1
How has Prairie Elem School changed in the last five years, for better or worse?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
515
Elementary
DISTRICT 489 · STATE 381
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·NAPERVILLE CUSD 203·NCES 172771002941
Prairie Elementary School
500 S Charles Ave, Naperville, IL 60540 · (630) 420-6348 · DuPage County
GRADES KG–05ELEMENTARY12-CITYREGULAR SCHOOL515 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
14.0:1
37 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 14.1:1 · STATE 13.9:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
8%
43 students
DISTRICT 17% · 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 | 2 | 0% |
| Kindergarten | 80 | 16% |
| Grade 1 | 76 | 15% |
| Grade 2 | 95 | 18% |
| Grade 3 | 90 | 17% |
| Grade 4 | 91 | 18% |
| Grade 5 | 81 | 16% |
This year's kindergarten class (80) is about the same size as its 5th grade class (81).
Student demographics
44%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 61% · 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
Test scores
IAR + ISA 2024-25 . % Proficient (Levels 4-5)English Language Arts
87.9%
IL avg 51.0% . +18.5pp since 2023
Math
84.7%
IL avg 37.9% . +21.9pp since 2023
What this means: On the IAR + ISA, Illinois's statewide test, about 88 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 85 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 19 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 22 points.
IAR + ISA results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 87.9% | 84.7% |
| 2023-24 | 69.4% | 62.8% |
% 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
OUTPERFORMING
Top 10% of IL schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
84.0%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
66.7%
based on IL schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+17.3pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 84% of students here test proficient in math and reading, well above the roughly 67% typical for Illinois schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations ranks schools against others at the same poverty level, not by raw scores, so a school can post high scores and still fall short of its prediction, or post lower scores and still beat it. This school clears its prediction by about 17 points, placing it in Illinois's top 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 Prairie Elementary School
Prairie Elementary School's state test result (84.0% proficient) is higher than 5 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prairie Elementary School this school | 515 | 8.3% | 84.0% |
| Wild Rose Elementary School Saint Charles | 535 | 8.8% | 76.2% |
| Bell-Graham Elementary School Saint Charles | 520 | 7.7% | 80.1% |
| Thomas Metcalf School Normal | 459 | 7.0% | 71.5% |
| Maplebrook Elementary School Naperville | 512 | 9.2% | 78.9% |
| Burley Elementary School Chicago | 494 | 8.3% | 78.1% |
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 Prairie Elementary School ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Illinois | In DuPage County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 84.0% | #14 of 1,925 | #4 of 112 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 84.7% | #34 of 2,077 ▲ 93 | #11 of 141 ▲ 20 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 87.9% | #33 of 2,077 ▲ 83 | #9 of 141 ▲ 17 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 515 | #491 of 2,419 | #30 of 163 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 14.0:1 | #1,234 of 2,035 | #98 of 146 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 44.4% | #1,050 of 2,042 | #117 of 146 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 8.3% | #2,102 of 2,132 | #116 of 123 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +2.4% | #525 of 615 | #47 of 57 |
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
515
+17 (+3%) vs 2020
-27% since 1990-91, when it was 703
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 | 515 | 36.8 | 14.0:1 | 8% (43) |
| 2023-24 | 502 | 35.3 | 14.2:1 | 8% (42) |
| 2022-23 | 488 | 37.5 | 13.0:1 | 8% (37) |
| 2020-21 | 498 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 2017-18 | 503 | 32.7 | 15.4:1 | 7% (36) |
| 2015-16 | 509 | 33 | 15.4:1 | 3% (17) |
| 2010-11 | 565 | 29 | 19.5:1 | 5% (29) |
| 2000-01 | 610 | 37 | 16.5:1 | N/A |
| 1990-91 | 703 | 37 | 19.0:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Prairie Elementary School.
Since 2017-18: students up 2% (503 to 515); teachers up 13% (32.7 to 36.8).
About Prairie Elementary School
Prairie Elementary School is a mid-sized elementary school in Naperville, Illinois, (ZIP code 60540). It enrolls 515 students in 2024-25. The grades offered are kindergarten through 5. It has 35% more students than the average for elementary schools in Illinois (about 381).
Naperville CUSD 203 runs 22 schools with a combined 16,047 students. Prairie Elementary School is one of them.
The student body at Prairie Elementary School is 73% White. After that, the student body is 10% Asian, 8% Hispanic, 6% multiracial, and 3% Black. Among all residents of DuPage County, the White share is about 65%. A diversity index of 44% means there is a 44% chance two randomly chosen students at Prairie Elementary School are from different groups.
Prairie Elementary School lists 36.8 full-time-equivalent teachers; that is about 14.0 students per teacher. The ratio is within a point of the 13.9:1 average for elementary schools in Illinois. Free or reduced-price lunch covers 8% of the student body. That is 26 points below the 34% average for public schools in DuPage County.
Prairie Elementary School is 17.3 points above expectations on state tests, given its student poverty level, placing it in the top 10% in Illinois.
Census data for DuPage County show the median household earns about $112,096 a year, roughly 52% of adults have a four-year degree or more, and the share of residents below the poverty line is 5%. Public schools in DuPage County number 277, with about 138,557 students.
About 0.8 miles separate Prairie Elementary School from the closest public school, Highlands Elementary School. The five-mile area around Prairie Elementary School holds at least 8 other public schools. Prairie Elementary School ranks 4th of 8 among nearby schools on average proficiency, with 84.0% against a local average of 77.1%.
Federal data place Prairie Elementary School in the City: Mid-size locale, which means it is inside a principal city with a population between 100,000 and 250,000.
Between 2020-21 and 2024-25, Prairie Elementary School had a net gain of 17 students, or 3%.
Prairie Elementary School has a community page on allk12 for topics such as pickup and drop-off, after-school programs, and teacher feedback. You can also rate the school on this page.
DuPage County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
930,024
Census ACS
Median income
$112,096
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
52%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
5%
Below federal line
Schools in county
277
138,557 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Naperville CUSD 203
- Naperville Central High SchoolHigh · 2,589 students
- Naperville North High SchoolHigh · 2,467 students
- Kennedy Junior High SchoolMiddle · 937 students
- Jefferson Jr High SchoolMiddle · 832 students
- Lincoln Jr High SchoolMiddle · 774 students
- Elmwood Elementary SchoolElementary · 726 students
Other schools in Naperville
- Neuqua Valley High SchoolHigh · 3,018 students
- Naperville Central High SchoolHigh · 2,589 students
- Naperville North High SchoolHigh · 2,467 students
- Scullen Middle SchoolMiddle · 948 students
- Clifford Crone Middle SchoolMiddle · 891 students
- Jefferson Jr High SchoolMiddle · 832 students
Other Prairie Elementary schools
14 other US public schools in 11 states are named Prairie Elementary. Prairie Elementary School is the 4th largest of the 15.
- Prairie Elementary SchoolOrland Park, IL · 507 students
- Prairie Elementary SchoolBuffalo Grove, IL · 453 students
- Prairie ElementarySacramento, CA · 858 students
- PRAIRIE ELEMENTARYWORTHINGTON, MN · 690 students
- Prairie Elementary SchoolLafayette, LA · 663 students
Nearby schools
- Highlands Elementary School0.8 mi · 510
- Ann Reid Early Childhood Center0.9 mi · 375
- Ellsworth Elementary School1.0 mi · 227
- Kennedy Junior High School1.0 mi · 937
- Elmwood Elementary School1.3 mi · 726
- Washington Jr High School1.3 mi · 551
Frequently asked questions
About Prairie Elementary SchoolWhat is the total enrollment at Prairie Elementary School?
Prairie Elementary School enrolls approximately 515 students in grades KG-05.
Is Prairie Elementary School an elementary, middle, or high school?
Prairie Elementary School is an elementary school covering grades KG-05.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Prairie Elementary School?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Prairie Elementary School is approximately 14.0:1 (37 FTE teachers).
What is the racial breakdown of students at Prairie Elementary School?
At Prairie Elementary School, the student body is approximately 73% White, 8% Hispanic, 3% Black, 10% Asian, 6% Two or more.
Who oversees Prairie Elementary School?
Prairie Elementary School is overseen by Naperville CUSD 203 in DuPage County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.