Prairie Trail School

As an average-sized primary school in Wadsworth, Illinois, Prairie Trail School serves 454 students from grades 3 through 5, one of the schools within Gurnee SD 56.

Across the 4 schools in Gurnee SD 56 (1,836 students total), Prairie Trail School accounts for its share of the district's footprint.

On the student-mix side, Prairie Trail School reports that the largest single group is Hispanic at 48%, but no single group is in the majority; the rest reads as 22% Black, 17% White, 6% Asian, 6% multiracial. That is meaningfully more Hispanic than the county at large, where the share is closer to 25%.

Looking at school resources, The school lists 32 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 14.1:1. That tracks the state average closely. Around 59% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment.

After controlling for student poverty, On a poverty-adjusted basis, Prairie Trail School sits in the bottom 10% statewide. Predicted proficiency from the FRL regression is roughly 37.4%; actual is 21.8%, a gap of -15.7 points.

In the area at large, community-level numbers for Lake County indicate median household income runs about $110,416, about 48% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 6%. Across Lake County's 214 public schools (combined enrollment of about 118,032 students), Prairie Trail School is one campus in the mix.

Nearest neighbor: Beach Park Middle School, around 1.7 miles off. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. On composite proficiency, Prairie Trail School comes 5th of 9 in the immediate cluster, beneath the nearby-schools average of 22.2%.

Prairie Trail School operates from a bedroom-community location.

Trend over the last 7 years. Prairie Trail School's enrollment has edged down 12% since 2018, when it stood at 513 (now 454). Hispanic enrollment moved from 37% to 48% across the same window.

On allk12, posts here usually surface around enrollment questions, classroom assignments, and PTA news. Parents, students, alumni, and staff are welcome to weigh in.