Mark Twain Primary School

Mark Twain Primary School is one of the compact elementary schools in Kankakee, Illinois, part of Kankakee SD 111, with 192 students on its rolls from grades pre-K through 3. Enrollment runs roughly 50% below the state mean of about 381.

Within Kankakee SD 111, which oversees 10 schools and 4,602 students, Mark Twain Primary School is one campus in the system.

On demographics, Mark Twain Primary School records that Hispanic students make up the majority at 56%. The remainder reads as 30% Black, 7% White, 6% multiracial. By comparison, Kankakee County as a whole is about 13% Hispanic, so the school skews visibly more Hispanic than its surroundings.

In terms of school funding signals, Staff filings list 13 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 15.0:1 students per teacher. That figure is higher than the state norm's 13.9:1 average. Roughly 94% of students at Mark Twain Primary School qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. That share is north of Kankakee County's rate of about 61%.

On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), Mark Twain Primary School tracks the demographic baseline. The model predicts 17.4% given the school's FRL share; actual proficiency is 8.1%.

In the surrounding community, ACS estimates for Kankakee County put median household income runs about $71,281, about 21% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and the poverty rate sits near 9%. In all, Kankakee County runs 44 public schools (combined enrollment of about 16,499 students), of which Mark Twain Primary School is one.

Nearest neighbor: Kankakee Junior High School, around 0.1 miles off. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Mark Twain Primary School at 7th of 7; the average score across the group is 22.7%.

The campus sits in a metropolitan setting.

Trend over the last 7 years. Mark Twain Primary School's enrollment has fell 42% since 2018, when it stood at 330 (now 192). Over the same period, the Hispanic share ticked up from 34% to 56%. Class-load math has tightened: from 18.9:1 in 2018 to 15.0:1 in 2025.

On the community side, the page collects discussion, questions, and updates around classroom updates, athletics, and weather closures. The community welcomes input from current and former families.