Wells Preparatory Elem Academy

Wells Preparatory Elem Academy is an elementary campus of modestly sized scale in Chicago, Illinois, overseen by Chicago Public Schools Dist 299, hosting 308 students in grades pre-K through 8.

Across the 622 schools in Chicago Public Schools Dist 299 (324,396 students total), Wells Preparatory Elem Academy accounts for its share of the district's footprint.

On the student-mix side, Wells Preparatory Elem Academy lists that 96% of students identify as Black, making the school strongly Black-majority. The remainder is composed of 2% Hispanic. The wider county runs roughly 22% Black, putting the school's mix meaningfully more Black than the area baseline.

On the income-and-resources front, Staff filings list 22 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 14.0:1 students per teacher. That tracks the state average closely. An estimated 83% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, often used as a Title I proxy. That share is above Cook County's rate of about 66%.

On a demographically-adjusted basis, Wells Preparatory Elem Academy tracks the demographic baseline. The model predicts 23.7% given the school's FRL share; actual proficiency is 32.8%.

Zooming out to the county, census data for Cook County shows median household income runs about $83,498, 43% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and roughly 10% of residents live below the federal poverty line. In all, Cook County runs 1406 public schools (combined enrollment of about 697,934 students), of which Wells Preparatory Elem Academy is one.

Nearest neighbor: Phillips Academy High School, around 0.2 miles off. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Wells Preparatory Elem Academy at 2nd of 9; the average score across the group is 23.0%.

The campus sits in a city-core setting.

Trend over the last 7 years. Over the past 7-year window, the student count shrank 19%: 382 students in 2018 compared to 308 in 2025. The student-to-teacher ratio pulled in from 18.1:1 in 2018 to 14.0:1 today.

Inside the community feed, members of the Wells Preparatory Elem Academy community share and discuss sports schedules, lunch menu changes, and school spirit week. Contributors range from current parents to recent graduates and teachers.