Taft Primary School

Taft Primary School is one of the cozy primary schools in Kankakee, Illinois, operated by Kankakee SD 111, with 316 students on its rolls from grades K through 3.

Across the 10 schools in Kankakee SD 111 (4,602 students total), Taft Primary School accounts for its share of the district's footprint.

Looking at the student body, Taft Primary School shows that 55% of the student body identifies as Black. Other groups include 17% White, 17% Hispanic, 10% multiracial. By comparison, Kankakee County as a whole is about 14% Black, so the school skews considerably more Black than its surroundings.

In terms of school funding signals, The school currently runs with 20 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 15.8:1. The state averages around 13.9:1, so this campus is higher than the state norm typical. An estimated 91% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, often used as a Title I proxy. Set against Kankakee County (around 61%), the school's rate is north of typical.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, Taft Primary School performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 18.9%, the actual is 18.5%, a residual of -0.4 points.

In the broader community, the surrounding county (Kankakee County) logs that median household income runs about $71,281, about 21% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and roughly 9% of residents live below the federal poverty line. In all, Kankakee County runs 44 public schools (combined enrollment of about 16,499 students), of which Taft Primary School is one.

Nearest neighbor: John Kennedy Middle Grade School, around 0.2 miles off. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools. On composite proficiency, Taft Primary School comes 4th of 8 in the immediate cluster, behind the nearby-schools average of 20.8%.

The school occupies a high-density site.

Looking at the recent track record. Taft Primary School's enrollment has fell 19% since 2018, when it stood at 391 (now 316). The White share of enrollment decreased from 22% to 17% over that span. Class-load math has pulled in: from 17.5:1 in 2018 to 15.8:1 in 2025.

Within the allk12 community for this school, members of the Taft Primary School community share and discuss classroom updates, athletics, and weather closures. Parents, students, alumni, and staff are welcome to weigh in.