Whittier Elem School

Whittier Elem School is one of the cozy elementary schools in Chicago, Illinois, run under Chicago Public Schools Dist 299, with 221 students on its rolls from grades pre-K through 8. Enrollment runs roughly 42% smaller than the state mean of about 381.

Chicago Public Schools Dist 299 comprises 622 schools with combined enrollment of 324,396 students; Whittier Elem School is among them.

For racial and ethnic makeup, Whittier Elem School reports that the student body is overwhelmingly Hispanic (94%); the rest breaks down as 3% White. That is noticeably more Hispanic than the county at large, where the share is closer to 27%.

On the income-and-resources front, On paper, Whittier Elem School has 21 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 10.5:1. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 13.9:1, putting Whittier Elem School tighter than the state norm the norm. About 94% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, often used as a Title I proxy. By comparison, Cook County runs at roughly 66%, so the school's eligibility rate is above the surrounding baseline.

On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), Whittier Elem School performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 17.4%, the actual is 13.9%, a residual of -3.6 points.

In the broader community, 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 census figures put the poverty rate at about 10%. Whittier Elem School is one of 1406 public schools in Cook County (combined enrollment of about 697,934 students).

The closest other public school is Ruiz Elem School, roughly 0.4 miles away. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Whittier Elem School at 8th of 9; the average score across the group is 23.1%.

The campus sits in an inner-city setting.

Looking at the recent track record. Over the past 7-year window, the student count declined 3%: 229 students in 2018 compared to 221 in 2025. The Hispanic share of enrollment decreased from 99% to 94% over that span. The student-to-teacher ratio tightened from 16.5:1 in 2018 to 10.5:1 today.

Within the allk12 community for this school, recent activity here tends to focus on school events, parent volunteer needs, and clubs. The community welcomes input from current and former families.