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What's the most underrated thing about Kerkstra Elem School that outsiders don't know?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
407
Elementary
DISTRICT 350 · STATE 381
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·FOREST RIDGE SD 142·NCES 171548001862
Kerkstra Elementary School
14950 Laramie Ave, Oak Forest, IL 60452 · (708) 687-2860 · Cook County
GRADES 01–05ELEMENTARY21-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL407 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
13.8:1
30 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 15.5:1 · STATE 13.9:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
44%
178 students
DISTRICT 41% · STATE 56%
Community
4
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Grade 1 | 71 | 17% |
| Grade 2 | 81 | 20% |
| Grade 3 | 89 | 22% |
| Grade 4 | 84 | 21% |
| Grade 5 | 80 | 20% |
| Grade 6 | 1 | 0% |
| Grade 7 | 1 | 0% |
Student demographics
62%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 63% · 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
Kerkstra Elementary School→Jack Hille Middle School
Based on grade levels within Forest Ridge SD 142. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
IAR + ISA 2024-25 . % Proficient (Levels 4-5)English Language Arts
54.0%
IL avg 51.0% . +10.5pp since 2023
Math
46.0%
IL avg 37.9% . +13.9pp since 2023
What this means: On the IAR + ISA, Illinois's statewide test, about 54 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 46 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 11 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 14 points.
IAR + ISA results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 54.0% | 46.0% |
| 2023-24 | 43.5% | 32.1% |
% 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
48.8%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
46.3%
based on IL schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+2.5pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 49% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 46% 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 Kerkstra Elementary School
Kerkstra Elementary School's state test result (48.8% proficient) is higher than 2 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kerkstra Elementary School this school | 407 | 43.7% | 48.8% |
| Dundee Highlands Elementary School West Dundee | 396 | 44.4% | 48.4% |
| Olson Elementary School Woodstock | 425 | 46.8% | 50.4% |
| Prairiewood Elementary School Woodstock | 374 | 44.9% | 46.0% |
| Lee R Foster Elementary School Oak Forest | 397 | 48.6% | 55.3% |
| Washington Elementary School Evanston | 410 | 40.5% | 53.3% |
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 Kerkstra Elementary School ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Illinois | In Cook County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 48.8% | #628 of 1,925 | #165 of 760 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 46.0% | #782 of 2,077 ▼ 42 | #236 of 829 ▼ 5 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 54.0% | #865 of 2,077 ▼ 185 | #272 of 829 ▼ 50 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 407 | #970 of 2,419 | #418 of 901 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 13.8:1 | #1,167 of 2,035 | #522 of 817 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 61.8% | #511 of 2,042 | #199 of 819 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 43.7% | #1,466 of 2,132 | #640 of 804 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -7.9% | #1,035 of 1,461 | #503 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
407
+17 (+4%) vs 2020
+18% since 1990-91, when it was 346
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 | 407 | 29.5 | 13.8:1 | 44% (178) |
| 2023-24 | 402 | 32.5 | 12.4:1 | 42% (168) |
| 2022-23 | 389 | 29.4 | 13.3:1 | 39% (153) |
| 2020-21 | 390 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 2017-18 | 442 | 27 | 16.4:1 | 37% (164) |
| 2015-16 | 472 | 22 | 21.4:1 | 34% (159) |
| 2010-11 | 396 | 19 | 20.8:1 | 28% (110) |
| 2000-01 | 353 | 23 | 15.3:1 | N/A |
| 1990-91 | 346 | 17 | 20.4:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Kerkstra Elementary School.
Since 2017-18: students down 8% (442 to 407); teachers up 9% (27 to 29.5).
About Kerkstra Elementary School
Kerkstra Elementary School is a medium-sized elementary school for students in Oak Forest, Illinois. The grade span is 1 through 5, and enrollment is 407 students.
Forest Ridge SD 142 is the district for Kerkstra Elementary School. It has 4 schools and 1,539 students.
Federal enrollment data show White students as the largest group at Kerkstra Elementary School, at 48%. The rest of enrollment is 37% Hispanic, 10% Black, and 3% multiracial. Kerkstra Elementary School's diversity index is 62%, against a US figure of 70%.
Teacher staffing is 29.5 full-time equivalents, or about 13.8 students per teacher. That matches the 13.9:1 average for elementary schools in Illinois fairly closely. About 44% of students, or 178, qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. By comparison, the figure for public schools in Cook County is 66%.
On a poverty-adjusted basis, Kerkstra Elementary School falls in the middle 80% of Illinois schools: 48.8% actual against 46.3% predicted.
Federal survey data for Cook County show that the median household income is $83,498, about 43% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and roughly 10% of residents are in poverty. Cook County is home to 1,406 public schools and about 697,934 public school students.
Of nearby public schools, Ridge Early Childhood Center is the closest, at about 0.1 miles. In all, at least 8 other public schools sit within five miles of Kerkstra Elementary School. On proficiency, Kerkstra Elementary School is ahead of the 39.1% nearby average, ranking 2nd of 6.
NCES assigns Kerkstra Elementary School the locale Suburb: Large, meaning in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population of 250,000 or more.
The school enrolled 407 students in 2024-25, 17 more than the 390 it had in 2020-21.
The Kerkstra Elementary School community page is open for posts about sports schedules, lunch menus, and spirit week. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.
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 Forest Ridge SD 142
- Jack Hille Middle SchoolMiddle · 490 students
- Lee R Foster Elementary SchoolElementary · 397 students
- Ridge Early Childhood CenterElementary · 245 students
Other schools in Oak Forest
- Oak Forest High SchoolHigh · 1,329 students
- Arbor Park Middle SchoolMiddle · 520 students
- Jack Hille Middle SchoolMiddle · 490 students
- Walter F Fierke Ed CenterElementary · 443 students
- Lee R Foster Elementary SchoolElementary · 397 students
- Scarlet Oak Elementary SchoolElementary · 249 students
Nearby schools
- Ridge Early Childhood Center0.1 mi · 245
- Oak Forest High School0.5 mi · 1,329
- Jack Hille Middle School0.8 mi · 490
- Lee R Foster Elementary School1.0 mi · 397
- Scarlet Oak Elementary School1.1 mi · 249
- Kolmar Elementary School1.2 mi · 535
Frequently asked questions
About Kerkstra Elementary SchoolHow many students attend Kerkstra Elementary School?
Kerkstra Elementary School enrolls approximately 407 students in grades 01-05.
Is Kerkstra Elementary School an elementary, middle, or high school?
Kerkstra Elementary School is an elementary school covering grades 01-05.
How many teachers does Kerkstra Elementary School have?
Kerkstra Elementary School employs 30 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 13.8:1.
What is the racial breakdown of students at Kerkstra Elementary School?
At Kerkstra Elementary School, the student body is approximately 48% White, 37% Hispanic, 10% Black, 1% Asian, 3% Two or more.
Who oversees Kerkstra Elementary School?
Kerkstra Elementary School is overseen by Forest Ridge SD 142 in Cook County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.