Is Jefferson Elementary School a good school?

Jefferson Elementary School ranks 1013 th of 2067 Illinois elementary schools. SchoolDigger rates this school 3 stars out of 5.

How many students attend Jefferson Elementary School?

In the 2022-23 school year, 473 students attended Jefferson Elementary School.

What is the racial makeup of Jefferson Elementary School?

Students at Jefferson Elementary School are 76% Hispanic, 15% African American, 6% White, 1% Asian, 1% Two or more races.

What schools do graduates of Jefferson Elementary School attend?

Students who attend Jefferson Elementary School usually go on to attend: Middle : Lincoln Middle School High : J Sterling Morton West High School

Jefferson Elementary School

Summary:

Jefferson Elementary School is a public elementary school located in Berwyn, Illinois, serving grades PK-5 with a total enrollment of 473 students. The school is part of the Berwyn North School District 98, which is ranked 454 out of 813 districts in Illinois and has a 2-star rating from SchoolDigger.

While Jefferson Elementary School's overall student performance on standardized tests is generally below the state and district averages, the school performs relatively well in certain student subgroups. For example, in the 2023-2024 school year, the school ranked 34th out of 655 Illinois elementary schools for African American students in English Language Arts, and 219th out of 826 for English Language Learner students. However, the school's performance for White students and students with disabilities is relatively weaker, indicating potential areas for improvement. Additionally, the school has experienced a significant increase in chronic absenteeism, rising from 8.2% in the 2019-2020 school year to 29.7% in the 2021-2022 school year, which is notably higher than the state average.

When compared to nearby schools, Jefferson Elementary School's performance is generally on par with or slightly below the other Berwyn North School District 98 schools, such as Karel Havlicek Elementary School and Prairie Oak School. However, when compared to schools in the neighboring Oak Park Education Service District 97, such as Abraham Lincoln Elementary School and Irving Elementary School, Jefferson Elementary School lags significantly in student performance, particularly in mathematics.

Detail:

Public PK, KG-5

7035 16th St
Berwyn, IL 60402-1369

(708) 795-2454

District: Berwyn North School District 98

SchoolDigger Rank:
1013^th of 2,067 Illinois Elementary Schools

Per Pupil Expenditures: $20,573

Students who attend Jefferson Elementary School usually attend:

Middle:	Lincoln Middle School
High:	J Sterling Morton West High School

Student/teacher ratio: 14.0

Number of students: 473

Racial breakdown:

Hispanic:

75.9%

African American:

14.6%

White:

6.1%

Free/discounted lunch recipients: 65.3%

See top rated Illinois elementary schools

Compare Jefferson Elementary School to nearby elementary schools!

Performance Trends

Compare Details Jefferson Elementary School ranks better than 51% of elementary schools in Illinois. It also ranks last among 3 ranked elementary schools in the Berwyn North School District 98. (See more...)

Compare Details In 2024 the calculated Average Standard Score was 46.43. (See more...)

Chronic absenteeism in a 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 Jefferson Elementary School has the largest elementary school student body size in the Berwyn North School District 98. (See more...)

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Teachers

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Finance

Compare Details The average total spent per student at Jefferson Elementary School is $20,573, which is the highest among 3 elementary schools in the Berwyn North School District 98!

Schooldigger 2024 Rankings:

Jefferson Elementary School:

SchoolDigger ranks Jefferson Elementary School 1013^th of 2067 Illinois public elementary schools. (See Jefferson 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:

African American students:

Hispanic students:

Berwyn North School District 98:

SchoolDigger ranks Berwyn North School District 98 454^th of 813 Illinois school districts. (See district ranking list.)

Average Parent Rating:

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Rank History for Jefferson Elementary School

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Rank History for all students at Jefferson Elementary School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Elementary Schools	IL State Percentile
2003	56.97	1067^th	2020	47.2%
2004	39.33	1423^rd	2030	29.9%
2005	44.05	1353^rd	2022	33.1%
2006	34.86	1592^nd	2086	23.7%
2007	36.73	1564^th	2095	25.3%
2008	39.28	1471^st	2092	29.7%
2009	38.53	1499^th	2120	29.3%
2010	46.04	1373^rd	2139	35.8%
2011	42.43	1440^th	2147	32.9%
2012	46.05	1385^th	2166	36.1%
2013	30.88	1573^rd	2167	27.4%
2014	29.71	1545^th	2093	26.2%
2015	19.40	1721^st	2052	16.1%
2016	45.94	1030^th	2046	49.7%
2017	50.42	934^th	2044	54.3%
2018	54.61	864^th	2037	57.6%
2019	60.38	770^th	2086	63.1%
2021	29.25	1304^th	1948	33.1%
2022	45.01	1061^st	2082	49.0%
2023	50.79	931^st	2077	55.2%
2024	46.43	1013^th	2067	51.0%

See the entire list of Illinois Elementary School Rankings!

Rank History for English Language Learner students at Jefferson Elementary School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Elementary Schools	IL State Percentile
2018	67.33	128^th	718	82.2%
2019	63.22	138^th	743	81.4%
2021	36.89	341^st	537	36.5%
2022	57.98	205^th	768	73.3%
2023	58.71	209^th	788	73.5%
2024	58.04	219^th	826	73.5%

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

Rank History for Special Education students at Jefferson Elementary School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Elementary Schools	IL State Percentile
2018	26.04	601^st	763	21.2%
2019	33.53	761^st	1194	36.3%
2022	29.70	779^th	1113	30.0%
2023	50.37	449^th	1156	61.2%
2024	52.37	449^th	1195	62.4%

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

Rank History for Low Socio Economic Status students at Jefferson Elementary School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Elementary Schools	IL State Percentile
2018	76.05	232^nd	1765	86.9%
2019	77.96	208^th	1816	88.5%
2021	44.34	756^th	1514	50.1%
2022	65.80	409^th	1763	76.8%
2023	71.23	319^th	1808	82.4%
2024	67.27	401^st	1793	77.6%

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

Rank History for Female students at Jefferson Elementary School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Elementary Schools	IL State Percentile
2018	53.45	841^st	1964	57.2%
2019	56.24	824^th	2019	59.2%
2021	26.40	1209^th	1680	28.0%
2022	38.33	1123^rd	1970	43.0%
2023	42.14	1047^th	1957	46.5%
2024	45.85	963^rd	1942	50.4%

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

Rank History for Disabled students at Jefferson Elementary School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Elementary Schools	IL State Percentile	SchoolDigger Rating
2023	62.27	228^th	907	74.9%
2024	63.87	198^th	886	77.7%

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

Rank History for Male students at Jefferson Elementary School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Elementary Schools	IL State Percentile
2018	56.03	791^st	1972	59.9%
2019	62.21	679^th	2019	66.4%
2021	30.98	1118^th	1707	34.5%
2022	50.67	867^th	1977	56.1%
2023	55.59	777^th	1984	60.8%
2024	46.28	958^th	1959	51.1%

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

Rank History for African American students at Jefferson Elementary School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Elementary Schools	IL State Percentile
2018	65.20	150^th	698	78.5%
2019	57.07	224^th	711	68.5%
2022	50.82	249^th	684	63.6%
2023	75.58	74^th	692	89.3%
2024	87.43	34^th	655	94.8%

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

Rank History for Hispanic students at Jefferson Elementary School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Elementary Schools	IL State Percentile
2018	75.92	143^rd	938	84.8%
2019	81.92	73^rd	955	92.4%
2021	36.65	449^th	742	39.5%
2022	64.67	227^th	954	76.2%
2023	61.34	274^th	970	71.8%
2024	59.04	292^nd	959	69.6%

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

Rank History for White students at Jefferson Elementary School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Elementary Schools	IL State Percentile	SchoolDigger Rating
2018	16.65	1313^th	1463	10.3%

See the entire list of Best Illinois Elementary Schools for White 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: 2)

100%

Reviews:

by a parent
Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Bilingual education and common core are ruining America's classrooms. How can one expect to succeed as well as your peers when your education is in two different languages? The North Berwyn school district would be best served by having a full-time bilingual school for those with ESL. If you want bilingual education, you can get it. If not, you will not be dragged down by wasted instructional time spent in two languages.

If you look at the breakdown of Jefferson's scores, one of the biggest segments that brings down scores of the school is ESL students. As many parents in the district make the decision to speak only Spanish in their home, their children are woefully unprepared to enter an English-speaking school. They pick up language fast as they are children, and any children with an average teacher will pick up new things. However, this comes at a great expense to those kids that are not ESL as much instructional time is spent catering to the children who are ESL with no assistance to children who are not ESL during these instructional periods.

Kids that are not ESL fall behind their peers who are receiving full-time English instruction. Oh, and don't have a child that has a language issue like our daughter. Your child will be exposed to lots of Spanish words that will confuse your child further. Going to a classroom and seeing things ONLY labeled in Spanish is a reminder of how poor this school is and makes me wonder why I did not buy a house in another city.

Communication from the district is okay. They make good use of VOIP for important messages. Like many lower rated schools, communication with parents on other issues like child success or basic things like when school starts and such can be poor. Our personal experience with our daughter's teacher has been underwhelming, but I am sure there are other teachers that are better communicators. Close Quote

Enrollment information for Jefferson Elementary School

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Year	White	African American	Asian	Hispanic	American Indian	Pacific Islander	Two or More Races	Not Specified	Total
1988	247	1	15	22	n/a	n/a	n/a	0	285
1989	251	n/a	17	14	n/a	n/a	n/a	0	282
1990	229	1	23	29	n/a	n/a	n/a	0	282
1991	273	1	21	37	2	n/a	n/a	0	334
1992	292	0	16	51	0	n/a	n/a	0	359
1993	276	1	22	55	0	n/a	n/a	0	354
1994	282	3	24	60	0	n/a	n/a	0	369
1995	260	7	26	149	0	n/a	n/a	0	442
1996	260	7	26	149	0	n/a	n/a	0	442
1997	241	7	21	165	1	n/a	n/a	0	435
1998	187	4	22	169	0	n/a	n/a	0	382
1999	180	14	22	220	0	n/a	n/a	0	436
2000	161	18	29	292	0	n/a	n/a	0	500
2001	148	18	23	301	3	n/a	n/a	0	493
2002	143	13	25	390	2	n/a	n/a	0	573
2003	143	13	25	390	2	n/a	n/a	0	573
2004	115	15	17	463	0	n/a	n/a	0	610
2005	102	36	16	468	1	n/a	n/a	0	623
2006	103	41	16	496	2	n/a	n/a	0	658
2007	78	46	13	502	2	n/a	n/a	3	644
2008	64	44	13	489	0	n/a	n/a	2	612
2009	64	46	11	494	2	n/a	n/a	5	622
2010	45	47	16	532	0	n/a	n/a	12	652
2011	49	51	15	503	1	0	1	0	620
2012	44	50	17	507	2	0	3	0	623
2013	54	53	13	525	1	1	3	0	650
2014	47	67	19	534	0	0	3	0	670
2015	44	67	23	503	0	0	4	0	641
2016	36	73	20	514	0	0	2	0	645
2017	42	63	17	484	1	0	4	0	611
2018	45	70	13	451	0	0	10	0	589
2019	33	80	11	449	0	0	7	0	580
2020	24	68	10	430	2	0	8	0	542
2021	24	79	7	380	1	0	5	0	496
2022	21	66	7	327	1	0	7	0	429
2023	29	69	6	359	4	0	6	0	473

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 Jefferson Elementary School

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Year	# Students	Full-time Teachers	Student/Teacher ratio	% Free/Discounted Lunch
1988	285	18.7	15.2	n/a
1989	282	17.5	16.1	n/a
1990	282	17.5	16.1	n/a
1991	334	19.5	17.1	n/a
1992	359	19.5	18.4	n/a
1993	354	16.5	21.5	n/a
1994	369	17.5	21.1	n/a
1995	442	21.0	21.0	n/a
1996	442	21.0	21.0	n/a
1997	435	20.0	21.8	n/a
1998	382	18.0	21.2	n/a
1999	436	21.4	20.4	n/a
2000	500	23.9	20.9	n/a
2001	493	25.5	19.3	n/a
2002	573	31.8	18.0	58.6
2003	573	31.8	18.0	58.6
2004	610	32.7	18.7	62
2005	623	31.4	19.8	64.7
2006	658	30.4	21.6	72
2007	644	29.0	22.2	72.9
2008	612	26.0	23.5	77.7
2009	622	31.6	19.7	76.2
2010	652	31.6	20.6	84.4
2011	620	33.0	18.7	78.2
2012	623	32.2	19.3	80.1
2013	650	n/a	n/a	82.2
2014	670	37.6	17.8	83.7
2015	641	38.0	16.8	86.3
2016	645	33.0	19.5	81.1
2017	611	34.5	17.7	81.7
2018	589	34.7	16.9	84.6
2019	580	36.6	15.8	82.8
2020	542	39.7	13.6	69.6
2021	496	n/a	n/a	n/a
2022	429	41.4	10.3	75.3
2023	473	33.5	14.0	65.3

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 Jefferson Elementary School

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Year	# Students	Full-time Teachers	Student/Teacher ratio	% Free/Discounted Lunch
1988	285	18.7	15.2	n/a
1989	282	17.5	16.1	n/a
1990	282	17.5	16.1	n/a
1991	334	19.5	17.1	n/a
1992	359	19.5	18.4	n/a
1993	354	16.5	21.5	n/a
1994	369	17.5	21.1	n/a
1995	442	21.0	21.0	n/a
1996	442	21.0	21.0	n/a
1997	435	20.0	21.8	n/a
1998	382	18.0	21.2	n/a
1999	436	21.4	20.4	n/a
2000	500	23.9	20.9	n/a
2001	493	25.5	19.3	n/a
2002	573	31.8	18.0	58.6
2003	573	31.8	18.0	58.6
2004	610	32.7	18.7	62
2005	623	31.4	19.8	64.7
2006	658	30.4	21.6	72
2007	644	29.0	22.2	72.9
2008	612	26.0	23.5	77.7
2009	622	31.6	19.7	76.2
2010	652	31.6	20.6	84.4
2011	620	33.0	18.7	78.2
2012	623	32.2	19.3	80.1
2013	650	n/a	n/a	82.2
2014	670	37.6	17.8	83.7
2015	641	38.0	16.8	86.3
2016	645	33.0	19.5	81.1
2017	611	34.5	17.7	81.7
2018	589	34.7	16.9	84.6
2019	580	36.6	15.8	82.8
2020	542	39.7	13.6	69.6
2021	496	n/a	n/a	n/a
2022	429	41.4	10.3	75.3
2023	473	33.5	14.0	65.3

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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