L J Hauser Jr High School

Set in Riverside, Illinois, L J Hauser Jr High School is a reasonably sized middle-grades school, run under Riverside SD 96. It enrolls 597 students across grades 6 through 8. That puts it 29% bigger than the typical public school in Illinois, which averages around 462 students.

Across the 5 schools in Riverside SD 96 (1,794 students total), L J Hauser Jr High School accounts for its share of the district's footprint.

Looking at the student body, L J Hauser Jr High School lists that 56% of the student body identifies as White. Beyond that, the school shows 35% Hispanic, 5% multiracial, 3% Asian, 2% Black. By comparison, Cook County as a whole is about 44% White, so the school skews noticeably more White than its surroundings.

On the resource side, Staff filings list 47 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 12.6:1 students per teacher. That tracks the state average closely. An estimated 25% of students are eligible 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 below the surrounding baseline.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, L J Hauser Jr High School ranks in the top 10% of Illinois public schools. The BeatsExpectations model, a per-state regression of composite proficiency on FRL share, predicts schools with this student profile to land around 56.9%; L J Hauser Jr High School posts 74.0%, +17.1 points above that line.

In the area at large, census data for Cook County shows median household income runs about $83,498, roughly 43% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 10%. Across Cook County's 1406 public schools (combined enrollment of about 697,934 students), L J Hauser Jr High School is one campus in the mix.

The closest other public school is Central Elem School, roughly 0.1 miles away. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools. On composite proficiency, L J Hauser Jr High School comes 3rd of 8 in the immediate cluster, higher than the nearby-schools average of 57.0%.

Geographically, the school is in a residential area.

Five-year trend. Over the past 7-year window, the student count changed only slightly: 598 students in 2018 compared to 597 in 2025. White enrollment moved from 63% to 56% across the same window.

On this page, the page collects discussion, questions, and updates around fundraisers, lost-and-found posts, and report-card season. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.