Shields Elem School

As an average-sized primary school in Chicago, Illinois, Shields Elem School educates 439 students from grades pre-K through 4, operated by Chicago Public Schools Dist 299.

Across the 622 schools in Chicago Public Schools Dist 299 (324,396 students total), Shields Elem School accounts for its share of the district's footprint.

For racial and ethnic makeup, Shields Elem School lists that the student body is overwhelmingly Hispanic (96%); the rest breaks down as 3% White. The wider county runs roughly 27% Hispanic, putting the school's mix visibly more Hispanic than the area baseline.

Looking at school resources, Staff filings list 36 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 12.2:1 students per teacher. The state averages around 13.9:1, so this campus is tighter than the state norm typical. An estimated 94% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment. Set against Cook County (around 66%), the school's rate is noticeably above typical.

After controlling for student poverty, Shields Elem School performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 17.3%, the actual is 21.9%, a residual of +4.6 points.

Around the school, ACS estimates for Cook County put 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. In all, Cook County runs 1406 public schools (combined enrollment of about 697,934 students), of which Shields Elem School is one.

The closest other public school is Acero Chtr-Brighton Park Elem Sch, roughly 0.3 miles away. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around Shields Elem School. Among the 9 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Shields Elem School ranks 4th on composite proficiency, below the local average of 23.6%.

Geographically, the school is in an inner-city area.

Trend over the last 7 years. Over the past 7-year window, the student count ticked down 48%: 838 students in 2018 compared to 439 in 2025. The student-to-teacher ratio narrowed from 19.8:1 in 2018 to 12.2:1 today.

Within the allk12 community for this school, the feed for Shields Elem School typically covers enrollment questions, classroom assignments, and PTA news. Members of the school community can share what they know.