Enrollment
308
Elementary
DISTRICT 463 · STATE 381
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·CHICAGO PUBLIC SCHOOLS DIST 299·NCES 170993001614
Wells Preparatory Elementary Academy
249 E 37th St, Chicago, IL 60653 · (773) 535-1204 · Cook County
GRADES PK–08ELEMENTARY11-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL308 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
14.0:1
22 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 14.6:1 · STATE 13.9:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
83%
255 students
DISTRICT 78% · STATE 56%
Community
0
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 | 36 | 12% |
| Kindergarten | 23 | 7% |
| Grade 1 | 34 | 11% |
| Grade 2 | 29 | 9% |
| Grade 3 | 30 | 10% |
| Grade 4 | 44 | 14% |
| Grade 5 | 33 | 11% |
| Grade 6 | 25 | 8% |
| Grade 7 | 25 | 8% |
| Grade 8 | 29 | 9% |
This year's kindergarten class (23) is 21% smaller than its 8th grade class (29).
Student demographics
8%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 64% · 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
Wells Preparatory Elementary Academy→Phillips Academy High School
Based on published attendance-zone data from Chicago Public Schools Dist 299. Zones change; confirm enrollment with the district.
QUIET COMMUNITY
Be the first to start a discussion at Wells Preparatory Elementary Academy.
START A DISCUSSIONTest scores
IAR + ISA 2024-25 . % Proficient (Levels 4-5)English Language Arts
53.6%
IL avg 51.0% . +13.8pp since 2023
Math
21.4%
IL avg 37.9% . +13.4pp since 2023
What this means: On the IAR + ISA, Illinois's statewide test, about 54 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 21 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 14 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 13 points.
IAR + ISA results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 53.6% | 21.4% |
| 2023-24 | 39.8% | 8.0% |
% 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
32.8%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
23.7%
based on IL schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+9.1pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 33% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 24% 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 Wells Preparatory Elementary Academy
Wells Preparatory Elementary Academy's state test result (32.8% proficient) is higher than 5 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wells Preparatory Elementary Academy this school | 308 | 82.8% | 32.8% |
| Jackson M Elementary School Chicago | 305 | 85.6% | 13.1% |
| Bennett Elementary School Chicago | 312 | 80.4% | 23.0% |
| Gillespie Elementary School Chicago | 288 | 79.9% | 18.2% |
| Ericson Elementary Scholastic Academy Chicago | 318 | 86.5% | 21.8% |
| Burnside Elementary Scholastic Academy Chicago | 264 | 81.4% | 32.2% |
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 Wells Preparatory Elementary Academy ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Illinois | In Cook County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 32.8% | #1,168 of 1,925 | #353 of 760 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 21.4% | #1,555 of 2,077 ▲ 166 | #513 of 829 ▲ 92 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 53.6% | #880 of 2,077 ▼ 72 | #277 of 829 ▼ 15 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 308 | #1,496 of 2,419 | #620 of 901 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 14.0:1 | #1,241 of 2,035 | #552 of 817 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 7.6% | #1,943 of 2,042 | #757 of 819 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 82.8% | #451 of 2,132 | #311 of 804 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -19.4% | #469 of 1,461 | #272 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
308
-47 (-13%) vs 2020
+76% since 2000-01, when it was 175
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 | 308 | 22 | 14.0:1 | 83% (255) |
| 2023-24 | 314 | 23 | 13.7:1 | 80% (252) |
| 2022-23 | 280 | 22 | 12.7:1 | 88% (246) |
| 2020-21 | 355 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 2017-18 | 382 | 21.2 | 18.1:1 | 94% (358) |
| 2015-16 | 417 | 27 | 15.4:1 | 97% (404) |
| 2010-11 | 210 | 10 | 21.0:1 | N/A |
| 2000-01 | 175 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Wells Preparatory Elementary Academy.
Since 2017-18: students down 19% (382 to 308); teachers up 4% (21.2 to 22).
About Wells Preparatory Elementary Academy
Wells Preparatory Elementary Academy is classified as an elementary school. It is located in Chicago, Illinois. It had 308 students in 2024-25, spanning pre-K through 8.
The Chicago Public Schools Dist 299 system has 622 schools and 324,396 students.
At Wells Preparatory Elementary Academy, 96% of students are Black. Other students are 2% Hispanic. That is higher than the 22% Black share among all Cook County residents. Measured by the diversity index, the student body scores 8%.
For every teacher at Wells Preparatory Elementary Academy, there are about 14.0 students; the school has 22 full-time-equivalent teachers. The ratio is within a point of the 13.9:1 average for elementary schools in Illinois. There are 255 students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, 83% of enrollment. It compares with 66% for public schools in Cook County.
Wells Preparatory Elementary Academy scores 32.8% on state tests, averaged across results. The predicted figure, based on its student poverty level, is 23.7%.
In the wider Cook County area, the median household earns about $83,498 a year, a bachelor's degree or higher is held by about 43% of adults, and the share of residents below the poverty line is 10%. Wells Preparatory Elementary Academy shares Cook County with 1,405 other public schools.
A public school about 0.2 miles away, Phillips Academy High School, is the closest to Wells Preparatory Elementary Academy. Wells Preparatory Elementary Academy has at least 8 other public schools within five miles. Wells Preparatory Elementary Academy comes in 2nd of 9 nearby schools on average proficiency.
Wells Preparatory Elementary Academy is coded as City: Large in federal locale data.
Since 2020-21, enrollment has fallen 13%, from 355 to 308.
Parents, students, and staff can share information on athletics, class schedules, and weather closures here. Members of the school community can share what they know.
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 Chicago Public Schools Dist 299
- Lane Technical High SchoolHigh · 4,604 students
- Taft High SchoolHigh · 4,487 students
- Curie Metropolitan High SchoolHigh · 3,099 students
- Kenwood Academy High SchoolHigh · 2,268 students
- Young Magnet High SchoolHigh · 2,223 students
- Lincoln Park High SchoolHigh · 2,214 students
Other schools in Chicago
- Lane Technical High SchoolHigh · 4,604 students
- Taft High SchoolHigh · 4,487 students
- Curie Metropolitan High SchoolHigh · 3,099 students
- Kenwood Academy High SchoolHigh · 2,268 students
- Young Magnet High SchoolHigh · 2,223 students
- Lincoln Park High SchoolHigh · 2,214 students
Nearby schools
- Phillips Academy High School0.2 mi · 467
- Chicago Military Academy High School0.2 mi · 209
- Perspectives Chtr - IIT Campus0.2 mi · 413
- Urban Prep Chtr Bronzeville High School0.4 mi · 148
- James R Doolittle Academy0.5 mi · 257
- Univ of Chicago Chtr-Donoghue0.6 mi · 499
Frequently asked questions
About Wells Preparatory Elementary AcademyHow large is Wells Preparatory Elementary Academy?
Wells Preparatory Elementary Academy enrolls approximately 308 students in grades PK-08.
What age range does Wells Preparatory Elementary Academy serve?
Wells Preparatory Elementary Academy serves students from grade PK through grade 08.
How many students per teacher at Wells Preparatory Elementary Academy?
Approximately 14.0:1 students per teacher at Wells Preparatory Elementary Academy.
What is the student diversity at Wells Preparatory Elementary Academy?
Student demographics at Wells Preparatory Elementary Academy are roughly 1% White, 2% Hispanic, 96% Black, 1% Two or more.
Who oversees Wells Preparatory Elementary Academy?
Wells Preparatory Elementary Academy is overseen by Chicago Public Schools Dist 299 in Cook County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.