Polaris Elem Charter Academy

Polaris Elem Charter Academy, a reasonably sized elementary-level community in Chicago, Illinois, part of Chicago Public Schools Dist 299, enrolls 343 students, covering grades K through 8.

Within Chicago Public Schools Dist 299, which oversees 622 schools and 324,396 students, Polaris Elem Charter Academy is one campus in the system.

On demographics, Polaris Elem Charter Academy shows that the student body is overwhelmingly Black (89%). The remainder reads as 10% Hispanic. That is noticeably more Black than the county at large, where the share is closer to 22%.

In terms of school funding signals, Polaris Elem Charter Academy records 15 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 22.9:1. That figure is higher than the state norm's 13.9:1 average. An estimated 71% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, often used as a Title I proxy.

On a demographically-adjusted basis, Polaris Elem Charter Academy falls in the UNDERPERFORMING tier of the BeatsExpectations residual. Given its student profile, a typical campus would land near 30.4%; this one comes in at 14.1%, -16.3 points off the demographic line.

In the surrounding community, the surrounding county (Cook County) shows that median household income runs about $83,498, about 43% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and the poverty rate sits near 10%. In all, Cook County runs 1406 public schools (combined enrollment of about 697,934 students), of which Polaris Elem Charter Academy is one.

Nearest neighbor: Westinghouse High School, around 0.2 miles off. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Polaris Elem Charter Academy at 7th of 9; the average score across the group is 22.0%.

The school occupies a city-core site. Polaris Elem Charter Academy operates as a public charter school, meaning it is publicly funded but governed independently of the surrounding district's traditional schools.

Five-year trend. Polaris Elem Charter Academy's enrollment has shrank 21% since 2018, when it stood at 434 (now 343). The student-to-teacher ratio pulled in from 217.0:1 in 2018 to 22.9:1 today.

Within the allk12 community for this school, the page collects discussion, questions, and updates around classroom updates, athletics, and weather closures. The community welcomes input from current and former families.