West Elementary School

West Elementary School is a medium-sized elementary campus in Zion, Illinois, run under Zion ESD 6. The school instructs 339 students in grades 3 through 5.

Zion ESD 6 runs 7 schools in total, collectively educating 2,176 students. West Elementary School is one of those campuses.

For racial and ethnic makeup, West Elementary School shows that Hispanic students make up the majority at 60%. The remainder comes out to 29% Black, 6% multiracial, 5% White. By comparison, Lake County as a whole is about 25% Hispanic, so the school skews considerably more Hispanic than its surroundings.

In terms of school funding signals, The school reports having 30 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 11.3:1. The state averages around 13.9:1, so this campus is tighter than the state norm typical. About 84% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, often used as a Title I proxy. That share is north of Lake County's rate of about 54%.

With demographic context factored in, West Elementary School tracks the demographic baseline. The model predicts 22.8% given the school's FRL share; actual proficiency is 11.7%.

In the area at large, ACS estimates for Lake County put median household earnings sit near $110,416, about 48% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 6%. In all, Lake County runs 214 public schools (combined enrollment of about 118,032 students), of which West Elementary School is one.

Shiloh Park Middle School is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.7 miles from this campus. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. On composite proficiency, West Elementary School comes 7th of 7 in the immediate cluster, below the nearby-schools average of 18.0%.

West Elementary School operates from a commuter-belt location.

Trend over the last 7 years. West Elementary School's enrollment has edged down 28% since 2018, when it stood at 470 (now 339). Black enrollment moved from 34% to 29% across the same window. The student-to-teacher ratio pulled in from 14.5:1 in 2018 to 11.3:1 today.

On this page, the page collects discussion, questions, and updates around sports schedules, lunch menu changes, and school spirit week. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.