Lincoln Elementary School

Lincoln Elementary School operates as a tight-knit primary school in Bellwood, Illinois, part of Bellwood SD 88. Current enrollment sits at 310 students spanning grades K through 5.

Bellwood SD 88 comprises 6 schools with combined enrollment of 1,998 students; Lincoln Elementary School is among them.

For racial and ethnic makeup, Lincoln Elementary School logs that the largest single group is Black, at 67% of enrollment. Beyond that, the school lists 30% Hispanic, 3% multiracial. By comparison, Cook County as a whole is about 22% Black, so the school skews considerably more Black than its surroundings.

Looking at school resources, Staff filings list 22 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 14.0:1 students per teacher. The state averages about 13.9:1, putting this campus right in line with peers. An estimated 99% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. By comparison, Cook County runs at roughly 66%, so the school's eligibility rate is above the surrounding baseline.

On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), Lincoln Elementary School tracks the demographic baseline. The model predicts 14.1% given the school's FRL share; actual proficiency is 26.0%.

In the broader community, community-level numbers for Cook County indicate median household earnings sit near $83,498, about 43% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 10%. In all, Cook County runs 1406 public schools (combined enrollment of about 697,934 students), of which Lincoln Elementary School is one.

Early Childhood Center is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.2 miles from this campus. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Lincoln Elementary School at 3rd of 7; the average score across the group is 27.7%.

Geographically, the school is in a commuter-belt area.

Five-year trend. Lincoln Elementary School's enrollment has declined 15% since 2018, when it stood at 365 (now 310). Black enrollment moved from 77% to 67% across the same window.

On this page, the page collects discussion, questions, and updates around science fair prep, picture-day reminders, and bus-route questions. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.