2025.

In the discussion threads here, posts here usually surface around sports schedules, lunch menu changes, and school spirit week. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.