KIPP Chicago Chrtrs - Ascend Acad

As a sprawling primary school in Chicago, Illinois, KIPP Chicago Chrtrs - Ascend Acad works with 897 students from grades K through 8, one of the schools within Chicago Public Schools Dist 299. Enrollment runs roughly 135% above the state mean of about 381.

Across the 622 schools in Chicago Public Schools Dist 299 (324,396 students total), KIPP Chicago Chrtrs - Ascend Acad accounts for its share of the district's footprint.

On the student-mix side, KIPP Chicago Chrtrs - Ascend Acad records that 89% of students identify as Black, making the school strongly Black-majority. Beyond that, the school shows 10% Hispanic. By comparison, Cook County as a whole is about 22% Black, so the school skews meaningfully more Black than its surroundings.

In terms of school funding signals, Staff filings list 8 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 112.1:1 students per teacher. The state averages around 13.9:1, so this campus is higher than the state norm typical. About 95% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator. By comparison, Cook County runs at roughly 66%, so the school's eligibility rate is higher than the surrounding baseline.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, KIPP Chicago Chrtrs - Ascend Acad tracks the demographic baseline. The model predicts 16.8% given the school's FRL share; actual proficiency is 20.9%.

In the surrounding community, census data for Cook County shows the typical household earns roughly $83,498 per year, roughly 43% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 10% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Across Cook County's 1406 public schools (combined enrollment of about 697,934 students), KIPP Chicago Chrtrs - Ascend Acad is one campus in the mix.

Nearest neighbor: Penn Elem School, around 0.0 miles off. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools. On composite proficiency, KIPP Chicago Chrtrs - Ascend Acad comes 1st of 9 in the immediate cluster, higher than the nearby-schools average of 10.3%.

The campus sits in a high-density setting. KIPP Chicago Chrtrs - Ascend Acad is a charter school, which puts it inside the public-school system but outside the standard district-managed model.

Trend over the last 7 years. Over the past 7-year window, the student count remained close to its prior level: 896 students in 2018 compared to 897 in 2025. Over the same period, the Black share edged down from 95% to 89%.

In the discussion threads here, the feed for KIPP Chicago Chrtrs - Ascend Acad typically covers sports schedules, lunch menu changes, and school spirit week. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.