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Which teacher or staff member at Sward Elem School deserves more recognition?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
457
Elementary
DISTRICT 384 · STATE 381
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·OAK LAWN-HOMETOWN SD 123·NCES 172919003056
Sward Elementary School
9830 S Brandt Ave, Oak Lawn, IL 60453 · (708) 423-7820 · Cook County
GRADES KG–05ELEMENTARY21-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL457 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
14.6:1
31 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 13.1:1 · STATE 13.9:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
44%
202 students
DISTRICT 50% · 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Kindergarten | 76 | 17% |
| Grade 1 | 71 | 16% |
| Grade 2 | 79 | 17% |
| Grade 3 | 72 | 16% |
| Grade 4 | 84 | 18% |
| Grade 5 | 75 | 16% |
This year's kindergarten class (76) is about the same size as its 5th grade class (75).
Student demographics
61%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 61% · 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
Sward Elementary School→Oak Lawn-Hometown Middle School
Based on grade levels within Oak Lawn-Hometown SD 123. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
IAR + ISA 2024-25 . % Proficient (Levels 4-5)English Language Arts
64.2%
IL avg 51.0% . +20.0pp since 2023
Math
47.2%
IL avg 37.9% . +14.4pp since 2023
What this means: On the IAR + ISA, Illinois's statewide test, about 64 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 20 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 14 points.
IAR + ISA results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 64.2% | 47.2% |
| 2023-24 | 44.2% | 32.8% |
% 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
51.1%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
46.0%
based on IL schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+5.1pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 51% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 46% 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 Sward Elementary School
Sward Elementary School's state test result (51.1% proficient) is higher than 5 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sward Elementary School this school | 457 | 44.2% | 51.1% |
| Grand Prairie Elementary School Joliet | 494 | 46.6% | 33.3% |
| Olive C Martin School Lake Villa | 511 | 47.6% | 43.9% |
| Arcola Elementary School Arcola | 410 | 45.9% | 34.0% |
| Oak Terrace Elementary School Highwood | 494 | 46.4% | 50.2% |
| Congress Park Elementary School Brookfield | 419 | 41.1% | 48.4% |
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 Sward Elementary School ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Illinois | In Cook County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 51.1% | #565 of 1,925 | #154 of 760 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 47.2% | #750 of 2,077 ▼ 29 | #226 of 829 ▼ 1 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 64.2% | #532 of 2,077 ▲ 128 | #184 of 829 ▲ 33 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 457 | #725 of 2,419 | #339 of 901 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 14.6:1 | #1,423 of 2,035 | #629 of 817 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 60.7% | #555 of 2,042 | #210 of 819 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 44.2% | #1,454 of 2,132 | #639 of 804 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -12.1% | #807 of 1,461 | #418 of 661 |
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
457
-86 (-16%) vs 2020
+14% since 1990-91, when it was 402
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 | 457 | 31.4 | 14.6:1 | 44% (202) |
| 2023-24 | 517 | 31.3 | 16.5:1 | 41% (213) |
| 2022-23 | 559 | 28.8 | 19.4:1 | 40% (225) |
| 2020-21 | 543 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 2017-18 | 520 | 31.6 | 16.5:1 | 35% (181) |
| 2015-16 | 459 | 28 | 16.4:1 | 34% (156) |
| 2010-11 | 430 | 29 | 14.8:1 | 27% (115) |
| 2000-01 | 449 | 26 | 17.3:1 | N/A |
| 1990-91 | 402 | 19 | 21.2:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Sward Elementary School.
Since 2017-18: students down 12% (520 to 457); teachers unchanged (31.6 to 31.4).
About Sward Elementary School
Sward Elementary School is an elementary school located in Oak Lawn, Illinois, in Cook County. There are 457 students enrolled, covering kindergarten through 5.
Sward Elementary School is one school in Oak Lawn-Hometown SD 123, a system of 7 schools with 3,395 students.
Hispanic students account for 47% of enrollment at Sward Elementary School, more than any other group. Smaller groups are 41% White, 7% Black, 3% multiracial, and 2% Asian. County-wide, 27% of Cook County residents are Hispanic. Measured by the diversity index, the student body scores 61%.
Based on 31.4 full-time-equivalent teachers, Sward Elementary School has a ratio of 14.6:1. The average ratio among elementary schools in Illinois is similar, at 13.9:1. Eligibility for free or reduced-price lunch stands at 44%. The gap from the 66% average for public schools in Cook County is 22 points.
A school with Sward Elementary School's lunch-eligibility share in Illinois is predicted to score 46.0%. Sward Elementary School scores 51.1%, 5.1 points above that line.
Cook County is the school's county. There, median household income comes to about $83,498, 43% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and about 10% of people live in poverty. There are 1,406 public schools in the county, enrolling about 697,934, Sward Elementary School among them.
Oak Lawn-Hometown Middle School sits about 0.5 miles from Sward Elementary School. Sward Elementary School has at least 8 other public schools within five miles. The nearest schools with test data average 46.5%, lower than Sward Elementary School's 51.1%.
Locale: Suburb: Large. In NCES terms, the school is in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population of 250,000 or more.
A 16% decline took enrollment from 543 in 2020-21 to 457 in 2024-25.
The discussion board for Sward Elementary School is open to topics like pickup and drop-off, after-school programs, and teacher feedback. Parents, students, alumni, and staff are welcome to post.
Cook County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
5,182,090
Census ACS
Median income
$83,498
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
43%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
10%
Below federal line
Schools in county
1,406
697,934 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Oak Lawn-Hometown SD 123
- Oak Lawn-Hometown Middle SchoolMiddle · 1,090 students
- J Covington Elementary SchoolElementary · 470 students
- J M Hannum Elementary SchoolElementary · 410 students
- Kolmar Avenue Elementary SchoolElementary · 391 students
- Hometown Elementary SchoolElementary · 338 students
- SD 123 Early Learning CenterElementary · 239 students
Other schools in Oak Lawn
- Oak Lawn Comm High SchoolHigh · 1,867 students
- H L Richards High School(Campus)High · 1,702 students
- Oak Lawn-Hometown Middle SchoolMiddle · 1,090 students
- Simmons Middle SchoolMiddle · 725 students
- Harnew Elementary SchoolElementary · 512 students
- J Covington Elementary SchoolElementary · 470 students
Nearby schools
- Oak Lawn-Hometown Middle School0.5 mi · 1,090
- J M Hannum Elementary School0.9 mi · 410
- J Covington Elementary School0.9 mi · 470
- Kolmar Avenue Elementary School1.0 mi · 391
- SD 123 Early Learning Center1.2 mi · 239
- Columbus Manor Elementary School1.2 mi · 359
Frequently asked questions
About Sward Elementary SchoolHow large is Sward Elementary School?
Sward Elementary School enrolls approximately 457 students in grades KG-05.
What age range does Sward Elementary School serve?
Sward Elementary School serves students from grade KG through grade 05.
How many teachers does Sward Elementary School have?
Sward Elementary School employs 31 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 14.6:1.
What is the student diversity at Sward Elementary School?
Student demographics at Sward Elementary School are roughly 41% White, 47% Hispanic, 7% Black, 2% Asian, 3% Two or more.
Is Sward Elementary School public or private?
Sward Elementary School is a public K-12 school, overseen by Oak Lawn-Hometown SD 123.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.