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Alumni: what's one memory from South Prairie Elementary School that still sticks with you?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
456
Elementary
DISTRICT 342 · STATE 381
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·SYCAMORE CUSD 427·NCES 173846002633
South Prairie Elementary School
820 Borden Ave, Sycamore, IL 60178 · (815) 899-8299 · DeKalb County
GRADES PK–05ELEMENTARY23-SUBURBREGULAR SCHOOL456 STUDENTS
C+
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 41% of Illinois public elementary schools
- BTest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- C-Beats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- ·Three-year trend Not available for this school, so the grade uses the other parts.
Grades compare a school only with schools in the same state, because every state gives its own test. How grades work · Top-graded Illinois public elementary schools
Student : Teacher
16.6:1
28 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 13.5:1 · STATE 13.9:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
34%
157 students
DISTRICT 29% · STATE 56%
Community
4
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 | 147 | 32% |
| Kindergarten | 48 | 11% |
| Grade 1 | 46 | 10% |
| Grade 2 | 51 | 11% |
| Grade 3 | 46 | 10% |
| Grade 4 | 60 | 13% |
| Grade 5 | 58 | 13% |
This year's kindergarten class (48) is 17% smaller than its 5th grade class (58).
Student demographics
46%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 38% · 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
Based on grade levels within Sycamore CUSD 427. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
IAR + ISA 2024-25 . % Proficient (Levels 4-5)English Language Arts
46.7%
IL avg 51.0% . +24.0pp since 2023
Math
46.7%
IL avg 37.9% . +9.0pp since 2023
What this means: On the IAR + ISA, Illinois's statewide test, about 47 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 47 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 24 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 9 points.
IAR + ISA results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 46.7% | 46.7% |
| 2023-24 | 22.7% | 37.7% |
% 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
AS EXPECTED
Performing as predicted given the school's student profile
Actual proficiency
46.0%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
51.6%
based on IL schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-5.6pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 46% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 52% typical for Illinois schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations measures results against demographically similar schools rather than by raw scores, and this school falls within the typical range, neither among Illinois's top nor bottom 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 South Prairie Elementary School
South Prairie Elementary School's state test result (46.0% proficient) is higher than 1 of the 3 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| South Prairie Elementary School this school | 456 | 34.4% | 46.0% |
| Rockton Elementary School Rockton | 518 | 36.1% | N/A |
| Whitman Post Elementary School Rockton | 509 | 32.6% | 64.4% |
| Ringwood School Primary Center Ringwood | 420 | 37.6% | N/A |
| Hampshire Elementary School Hampshire | 446 | 31.2% | 56.7% |
| W C Petty Elementary School Antioch | 462 | 39.0% | 46.0% |
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 South Prairie Elementary School ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Illinois | In DeKalb County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 46.0% | #706 of 1,925 | #10 of 22 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 46.7% | #760 of 2,077 ▼ 164 | #11 of 22 ▼ 5 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 46.7% | #1,125 of 2,077 ▲ 344 | #12 of 22 ▲ 3 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 456 | #730 of 2,419 | #3 of 24 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 16.6:1 | #1,803 of 2,035 | #21 of 23 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 46.2% | #998 of 2,042 | #11 of 23 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 34.4% | #1,686 of 2,132 | #19 of 23 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +70.1% | #17 of 615 | #1 of 8 |
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
456
+188 (+70%) vs 2020
+66% since 2000-01, when it was 274
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 | 456 | 27.5 | 16.6:1 | 34% (157) |
| 2023-24 | 367 | 27.5 | 13.3:1 | 36% (133) |
| 2022-23 | 306 | 23.8 | 12.9:1 | 35% (108) |
| 2020-21 | 268 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 2017-18 | 268 | 20.4 | 13.1:1 | 25% (67) |
| 2015-16 | 316 | 22 | 14.4:1 | 23% (72) |
| 2010-11 | 313 | 18 | 17.4:1 | 24% (75) |
| 2000-01 | 274 | 17 | 16.1:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for South Prairie Elementary School.
Since 2017-18: students up 70% (268 to 456); teachers up 35% (20.4 to 27.5).
About South Prairie Elementary School
South Prairie Elementary School is a medium-sized elementary school in Sycamore, Illinois. The school reports 456 students in pre-K through 5.
Sycamore CUSD 427 serves 3,720 students across 7 schools.
At 71%, White students outnumber all other groups at South Prairie Elementary School combined. The remaining students are 16% Hispanic, 6% Black, and 5% multiracial. The county population is about 74% White, within a few points of the school. By the diversity index, South Prairie Elementary School comes in at 46%.
The school reports 27.5 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to about 16.6 students per teacher. For comparison, elementary schools in Illinois average 13.9:1. Free or reduced-price lunch eligibility covers 34% of students. By comparison, the figure for public schools in DeKalb County is 48%.
South Prairie Elementary School is graded C+ by allk12, scoring above 41% of Illinois public elementary schools once test results, poverty-adjusted performance, and the recent trend are combined.
A school with South Prairie Elementary School's lunch-eligibility share in Illinois is predicted to score 51.6%. South Prairie Elementary School scores 46.0%, 5.6 points below that line.
Within DeKalb County, median household income is about $70,724, a bachelor's degree or higher is held by about 33% of adults, and the poverty rate is about 10%. Federal data list 43 public schools in DeKalb County, with a combined enrollment of about 16,328.
Sycamore High School is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.7 miles away. Counting only straight-line distance, at least 8 other public schools are within five miles. Its average proficiency rate of 46.0% is above the 41.1% average for nearby schools.
Under the NCES locale system, South Prairie Elementary School is Suburb: Small.
The school counted 268 students in 2020-21 and 456 in 2024-25. A shift in the grades offered could account for part of the difference.
Threads on this page can be about enrollment questions, class placement, and PTA news. Alumni can share how the school prepared them.
DeKalb County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
100,703
Census ACS
Median income
$70,724
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
33%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
10%
Below federal line
Schools in county
43
16,328 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Sycamore CUSD 427
- Sycamore High SchoolHigh · 1,161 students
- Sycamore Middle SchoolMiddle · 847 students
- North Grove Elementary SchoolElementary · 377 students
- North Elementary SchoolElementary · 309 students
- Southeast Elementary SchoolElementary · 300 students
- West Elementary SchoolElementary · 270 students
Other schools in Sycamore
- Sycamore High SchoolHigh · 1,161 students
- Sycamore Middle SchoolMiddle · 847 students
- North Grove Elementary SchoolElementary · 377 students
- North Elementary SchoolElementary · 309 students
- Southeast Elementary SchoolElementary · 300 students
- West Elementary SchoolElementary · 270 students
Other South Prairie Elementary schools
3 other US public schools in 4 states are named South Prairie Elementary. South Prairie Elementary School is the largest of the 4.
- South Prairie ElementaryGrimes, IA · 436 students
- SOUTH PRAIRIE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLMinot, ND · 411 students
- South Prairie Elementary SchoolTillamook, OR · 287 students
Nearby schools
- Sycamore High School0.7 mi · 1,161
- West Elementary School0.9 mi · 270
- Southeast Elementary School1.0 mi · 300
- Sycamore Middle School2.0 mi · 847
- North Elementary School2.4 mi · 309
- Gwendolyn Brooks Elementary School2.8 mi · 328
Frequently asked questions
About South Prairie Elementary SchoolWhat is the total enrollment at South Prairie Elementary School?
South Prairie Elementary School enrolls approximately 456 students in grades PK-05.
What age range does South Prairie Elementary School serve?
South Prairie Elementary School serves students from grade PK through grade 05.
How many teachers does South Prairie Elementary School have?
South Prairie Elementary School employs 28 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 16.6:1.
What is the racial breakdown of students at South Prairie Elementary School?
At South Prairie Elementary School, the student body is approximately 71% White, 16% Hispanic, 6% Black, 1% Asian, 5% Two or more.
Is South Prairie Elementary School public or private?
South Prairie Elementary School is a public K-12 school, overseen by Sycamore CUSD 427.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.