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What's one thing Walter F Fierke Ed Center gets right about preparing students for what comes next?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
443
Elementary
DISTRICT 400 · STATE 381
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·CCSD 146·NCES 173903003962
Walter F Fierke Ed Center
6535 Victoria Dr, Oak Forest, IL 60452 · (708) 614-4520 · Cook County
GRADES PK–05ELEMENTARY21-SUBURBREGULAR SCHOOL443 STUDENTS
B-
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 46% 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.
- CBeats 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
13.3:1
33 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 12.0:1 · STATE 13.9:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
36%
159 students
DISTRICT 40% · 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-K | 25 | 6% |
| Kindergarten | 60 | 14% |
| Grade 1 | 75 | 17% |
| Grade 2 | 67 | 15% |
| Grade 3 | 67 | 15% |
| Grade 4 | 67 | 15% |
| Grade 5 | 82 | 19% |
This year's kindergarten class (60) is 27% smaller than its 5th grade class (82).
Student demographics
63%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 62% · 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
Walter F Fierke Ed Center→Central Middle School
Based on grade levels within CCSD 146. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
IAR + ISA 2024-25 . % Proficient (Levels 4-5)English Language Arts
50.5%
IL avg 51.0% . +17.0pp since 2023
Math
49.8%
IL avg 37.9% . +16.8pp since 2023
What this means: On the IAR + ISA, Illinois's statewide test, about 51 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 50 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 17 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 17 points.
IAR + ISA results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 50.5% | 49.8% |
| 2023-24 | 33.5% | 33.0% |
% 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
47.4%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
50.8%
based on IL schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-3.4pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 47% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 51% 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 Walter F Fierke Ed Center
Walter F Fierke Ed Center's state test result (47.4% proficient) is higher than 0 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Walter F Fierke Ed Center this school | 443 | 35.9% | 47.4% |
| Woodview School Grayslake | 450 | 34.9% | 54.4% |
| Beecher Elementary School Beecher | 459 | 38.8% | 54.1% |
| Troy Shorewood School Shorewood | 370 | 37.8% | 61.2% |
| Central Elementary School Plainfield | 544 | 36.8% | 57.6% |
| Mitchell Elementary School Chicago | 446 | 30.3% | 58.7% |
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 Walter F Fierke Ed Center ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Illinois | In Cook County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 47.4% | #666 of 1,925 | #176 of 760 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 49.8% | #672 of 2,077 ▲ 46 | #197 of 829 ▲ 27 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 50.5% | #989 of 2,077 ▲ 42 | #317 of 829 ▲ 20 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 443 | #784 of 2,419 | #356 of 901 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 13.3:1 | #1,003 of 2,035 | #458 of 817 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 63.1% | #446 of 2,042 | #170 of 819 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 35.9% | #1,653 of 2,132 | #681 of 804 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +17.8% | #136 of 615 | #35 of 186 |
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
443
+76 (+21%) vs 2020
+7% since 1990-91, when it was 414
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 | 443 | 33.3 | 13.3:1 | 36% (159) |
| 2023-24 | 444 | 31.5 | 14.1:1 | 31% (137) |
| 2022-23 | 430 | 31.5 | 13.7:1 | 29% (126) |
| 2020-21 | 367 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 2017-18 | 376 | 27.4 | 13.7:1 | 24% (92) |
| 2015-16 | 322 | 26 | 12.4:1 | 24% (77) |
| 2010-11 | 311 | 23 | 13.5:1 | 20% (63) |
| 2000-01 | 379 | 25 | 15.2:1 | N/A |
| 1990-91 | 414 | 21 | 19.7:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Walter F Fierke Ed Center.
Since 2017-18: students up 18% (376 to 443); teachers up 21% (27.4 to 33.3).
About Walter F Fierke Ed Center
Families in Oak Forest, Illinois, are served by Walter F Fierke Ed Center, a mid-sized elementary school. The school covers pre-K through 5 and reported 443 students in 2024-25.
CCSD 146, which runs Walter F Fierke Ed Center, has 5 schools and 2,325 students.
More than half of the students at Walter F Fierke Ed Center are White (54%). Next come 24% Hispanic, 11% multiracial, 9% Black, and 2% Asian. That compares with about 44% White among all Cook County residents. The diversity index for Walter F Fierke Ed Center is 63%. For US public schools as a whole it is 70%.
A staff of 33.3 full-time-equivalent teachers puts the student-to-teacher ratio at 13.3:1. The ratio is within a point of the 13.9:1 average for elementary schools in Illinois. The share of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch is 36%. Compared with the 66% average for public schools in Cook County, the school's rate is lower.
On the allk12 Grade, Walter F Fierke Ed Center lands at B-, ahead of 46% of Illinois public elementary schools.
Based on its free or reduced-price lunch share, the BeatsExpectations model predicts an average proficiency rate across its state test results of 50.8% for Walter F Fierke Ed Center. The school posts 47.4%, 3.4 points below the prediction.
The school's county is Cook County. According to Census Bureau estimates, the median household earns about $83,498 a year, a bachelor's degree or higher is held by about 43% of adults, and the poverty rate is about 10%. Walter F Fierke Ed Center shares Cook County with 1,405 other public schools.
Lee R Foster Elementary School is the nearest public school to Walter F Fierke Ed Center, about 0.8 miles away. Other public schools within five miles number at least 8. The nearest schools with test data average 47.9%, higher than Walter F Fierke Ed Center's 47.4%.
For locale, NCES codes Walter F Fierke Ed Center as Suburb: Large.
From 2020-21 to 2024-25, enrollment rose from 367 to 443, a 21% gain.
This community page is for conversations about fundraisers, report cards, and school supplies. You can also rate the school on this page.
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 CCSD 146
- Central Middle SchoolMiddle · 725 students
- Arnold W Kruse Ed CenterElementary · 462 students
- Bert H Fulton SchoolElementary · 404 students
- Memorial Elementary SchoolElementary · 291 students
Other schools in Oak Forest
- Oak Forest High SchoolHigh · 1,329 students
- Arbor Park Middle SchoolMiddle · 520 students
- Jack Hille Middle SchoolMiddle · 490 students
- Kerkstra Elementary SchoolElementary · 407 students
- Lee R Foster Elementary SchoolElementary · 397 students
- Scarlet Oak Elementary SchoolElementary · 249 students
Nearby schools
- Lee R Foster Elementary School0.8 mi · 397
- Scarlet Oak Elementary School1.0 mi · 249
- Jack Hille Middle School1.1 mi · 490
- Oak Forest High School1.3 mi · 1,329
- Arnold W Kruse Ed Center1.4 mi · 462
- Kimberly Heights Elementary School1.4 mi · 181
Frequently asked questions
About Walter F Fierke Ed CenterHow many students attend Walter F Fierke Ed Center?
Walter F Fierke Ed Center enrolls approximately 443 students in grades PK-05.
What grades does Walter F Fierke Ed Center serve?
Walter F Fierke Ed Center serves grades PK-05.
How many teachers does Walter F Fierke Ed Center have?
Walter F Fierke Ed Center employs 33 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 13.3:1.
What is the racial breakdown of students at Walter F Fierke Ed Center?
At Walter F Fierke Ed Center, the student body is approximately 54% White, 24% Hispanic, 9% Black, 2% Asian, 11% Two or more.
Is Walter F Fierke Ed Center public or private?
Walter F Fierke Ed Center is a public K-12 school, overseen by CCSD 146.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.