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If you could change one rule at Prairie Trail School, what would it be?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
454
Elementary
DISTRICT 458 · STATE 381
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·GURNEE SD 56·NCES 171780002074
Prairie Trail School
13600 W Wadsworth Rd, Wadsworth, IL 60083 · (847) 623-4333 · Lake County
GRADES 03–05ELEMENTARY21-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL454 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
14.1:1
32 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 13.8:1 · STATE 13.9:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
59%
268 students
DISTRICT 56% · 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 175 | 39% |
| Grade 4 | 116 | 26% |
| Grade 5 | 163 | 36% |
Student demographics
68%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 67% · 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
Prairie Trail School→Viking School
Feeds from
Based on grade levels within Gurnee SD 56. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
IAR + ISA 2024-25 . % Proficient (Levels 4-5)English Language Arts
27.5%
IL avg 51.0% . +12.0pp since 2023
Math
19.5%
IL avg 37.9% . +7.8pp since 2023
What this means: On the IAR + ISA, Illinois's statewide test, about 28 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 20 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 12 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 8 points.
IAR + ISA results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 27.5% | 19.5% |
| 2023-24 | 15.5% | 11.7% |
% 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
21.8%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
37.4%
based on IL schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-15.7pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 22% of students here test proficient in math and reading, below the roughly 37% 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 Prairie Trail School
Prairie Trail School's state test result (21.8% proficient) is higher than 0 of the 4 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prairie Trail School this school | 454 | 59.0% | 21.8% |
| Spaulding Elementary School Gurnee | 450 | 58.2% | N/A |
| Wood View Elementary School Bolingbrook | 443 | 61.2% | 44.4% |
| Georgetown Elementary School Aurora | 420 | 53.3% | 32.9% |
| Jonas E Salk Elementary School Bolingbrook | 391 | 62.9% | 42.6% |
| Kenneth L Hermansen Elementary Romeoville | 431 | 54.1% | 47.9% |
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 Prairie Trail School ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Illinois | In Lake County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 21.8% | #1,550 of 1,925 | #52 of 69 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 19.5% | #1,617 of 2,077 ▼ 71 | #85 of 102 ▼ 2 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 27.5% | #1,723 of 2,077 ▲ 9 | #82 of 102 ▼ 3 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 454 | #734 of 2,419 | #45 of 121 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 14.1:1 | #1,273 of 2,035 | #89 of 114 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 68.0% | #225 of 2,042 | #9 of 114 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 59.0% | #1,045 of 2,132 | #36 of 82 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -11.5% | #851 of 1,461 | #35 of 71 |
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
454
+8 (+2%) vs 2020
-11% since 1990-91, when it was 508
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 | 454 | 32.3 | 14.1:1 | 59% (268) |
| 2023-24 | 405 | 35.3 | 11.5:1 | 60% (241) |
| 2022-23 | 419 | 38 | 11.0:1 | 63% (264) |
| 2020-21 | 446 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 2017-18 | 513 | 37 | 13.9:1 | 36% (185) |
| 2015-16 | 523 | 34 | 15.4:1 | 28% (149) |
| 2010-11 | 540 | 37 | 14.6:1 | 0% (0) |
| 2000-01 | 620 | 37 | 16.8:1 | N/A |
| 1990-91 | 508 | 31 | 16.4:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Prairie Trail School.
Since 2017-18: students down 12% (513 to 454); teachers down 13% (37 to 32.3).
About Prairie Trail School
Prairie Trail School is classified as an elementary school. It is located in Wadsworth, Illinois. A total of 454 students attend the school, which covers grades 3 through 5.
Gurnee SD 56 operates 4 schools. Combined enrollment is 1,836 students.
The most common group at Prairie Trail School is Hispanic students, at 48%. Enrollment also includes 22% Black, 17% White, 6% Asian, and 6% multiracial. The school's Hispanic share is 23 points above the 25% share among Lake County residents. Prairie Trail School's diversity index is 68%, against a US figure of 70%.
Prairie Trail School operates with 32.3 full-time-equivalent teachers, a ratio of about 14.1:1. That matches the 13.9:1 average for elementary schools in Illinois fairly closely. About 59% of students at the school meet free or reduced-price lunch income limits.
Prairie Trail School trails its predicted average proficiency rate on state tests by 15.7 points (21.8% versus 37.4%), a bottom-10% result in Illinois on BeatsExpectations.
Recent Census Bureau figures for Lake County show that the median household income is $110,416, roughly 48% of adults have a four-year degree or more, and the share of residents below the poverty line is 6%. Prairie Trail School is one of 214 public schools in the county.
The nearest other public school, Beach Park Middle School, is about 1.7 miles away. There are at least 8 more public schools inside five miles. By average proficiency, Prairie Trail School is 5th among 9 schools close by.
The school's setting, by NCES definition, is Suburb: Large: in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population of 250,000 or more.
Prairie Trail School had 446 students in 2020-21 and 454 in 2024-25, nearly the same.
Parents and students can post about sports schedules, lunch menus, and spirit week at Prairie Trail School. Questions from prospective families are welcome too.
Lake County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
714,223
Census ACS
Median income
$110,416
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
48%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
6%
Below federal line
Schools in county
214
118,032 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Gurnee SD 56
- River Trail SchoolElementary · 471 students
- Viking SchoolMiddle · 461 students
- Spaulding Elementary SchoolElementary · 450 students
Nearby schools
- Beach Park Middle School1.7 mi · 715
- Zion-Benton Twnshp Hi School2.2 mi · 2,114
- Oak Crest School2.2 mi · 308
- H R McCall Elementary School2.3 mi · 396
- Kenneth Murphy School2.4 mi · 394
- West Elementary School2.6 mi · 339
Frequently asked questions
About Prairie Trail SchoolHow large is Prairie Trail School?
Prairie Trail School enrolls approximately 454 students in grades 03-05.
What age range does Prairie Trail School serve?
Prairie Trail School serves students from grade 03 through grade 05.
How many students per teacher at Prairie Trail School?
Approximately 14.1:1 students per teacher at Prairie Trail School.
What is the racial breakdown of students at Prairie Trail School?
At Prairie Trail School, the student body is approximately 17% White, 48% Hispanic, 22% Black, 6% Asian, 6% Two or more.
Is Prairie Trail School public or private?
Prairie Trail School is a public K-12 school, overseen by Gurnee SD 56.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.