Nightingale Elem School

Nightingale Elem School, a roomy primary school in Chicago, Illinois, part of Chicago Public Schools Dist 299, educates 917 students, covering grades pre-K through 8. That puts it 141% bigger than the typical public school in Illinois, which averages around 381 students.

Chicago Public Schools Dist 299 comprises 622 schools with combined enrollment of 324,396 students; Nightingale Elem School is among them.

On the student-mix side, Nightingale Elem School shows that the student body is overwhelmingly Hispanic (97%). That is visibly more Hispanic than the county at large, where the share is closer to 27%.

On the resource side, On paper, Nightingale Elem School has 65 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 14.1:1. The state averages about 13.9:1, putting this campus right in line with peers. Roughly 91% of students at Nightingale Elem School qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, often used as a Title I proxy. That share is north of Cook County's rate of about 66%.

On a demographically-adjusted basis, Nightingale Elem School sits in the middle band of the BeatsExpectations distribution. Schools with this campus's student mix typically land near 19.2%; this one delivers 24.1%.

Zooming out to the county, ACS estimates for Cook County put median household earnings sit near $83,498, about 43% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, 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), Nightingale Elem School is one campus in the mix.

The closest other public school is Talman Elem School, roughly 0.3 miles away. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. Among the 9 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Nightingale Elem School ranks 7th on composite proficiency, behind the local average of 26.7%.

Geographically, the school is in a high-density area.

Over the past 7-year window. Nightingale Elem School's enrollment has fell 27% since 2018, when it stood at 1,264 (now 917). Class-load math has tightened: from 21.4:1 in 2018 to 14.1:1 in 2025.

In the discussion threads here, the page collects discussion, questions, and updates around enrollment questions, classroom assignments, and PTA news. Members of the school community can share what they know.