Is John Gates Elementary School a good school?

John Gates Elementary School ranks in the bottom 7.6% of Illinois elementary schools.

How many students attend John Gates Elementary School?

In the 2022-23 school year, 417 students attended John Gates Elementary School.

What is the racial makeup of John Gates Elementary School?

Students at John Gates Elementary School are 94% Hispanic, 3% African American, 2% White.

What schools do graduates of John Gates Elementary School attend?

Students who attend John Gates Elementary School usually go on to attend: Middle : Fred Rodgers Magnet Academy High : East High School

John Gates Elementary School

Summary:

John Gates Elementary School is a public elementary school located in Aurora, Illinois, serving 417 students in grades K-5. The school is part of the Aurora East Unified School District 131, which is ranked 785 out of 813 districts in Illinois and has a 0-star rating from SchoolDigger.

Despite the school's relatively high per-student spending of $19,370 in the 2022-2023 school year, John Gates Elementary School has consistently underperformed compared to the state and district averages in standardized test scores. In the 2023-2024 school year, only 11.6% of students were proficient or better in English Language Arts, and a mere 4.2% of 3rd graders, 5.4% of 4th graders, and 0% of 5th graders met or exceeded standards in mathematics. The school's performance is particularly concerning for certain student subgroups, such as Hispanic students, English Language Learners, Special Education students, and Low Socioeconomic Status students, all of which ranked in the bottom 10% of Illinois elementary schools.

When compared to nearby schools within the same district, the performance gap is significant. For example, in the 2023-2024 school year, the proficiency rates in English Language Arts and Mathematics at Oak Park Elementary School and W.S. Beaupre Elementary School were significantly higher than those at John Gates Elementary School. Despite the school's high rates of poverty, as indicated by the school's free and reduced-price lunch eligibility (over 70%), and the large proportion of English Language Learners and Special Education students, these challenges are not unique to John Gates Elementary School, and nearby schools with similar demographics have shown better academic outcomes.

Detail:

Public K-5

800 7th Ave
Aurora, IL 60505-5372

(630) 299-5600

District: Aurora East Unified School District 131

SchoolDigger Rank:
1909^th of 2,067 Illinois Elementary Schools

Per Pupil Expenditures: $21,102

Students who attend John Gates Elementary School usually attend:

Middle:	Fred Rodgers Magnet Academy
High:	East High School

Student/teacher ratio: 13.7

Number of students: 417

Racial breakdown:

Hispanic:

94.5%

African American:

2.6%

White:

2.2%

Free/discounted lunch recipients: 72.9%

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Performance Trends

Compare Details John Gates Elementary School ranks worse than 92.4% of elementary schools in Illinois. It also ranks 7^th among 12 ranked elementary schools in the Aurora East Unified School District 131. (See more...)

Compare Details In 2024 the calculated Average Standard Score was 13.67. (See more...)

Chronic absenteeism in a high school refers to a situation where students repeatedly miss school, with the threshold often defined as missing 10% or more of school days for any reason, excused or unexcused.

Student Body

Compare Details John Gates Elementary School has the largest elementary school student body size in the Aurora East Unified School District 131. (See more...)

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Teachers

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Finance

Compare Details The average total spent per student at John Gates Elementary School is $21,102, which is the 3^rd highest among 12 elementary schools in the Aurora East Unified School District 131.

Schooldigger 2024 Rankings:

John Gates Elementary School:

SchoolDigger ranks John Gates Elementary School 1909^th of 2067 Illinois public elementary schools. (See John Gates Elementary School in the ranking list.)

Elementary School Test Score Ratings by Student Subgroup:

English Language Learner students:

Special Education students:

Low Socio Economic Status students:

Female students:

Disabled students:

Male students:

Hispanic students:

Aurora East Unified School District 131:

SchoolDigger ranks Aurora East Unified School District 131 785^th of 813 Illinois school districts. (See district ranking list.)

Average Parent Rating:

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Rank History for John Gates Elementary School

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Rank History for all students at John Gates Elementary School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Elementary Schools	IL State Percentile
2003	30.04	1535^th	2020	24.0%
2004	45.78	1293^rd	2030	36.3%
2005	34.39	1503^rd	2022	25.7%
2006	44.60	1408^th	2086	32.5%
2007	31.47	1661^st	2095	20.7%
2008	18.22	1808^th	2092	13.6%
2009	12.17	1919^th	2120	9.5%
2010	20.92	1806^th	2139	15.6%
2011	15.55	1900^th	2147	11.5%
2012	14.18	1955^th	2166	9.7%
2013	13.56	1947^th	2167	10.2%
2014	9.89	1951^st	2093	6.8%
2015	12.04	1948^th	2052	5.1%
2016	11.80	1926^th	2046	5.9%
2017	12.54	1884^th	2044	7.8%
2018	15.48	1802^nd	2037	11.5%
2019	16.87	1817^th	2086	12.9%
2021	15.13	1751^st	1948	10.1%
2022	15.75	1831^st	2082	12.1%
2023	18.02	1757^th	2077	15.4%
2024	13.67	1909^th	2067	7.6%

See the entire list of Illinois Elementary School Rankings!

Rank History for English Language Learner students at John Gates Elementary School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Elementary Schools	IL State Percentile
2018	36.02	483^rd	718	32.7%
2019	44.56	383^rd	743	48.5%
2021	38.85	318^th	537	40.8%
2022	29.95	626^th	768	18.5%
2023	37.41	493^rd	788	37.4%
2024	31.58	626^th	826	24.2%

See the entire list of Best Illinois Elementary Schools for English Language Learner Students!

Rank History for Special Education students at John Gates Elementary School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Elementary Schools	IL State Percentile
2019	20.57	1120^th	1194	6.2%
2022	20.91	1071^st	1113	3.8%
2024	15.63	1182^nd	1195	1.1%

See the entire list of Best Illinois Elementary Schools for Special Education Students!

Rank History for Low Socio Economic Status students at John Gates Elementary School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Elementary Schools	IL State Percentile
2018	24.97	1448^th	1765	18.0%
2019	26.04	1484^th	1816	18.3%
2022	22.28	1506^th	1763	14.6%
2023	24.94	1479^th	1808	18.2%
2024	21.39	1549^th	1793	13.6%

See the entire list of Best Illinois Elementary Schools for Low Socio Economic Status Students!

Rank History for Female students at John Gates Elementary School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Elementary Schools	IL State Percentile
2018	16.30	1724^th	1964	12.2%
2019	17.51	1756^th	2019	13.0%
2021	12.82	1588^th	1680	5.5%
2022	18.27	1656^th	1970	15.9%
2023	18.08	1671^st	1957	14.6%
2024	10.57	1900^th	1942	2.2%

See the entire list of Best Illinois Elementary Schools for Female Students!

Rank History for Disabled students at John Gates Elementary School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Elementary Schools	IL State Percentile	SchoolDigger Rating
2024	19.82	841^st	886	5.1%

See the entire list of Best Illinois Elementary Schools for Disabled Students!

Rank History for Male students at John Gates Elementary School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Elementary Schools	IL State Percentile
2018	16.52	1741^st	1972	11.7%
2019	17.89	1736^th	2019	14.0%
2022	14.86	1807^th	1977	8.6%
2023	19.32	1626^th	1984	18.0%
2024	18.20	1639^th	1959	16.3%

See the entire list of Best Illinois Elementary Schools for Male Students!

Rank History for Hispanic students at John Gates Elementary School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Elementary Schools	IL State Percentile
2018	23.21	804^th	938	14.3%
2019	24.26	811^th	955	15.1%
2021	23.41	650^th	742	12.4%
2022	20.72	863^rd	954	9.5%
2023	25.87	791^st	970	18.5%
2024	18.93	876^th	959	8.7%

See the entire list of Best Illinois Elementary Schools for Hispanic Students!

Data source: test scores: Illinois State Board of Education, rankings: SchoolDigger.com

As you review the school rankings data, please be aware that some of the information from certain demographics is missing. The reason for this omission is that the data has been redacted from the source data itself due to low population samples in these specific demographic groups.

Redacting data from low population samples is a necessary step to ensure the reliability and accuracy of the results, as small sample sizes may not be representative of the broader population. Additionally, this measure helps protect the privacy of individuals belonging to these demographic groups.

Data source: Illinois State Board of Education

Review counts

All ratings (Avg rating: 3)

50%

Reviews:

by a parent
Monday, April 29, 2013

This is a terrible school. Bullying is tolerated and the victim is accused of provoking bullies. Academically well you can see their rating for yourself! They are always looking for someone else to blame other than the way they run things. Close Quote

by a teacher
Friday, May 25, 2012

The school has teachers that care very much for the children, and have many activities during the year after school to give them a balanced education in sports, family time and homework help. There are also parent education classes offered for free in ESL, computer technology, book studies on parenting and leadership within the school to help develop the PTO. Close Quote

Enrollment information for John Gates Elementary School

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Year	White	African American	Asian	Hispanic	American Indian	Pacific Islander	Two or More Races	Not Specified	Total
1988	306	78	2	221	n/a	n/a	n/a	0	607
1989	320	85	1	256	n/a	n/a	n/a	0	662
1990	312	79	n/a	290	1	n/a	n/a	0	682
1991	317	68	1	182	4	n/a	n/a	0	572
1992	300	66	1	195	4	n/a	n/a	0	566
1993	245	56	2	180	2	n/a	n/a	0	485
1994	221	57	2	223	3	n/a	n/a	0	506
1995	161	53	0	321	3	n/a	n/a	0	538
1996	161	53	0	321	3	n/a	n/a	0	538
1997	142	62	0	390	3	n/a	n/a	0	597
1998	139	66	0	414	0	n/a	n/a	0	619
1999	115	60	0	516	0	n/a	n/a	0	691
2000	95	64	2	609	4	n/a	n/a	0	774
2001	82	56	3	635	3	n/a	n/a	0	779
2002	40	54	2	610	3	n/a	n/a	0	709
2003	40	54	2	610	3	n/a	n/a	0	709
2004	40	51	1	635	3	n/a	n/a	0	730
2005	42	45	1	683	4	n/a	n/a	2	777
2006	43	26	0	739	3	n/a	n/a	8	819
2007	31	21	0	679	1	n/a	n/a	5	737
2008	31	30	1	679	1	n/a	n/a	14	756
2009	31	17	2	661	3	n/a	n/a	14	728
2010	21	14	1	704	3	n/a	n/a	12	755
2011	15	17	0	675	1	0	14	0	722
2012	12	11	0	699	6	0	6	0	734
2013	23	27	1	657	9	0	7	0	724
2014	18	23	0	683	6	0	13	0	743
2015	13	21	1	607	4	0	10	0	656
2016	14	32	0	594	4	0	6	0	650
2017	13	25	0	598	2	0	5	0	643
2018	7	28	1	513	1	0	2	0	552
2019	5	22	0	472	0	0	4	0	503
2020	7	29	2	447	0	0	1	0	486
2021	8	9	1	438	0	1	1	0	458
2022	7	8	0	425	2	0	2	0	444
2023	9	11	0	394	2	0	1	0	417

Data source: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Dept of Education.

About Enrollment/Ethnicity

For more information about how the Department of Education defines ethnicity, see Defining Race and Ethnicity Data, National Center for Education Statistics

Students eligible for free or discounted lunch at John Gates Elementary School

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Year	# Students	Full-time Teachers	Student/Teacher ratio	% Free/Discounted Lunch
1988	607	30.0	20.2	n/a
1989	662	31.1	21.2	n/a
1990	682	32.7	20.8	n/a
1991	572	28.6	20.0	n/a
1992	566	31.6	17.9	n/a
1993	485	28.0	17.3	n/a
1994	506	27.0	18.7	n/a
1995	538	24.5	22.0	n/a
1996	538	24.5	22.0	n/a
1997	597	25.5	23.4	n/a
1998	619	26.5	23.4	n/a
1999	691	27.0	25.6	n/a
2000	774	33.5	23.1	n/a
2001	779	39.0	20.0	n/a
2002	709	28.0	25.3	68.8
2003	709	28.0	25.3	68.8
2004	730	37.0	19.7	71.1
2005	777	39.0	19.9	75
2006	819	37.1	22.1	67.6
2007	737	38.0	19.4	66.4
2008	756	29.0	26.1	58
2009	728	37.0	19.7	74.6
2010	755	37.0	20.4	87.6
2011	722	37.5	19.2	75.1
2012	734	37.5	19.5	78.7
2013	724	n/a	n/a	91.3
2014	743	38.5	19.2	82.5
2015	656	37.0	17.7	86.7
2016	650	38.0	17.1	66.2
2017	643	40.7	15.7	75
2018	552	34.9	15.8	75.2
2019	503	33.0	15.2	70
2020	486	31.5	15.4	70.4
2021	458	n/a	n/a	n/a
2022	444	24.0	18.4	71.4
2023	417	30.3	13.7	72.9

Data source: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Dept of Education.

About Students eligible for discounted/free lunch:

The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) provides low-cost or free meals to students in U.S. public and nonprofit private schools based on household income. Those with incomes below 130% of the poverty line receive free lunch, while those between 130% and 185% qualify for reduced-price lunch. The percentage of students receiving free or reduced-price lunch serves as a marker for poverty, as it reflects the socioeconomic status of families in a given school or district. A higher FRPL rate typically indicates a higher concentration of low-income families, suggesting that the school or district may face additional challenges in providing adequate resources and support for student success.

Student/Teacher Ratio John Gates Elementary School

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Year	# Students	Full-time Teachers	Student/Teacher ratio	% Free/Discounted Lunch
1988	607	30.0	20.2	n/a
1989	662	31.1	21.2	n/a
1990	682	32.7	20.8	n/a
1991	572	28.6	20.0	n/a
1992	566	31.6	17.9	n/a
1993	485	28.0	17.3	n/a
1994	506	27.0	18.7	n/a
1995	538	24.5	22.0	n/a
1996	538	24.5	22.0	n/a
1997	597	25.5	23.4	n/a
1998	619	26.5	23.4	n/a
1999	691	27.0	25.6	n/a
2000	774	33.5	23.1	n/a
2001	779	39.0	20.0	n/a
2002	709	28.0	25.3	68.8
2003	709	28.0	25.3	68.8
2004	730	37.0	19.7	71.1
2005	777	39.0	19.9	75
2006	819	37.1	22.1	67.6
2007	737	38.0	19.4	66.4
2008	756	29.0	26.1	58
2009	728	37.0	19.7	74.6
2010	755	37.0	20.4	87.6
2011	722	37.5	19.2	75.1
2012	734	37.5	19.5	78.7
2013	724	n/a	n/a	91.3
2014	743	38.5	19.2	82.5
2015	656	37.0	17.7	86.7
2016	650	38.0	17.1	66.2
2017	643	40.7	15.7	75
2018	552	34.9	15.8	75.2
2019	503	33.0	15.2	70
2020	486	31.5	15.4	70.4
2021	458	n/a	n/a	n/a
2022	444	24.0	18.4	71.4
2023	417	30.3	13.7	72.9

Data source: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Dept of Education.

About Student-Teacher Ratio

Student/teacher ratio is calculated by dividing the total number of students by the total number of full-time equivalent teachers. Please note that a smaller student/teacher ratio does not necessarily translate to smaller class size. In some instances, schools hire teachers part time, and some teachers are hired for specialized instruction with very small class sizes. These and other factors contribute to the student/teacher ratio. Note: For private schools, Student/teacher ratio may not include Pre-Kindergarten.

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