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What's the best and worst thing about the food at John J Pershing Magnet Elementary?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
439
Elementary
DISTRICT 463 · STATE 381
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·CHICAGO PUBLIC SCHOOLS DIST 299·NCES 170993001032
John J Pershing Magnet Elementary
3200 S Calumet Ave, Chicago, IL 60616 · (773) 534-9272 · Cook County
GRADES PK–08ELEMENTARY11-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL439 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
13.7:1
32 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 14.6:1 · STATE 13.9:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
83%
365 students
DISTRICT 78% · STATE 56%
Community
5
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 | 55 | 13% |
| Kindergarten | 50 | 11% |
| Grade 1 | 25 | 6% |
| Grade 2 | 44 | 10% |
| Grade 3 | 36 | 8% |
| Grade 4 | 38 | 9% |
| Grade 5 | 46 | 10% |
| Grade 6 | 48 | 11% |
| Grade 7 | 47 | 11% |
| Grade 8 | 50 | 11% |
This year's kindergarten class (50) is about the same size as its 8th grade class (50).
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
John J Pershing Magnet Elementary→Phillips Academy 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
29.6%
IL avg 51.0% . +13.5pp since 2023
Math
7.9%
IL avg 37.9% . +0.0pp since 2023
What this means: On the IAR + ISA, Illinois's statewide test, about 30 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 14 points since 2023, while math scores have held steady.
IAR + ISA results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 29.6% | 7.9% |
| 2023-24 | 16.1% | 7.9% |
% 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
AS EXPECTED
Performing as predicted given the school's student profile
Actual proficiency
18.6%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
23.5%
based on IL schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-4.9pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 19% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 24% typical for Illinois schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations measures results against demographically similar schools rather than by raw scores, and this school falls within the typical range, neither among Illinois's top nor bottom 10%.
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 John J Pershing Magnet Elementary
John J Pershing Magnet Elementary's state test result (18.6% proficient) is higher than 2 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| John J Pershing Magnet Elementary this school | 439 | 83.1% | 18.6% |
| LEARN Chtr - Hunter Perkins Camp Chicago | 472 | 80.7% | 32.0% |
| Univ of Chicago Chtr-Donoghue Chicago | 499 | 84.6% | 29.6% |
| Illinois School Park Forest | 391 | 79.3% | 37.1% |
| Hughes L Elementary School Chicago | 431 | 87.0% | 13.0% |
| Wadsworth Elementary School Chicago | 487 | 87.5% | 16.6% |
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 John J Pershing Magnet Elementary ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Illinois | In Cook County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 18.6% | #1,649 of 1,925 | #594 of 760 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 7.9% | #1,966 of 2,077 ▼ 237 | #752 of 829 ▼ 143 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 29.6% | #1,678 of 2,077 ▲ 30 | #614 of 829 ▲ 34 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 439 | #795 of 2,419 | #361 of 901 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 13.7:1 | #1,137 of 2,035 | #509 of 817 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 19.9% | #1,624 of 2,042 | #608 of 819 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 83.1% | #444 of 2,132 | #308 of 804 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -25.2% | #276 of 1,461 | #177 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
439
-85 (-16%) vs 2020
+64% since 1990-91, when it was 267
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 | 439 | 32 | 13.7:1 | 83% (365) |
| 2023-24 | 396 | 35 | 11.3:1 | 83% (329) |
| 2022-23 | 429 | 35.5 | 12.1:1 | 82% (353) |
| 2020-21 | 524 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 2017-18 | 587 | 34.6 | 17.0:1 | 82% (481) |
| 2015-16 | 543 | 34 | 16.0:1 | 80% (432) |
| 2010-11 | 228 | 12 | 19.0:1 | 69% (157) |
| 2000-01 | 273 | 16 | 17.1:1 | N/A |
| 1990-91 | 267 | 14 | 19.1:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for John J Pershing Magnet Elementary.
Since 2017-18: students down 25% (587 to 439); teachers down 8% (34.6 to 32).
About John J Pershing Magnet Elementary
John J Pershing Magnet Elementary is a medium-sized elementary school for students in Chicago, Illinois. It serves 439 students in pre-K through 8.
John J Pershing Magnet Elementary sits within Chicago Public Schools Dist 299, which has 622 schools and 324,396 students.
About 89% of the student body at John J Pershing Magnet Elementary is Black. Other reported shares: 5% Hispanic and 2% White. That compares with about 22% Black among all Cook County residents. 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.
The school reported 32 full-time-equivalent teachers in 2024-25 and a ratio of 13.7:1. That matches the 13.9:1 average for elementary schools in Illinois fairly closely. Eligible students account for 83% of enrollment in the free or reduced-price lunch program. Compared with the 66% average for public schools in Cook County, the school's rate is higher.
John J Pershing Magnet Elementary posts an average proficiency rate on state tests of 18.6%, compared with a predicted 23.5%. It is not in the top or bottom 10% of Illinois schools on BeatsExpectations.
According to the American Community Survey, in Cook County, the median household income is $83,498, a bachelor's degree or higher is held by about 43% of adults, and the poverty rate is about 10%. There are 1,406 public schools in Cook County, enrolling about 697,934 students in all.
Dunbar Vocational Career Academy High School is the public school closest to John J Pershing Magnet Elementary, about 0.2 miles away. There are at least 8 other public schools within five miles. John J Pershing Magnet Elementary ranks 2nd of 9 among nearby schools on average proficiency, with 18.6% against a local average of 12.6%.
Its location is classified as City: Large by the National Center for Education Statistics.
The school enrolled 439 students in 2024-25, 85 fewer than the 524 it had in 2020-21.
Threads on this page can be about sports schedules, lunch menus, and spirit week. Alumni can share how the school prepared them.
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
- Dunbar Vocational Career Academy High School0.2 mi · 355
- Chicago Military Academy High School0.4 mi · 209
- Urban Prep Chtr Bronzeville High School0.4 mi · 148
- James R Doolittle Academy0.5 mi · 257
- YCCS-McKinley-Lakeside Leadership0.5 mi · 103
- Wells Preparatory Elementary Academy0.6 mi · 308
Frequently asked questions
About John J Pershing Magnet ElementaryHow many students attend John J Pershing Magnet Elementary?
John J Pershing Magnet Elementary enrolls approximately 439 students in grades PK-08.
Is John J Pershing Magnet Elementary an elementary, middle, or high school?
John J Pershing Magnet Elementary is an elementary school covering grades PK-08.
How many students per teacher at John J Pershing Magnet Elementary?
Approximately 13.7:1 students per teacher at John J Pershing Magnet Elementary.
How diverse is John J Pershing Magnet Elementary?
John J Pershing Magnet Elementary reports a student body of 2% White, 5% Hispanic, 89% Black, 2% Asian, 1% Two or more.
What district is John J Pershing Magnet Elementary in?
John J Pershing Magnet Elementary is part of Chicago Public Schools Dist 299.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.