Enrollment
277
Elementary
DISTRICT 463 · STATE 381
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·CHICAGO PUBLIC SCHOOLS DIST 299·NCES 170993000651
Mays Elementary Academy
6656 S Normal Blvd, Chicago, IL 60621 · (773) 535-3892 · Cook County
GRADES PK–08ELEMENTARY11-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL277 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
17.9:1
16 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 14.6:1 · STATE 13.9:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
68%
188 students
DISTRICT 78% · STATE 56%
Community
0
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-K | 17 | 6% |
| Kindergarten | 21 | 8% |
| Grade 1 | 27 | 10% |
| Grade 2 | 31 | 11% |
| Grade 3 | 30 | 11% |
| Grade 4 | 41 | 15% |
| Grade 5 | 24 | 9% |
| Grade 6 | 26 | 9% |
| Grade 7 | 32 | 12% |
| Grade 8 | 28 | 10% |
This year's kindergarten class (21) is 25% smaller than its 8th grade class (28).
Student demographics
20%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 64% · 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
Mays Elementary Academy→Englewood STEM High School
Based on published attendance-zone data from Chicago Public Schools Dist 299. Zones change; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
IAR + ISA 2024-25 . % Proficient (Levels 4-5)English Language Arts
15.8%
IL avg 51.0% . +7.8pp since 2023
Math
7.5%
IL avg 37.9% . +5.8pp since 2023
What this means: On the IAR + ISA, Illinois's statewide test, about 16 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 8 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 8 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 6 points.
IAR + ISA results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 15.8% | 7.5% |
| 2023-24 | 8.0% | 1.7% |
% 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
UNDERPERFORMING
Bottom 10% of IL schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
9.9%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
32.3%
based on IL schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-22.4pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 10% of students here test proficient in math and reading, below the roughly 32% typical for Illinois schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations compares each school with others at the same poverty level, not by raw scores, so a school lands here when its results trail those comparable schools, which is not the same as having low scores. A higher-scoring school can still fall in this tier if similar schools score higher still.
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 Mays Elementary Academy
Mays Elementary Academy's state test result (9.9% proficient) is higher than 0 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mays Elementary Academy this school | 277 | 67.9% | 9.9% |
| Neil Armstrong Elementary School Richton Park | 266 | 69.9% | 26.5% |
| Marya Yates Elementary School Matteson | 284 | 66.2% | 19.9% |
| Meadowview School Country Club Hills | 293 | 65.5% | 19.8% |
| Greenwood Elementary School South Holland | 321 | 67.3% | 18.2% |
| Woodson South Elementary School Chicago | 298 | 70.8% | 13.9% |
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 Mays Elementary Academy ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Illinois | In Cook County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 9.9% | #1,881 of 1,925 | #736 of 760 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 7.5% | #1,976 of 2,077 ▲ 61 | #759 of 829 ▲ 46 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 15.8% | #1,998 of 2,077 ▼ 11 | #795 of 829 ▲ 2 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 277 | #1,666 of 2,419 | #688 of 901 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 17.9:1 | #1,910 of 2,035 | #778 of 817 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 19.8% | #1,627 of 2,042 | #611 of 819 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 67.9% | #785 of 2,132 | #472 of 804 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -25.1% | #278 of 1,461 | #178 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
277
-39 (-12%) vs 2020
+28% since 1990-91, when it was 217
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 | 277 | 15.5 | 17.9:1 | 68% (188) |
| 2023-24 | 244 | 17 | 14.3:1 | 84% (204) |
| 2022-23 | 238 | 19 | 12.5:1 | 78% (185) |
| 2020-21 | 316 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 2017-18 | 370 | 21.6 | 17.1:1 | 98% (363) |
| 2015-16 | 471 | 27 | 17.4:1 | 98% (462) |
| 2010-11 | 307 | 18 | 17.1:1 | 99% (304) |
| 2000-01 | 285 | 13 | 21.9:1 | N/A |
| 1990-91 | 217 | 10 | 21.7:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Mays Elementary Academy.
Since 2017-18: students down 25% (370 to 277); teachers down 28% (21.6 to 15.5).
About Mays Elementary Academy
Mays Elementary Academy is an elementary school in Chicago, Illinois, according to federal school records. The student body numbers 277 students, from pre-K through 8. An average school in this group (elementary schools in Illinois) has about 381 students.
Chicago Public Schools Dist 299 has 324,396 students spread across 622 schools.
Federal enrollment data show Mays Elementary Academy is 89% Black. Other groups make up 8% Hispanic. Cook County as a whole is about 22% Black, so the school's share is higher. Pick two students at random and there is a 20% chance they belong to different racial or ethnic groups; that figure is the school's diversity index.
Teacher staffing is 15.5 full-time equivalents, or about 17.9 students per teacher. This ratio sits 3.9 above the 13.9:1 average for elementary schools in Illinois. Eligibility for subsidized school meals is 68%. For comparison, public schools in Cook County average 66%.
After accounting for student poverty, Mays Elementary Academy is in the bottom 10% of Illinois schools. Its average proficiency rate on state tests of 9.9% is 22.4 points below the 32.3% predicted for its lunch-eligibility share.
Recent Census Bureau figures for Cook County show that the median household income is $83,498, the share of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher is 43%, and roughly 10% of residents are in poverty. Besides Mays Elementary Academy, Cook County has 1,405 other public schools.
The closest other public school is Kershaw Elementary School, about 0.4 miles away. Mays Elementary Academy has at least 8 other public schools within five miles. Mays Elementary Academy ranks 6th of 9 among nearby schools on average proficiency, with 9.9% against a local average of 14.3%.
The federal government classifies Mays Elementary Academy's location as City: Large.
Federal data show a 12% enrollment decrease, from 316 in 2020-21 to 277 in 2024-25.
To ask about science fairs, picture day, and bus routes, start a discussion on this page. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.
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 Chicago Public Schools Dist 299
- Lane Technical High SchoolHigh · 4,604 students
- Taft High SchoolHigh · 4,487 students
- Curie Metropolitan High SchoolHigh · 3,099 students
- Kenwood Academy High SchoolHigh · 2,268 students
- Young Magnet High SchoolHigh · 2,223 students
- Lincoln Park High SchoolHigh · 2,214 students
Other schools in Chicago
- Lane Technical High SchoolHigh · 4,604 students
- Taft High SchoolHigh · 4,487 students
- Curie Metropolitan High SchoolHigh · 3,099 students
- Kenwood Academy High SchoolHigh · 2,268 students
- Young Magnet High SchoolHigh · 2,223 students
- Lincoln Park High SchoolHigh · 2,214 students
Nearby schools
- Kershaw Elementary School0.4 mi · 226
- Bass Elementary School0.4 mi · 313
- King Academy of Social Justice0.6 mi · 213
- Barbara A Sizemore Campus0.6 mi · 231
- Bond Elementary School0.6 mi · 233
- Englewood STEM High School0.7 mi · 778
Frequently asked questions
About Mays Elementary AcademyWhat is the total enrollment at Mays Elementary Academy?
Mays Elementary Academy enrolls approximately 277 students in grades PK-08.
What age range does Mays Elementary Academy serve?
Mays Elementary Academy serves students from grade PK through grade 08.
How many students per teacher at Mays Elementary Academy?
Approximately 17.9:1 students per teacher at Mays Elementary Academy.
What is the racial breakdown of students at Mays Elementary Academy?
At Mays Elementary Academy, the student body is approximately 8% Hispanic, 89% Black, 2% Two or more.
Is Mays Elementary Academy public or private?
Mays Elementary Academy is a public K-12 school, overseen by Chicago Public Schools Dist 299.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.