Ward J Elem School

As a mid-tier elementary campus in Chicago, Illinois, Ward J Elem School enrolls 500 students from grades pre-K through 8, operated by Chicago Public Schools Dist 299. That puts it 31% bigger than the typical public school in Illinois, which averages around 381 students.

Chicago Public Schools Dist 299 runs 622 schools in total, collectively educating 324,396 students. Ward J Elem School is one of those campuses.

Looking at the student body, Ward J Elem School logs that the largest single group is Asian, at 77% of enrollment. The remainder consists of 10% Hispanic, 6% Black, 4% White, 2% multiracial. By comparison, Cook County as a whole is about 8% Asian, so the school skews visibly more Asian than its surroundings.

On the resource side, The school reports having 33 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 15.2:1. That figure is higher than the state norm's 13.9:1 average. Roughly 79% of students at Ward J Elem School qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator. By comparison, Cook County runs at roughly 66%, so the school's eligibility rate is meaningfully above the surrounding baseline.

With demographic context factored in, Ward J Elem School ranks in the top 10% of Illinois public schools. The BeatsExpectations model, a per-state regression of composite proficiency on FRL share, predicts schools with this student profile to land around 25.9%; Ward J Elem School posts 60.8%, +34.9 points above that line.

Across the wider county, 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. Across Cook County's 1406 public schools (combined enrollment of about 697,934 students), Ward J Elem School is one campus in the mix.

Sheridan Elem Math & Science Acad is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.3 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around Ward J Elem School. On composite proficiency, Ward J Elem School comes 4th of 9 in the immediate cluster, higher than the nearby-schools average of 36.4%.

Ward J Elem School operates from a high-density location.

Five-year trend. Over the past 7-year window, the student count fell 15%: 587 students in 2018 compared to 500 in 2025. Over the same period, the Asian share rose from 68% to 77%. Class-load math has pulled in: from 20.7:1 in 2018 to 15.2:1 in 2025.

Inside the community feed, the feed for Ward J Elem School typically covers fundraisers, lost-and-found posts, and report-card season. Contributors range from current parents to recent graduates and teachers.