Ridge Central Elem School

Ridge Central Elem School operates as a moderately sized K-5 school in Chicago Ridge, Illinois, part of Chicago Ridge SD 127-5. Current enrollment sits at 508 students spanning grades pre-K through 5. By comparison, Illinois's public schools average about 381 students each, so Ridge Central Elem School sits 33% larger than that benchmark.

Ridge Central Elem School is one of 3 schools operated by Chicago Ridge SD 127-5, a district that serves 1,485 students overall.

Demographically, Ridge Central Elem School shows that the most-represented group is White (44%), with the rest of the student body spread across multiple groups; the rest consists of 37% Hispanic, 11% Black, 5% multiracial, 2% Asian. That composition is broadly in line with Cook County as a whole.

Looking at school resources, The school lists 39 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 13.0:1. The state averages around 13.9:1, so this campus is tighter than the state norm typical. An estimated 54% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. That share is south of Cook County's rate of about 66%.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, Ridge Central Elem School sits in the middle band of the BeatsExpectations distribution. Schools with this campus's student mix typically land near 40.1%; this one delivers 32.9%.

Across the wider county, community-level numbers for Cook County indicate the typical household earns roughly $83,498 per year, roughly 43% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 10% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Ridge Central Elem School is one of 1406 public schools in Cook County (combined enrollment of about 697,934 students).

Elden D Finley Jr High School is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.1 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around Ridge Central Elem School. On composite proficiency, Ridge Central Elem School comes 7th of 9 in the immediate cluster, beneath the nearby-schools average of 40.7%.

Ridge Central Elem School operates from an outer-ring location.

Over the past 7-year window. Over the past 7-year window, the student count ticked up 6%: 477 students in 2018 compared to 508 in 2025. The White share of enrollment contracted from 62% to 44% over that span. Class-load math has narrowed: from 14.7:1 in 2018 to 13.0:1 in 2025.

On the community side, the page collects discussion, questions, and updates around enrollment questions, classroom assignments, and PTA news. Members of the school community can share what they know.