Is Cook Elementary School a good school?

Cook Elementary School ranks in the bottom 10.4% of Illinois elementary schools.

How many students attend Cook Elementary School?

In the 2022-23 school year, 322 students attended Cook Elementary School.

What is the racial makeup of Cook Elementary School?

Students at Cook Elementary School are 93% African American, 6% Hispanic, 2% Two or more races.

What schools do graduates of Cook Elementary School attend?

Students who attend Cook Elementary School usually go on to attend: High : Hirsch Metropolitan High School

Cook Elementary School

Summary:

Cook Elementary School is a public elementary school serving grades PK-8 in the Chicago Public Schools District 299, with 322 students located in the South Side of Chicago. Despite its large student population, Cook Elementary has consistently ranked in the bottom 10-15% of Illinois elementary schools over the past decade, with a current statewide rank of 1853 out of 2067 schools.

The school faces significant challenges, including extremely high chronic absenteeism rates ranging from 30.4% to 50.4% over the past 4 years, far exceeding district and state averages. Academically, Cook Elementary students perform poorly on state assessments, with only 16.8% proficient or better in English Language Arts and just 2.8-6.5% meeting math standards across grade levels, compared to 30.5% and 16-22.2% for the district, respectively. These academic struggles are likely exacerbated by the school's high percentage of low-income students, with 81.37% qualifying for free/reduced lunch.

While nearby Joplin Elementary, Foster Park Elementary, and Barton Elementary also struggle academically, they perform somewhat better than Cook Elementary across most metrics. Despite the school's poor outcomes, Cook Elementary spends a relatively high amount per student, suggesting that additional funding alone may not be the solution to the school's challenges. Addressing the root causes of these issues, such as improving attendance, strengthening instructional practices, and providing targeted support for students, will be crucial for improving outcomes at Cook Elementary.

Detail:

Public PK, KG-8

8150 S Bishop St
Chicago, IL 60620-3854

(773) 535-3315

District: Chicago Public Schools District 299

SchoolDigger Rank:
1853^rd of 2,067 Illinois Elementary Schools

Per Pupil Expenditures: $22,432

Students who attend Cook Elementary School usually attend:

High:

Hirsch Metropolitan High School

Student/teacher ratio: 16.1

Number of students: 322

Racial breakdown:

African American:

92.5%

Hispanic:

5.9%

Two or more races:

1.6%

Free/discounted lunch recipients: 81.4%

See top rated Illinois elementary schools

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Performance Trends

Compare Details Cook Elementary School ranks worse than 89.6% of elementary schools in Illinois. It also ranks 340^th among 452 ranked elementary schools in the Chicago Public Schools District 299. (See more...)

Compare Details In 2024 the calculated Average Standard Score was 14.95. (See more...)

Compare Details Cook Elementary School ranks worse than 80.3% of middle schools in Illinois. (See more...)

Compare Details In 2024 the calculated Average Standard Score was 20.32. (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 Cook Elementary School has the largest elementary school student body size in the Chicago Public Schools District 299. (See more...)

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Teachers

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Finance

Compare Details The average total spent per student at Cook Elementary School is $22,432, which is the 170^th highest among 452 elementary schools in the Chicago Public Schools District 299.

Schooldigger 2024 Rankings:

Cook Elementary School:

SchoolDigger ranks Cook Elementary School 1853^rd of 2067 Illinois public elementary schools. (See Cook Elementary School in the ranking list.)

Elementary School Test Score Ratings by Student Subgroup:

Low Socio Economic Status students:

Female students:

Male students:

African American students:

SchoolDigger ranks Cook Elementary School 1094^th of 1363 Illinois public middle schools. (See Cook Elementary School in the ranking list.)

Middle School Test Score Ratings by Student Subgroup:

Low Socio Economic Status students:

Female students:

Male students:

African American students:

Chicago Public Schools District 299:

SchoolDigger ranks Chicago Public Schools District 299 688^th of 813 Illinois school districts. (See district ranking list.)

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Rank History for Cook Elementary School

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Rank History for all elementary school students at Cook Elementary School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Elementary Schools	IL State Percentile
2003	3.84	1911^th	2020	5.4%
2004	4.24	1921^st	2030	5.4%
2005	2.61	1932^nd	2022	4.5%
2006	7.55	1936^th	2086	7.2%
2007	13.24	1883^rd	2095	10.1%
2008	5.56	1998^th	2092	4.5%
2009	4.94	2042^nd	2120	3.7%
2010	3.36	2094^th	2139	2.1%
2011	7.50	2040^th	2147	5.0%
2012	9.79	2030^th	2166	6.3%
2013	17.50	1862^nd	2167	14.1%
2014	16.86	1816^th	2093	13.2%
2015	9.81	2007^th	2052	2.2%
2016	13.59	1869^th	2046	8.7%
2017	15.20	1816^th	2044	11.2%
2018	13.09	1878^th	2037	7.8%
2019	19.63	1744^th	2086	16.4%
2022	12.17	1989^th	2082	4.5%
2023	14.06	1907^th	2077	8.2%
2024	14.95	1853^rd	2067	10.4%

See the entire list of Illinois Elementary School Rankings!

Rank History for elementary school Low Socio Economic Status students at Cook Elementary School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Elementary Schools	IL State Percentile
2018	20.39	1569^th	1765	11.1%
2019	29.20	1396^th	1816	23.1%
2022	17.66	1658^th	1763	6.0%
2023	19.74	1637^th	1808	9.5%
2024	19.81	1600^th	1793	10.8%

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

Rank History for elementary school Female students at Cook Elementary School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Elementary Schools	IL State Percentile
2018	10.88	1881^st	1964	4.2%
2019	18.02	1742^nd	2019	13.7%
2022	13.29	1843^rd	1970	6.4%
2023	13.19	1832^nd	1957	6.4%
2024	12.96	1833^rd	1942	5.6%

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

Rank History for elementary school Male students at Cook Elementary School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Elementary Schools	IL State Percentile
2018	17.68	1716^th	1972	13.0%
2019	22.45	1602^nd	2019	20.7%
2022	12.68	1886^th	1977	4.6%
2023	16.14	1745^th	1984	12.0%
2024	18.08	1643^rd	1959	16.1%

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

Rank History for elementary school African American students at Cook Elementary School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Elementary Schools	IL State Percentile
2018	33.82	453^rd	698	35.1%
2019	38.44	421^st	711	40.8%
2022	29.94	513^th	684	25.0%
2023	33.68	470^th	692	32.1%
2024	34.15	434^th	655	33.7%

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

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

Rank History for Cook Elementary School

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Rank History for all middle school students at Cook Elementary School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Middle Schools	IL State Percentile
2003	2.24	1181^st	1185	0.3%
2004	9.74	1066^th	1204	11.5%
2005	12.79	1038^th	1209	14.1%
2006	8.61	1159^th	1272	8.9%
2007	19.88	1076^th	1287	16.4%
2008	23.93	1048^th	1293	18.9%
2009	16.69	1133^rd	1318	14.0%
2010	17.87	1142^nd	1327	13.9%
2011	36.56	974^th	1344	27.5%
2012	44.95	871^st	1365	36.2%
2013	30.12	1017^th	1367	25.6%
2014	23.21	1069^th	1322	19.1%
2016	6.56	1289^th	1294	0.4%
2017	18.61	1076^th	1293	16.8%
2018	15.13	1140^th	1293	11.8%
2019	20.83	1096^th	1356	19.2%
2022	21.61	1073^rd	1369	21.6%
2023	15.70	1213^th	1367	11.3%
2024	20.32	1094^th	1363	19.7%

See the entire list of Illinois Elementary School Rankings!

Rank History for middle school Low Socio Economic Status students at Cook Elementary School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Middle Schools	IL State Percentile
2018	21.63	979^th	1161	15.7%
2019	24.49	991^st	1217	18.6%
2022	33.10	815^th	1221	33.3%
2023	15.95	1163^rd	1234	5.8%
2024	29.39	872^nd	1219	28.5%

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

Rank History for middle school Female students at Cook Elementary School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Middle Schools	IL State Percentile
2018	17.59	1040^th	1226	15.2%
2019	19.81	1049^th	1276	17.8%
2022	14.22	1179^th	1286	8.3%
2023	11.56	1219^th	1275	4.4%
2024	19.63	1026^th	1251	18.0%

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

Rank History for middle school Male students at Cook Elementary School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Middle Schools	IL State Percentile
2018	14.03	1119^th	1223	8.5%
2019	21.33	1034^th	1296	20.2%
2022	32.54	819^th	1286	36.3%
2023	20.80	1051^st	1292	18.7%
2024	22.55	970^th	1264	23.3%

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

Rank History for middle school African American students at Cook Elementary School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Middle Schools	IL State Percentile
2018	37.14	312^th	511	38.9%
2019	45.38	264^th	565	53.3%
2022	46.89	231^st	573	59.7%
2023	37.34	336^th	569	40.9%
2024	40.64	296^th	548	46.0%

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

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Enrollment information for Cook Elementary School

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Year	White	African American	Asian	Hispanic	American Indian	Pacific Islander	Two or More Races	Not Specified	Total
1989	n/a	1000	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	0	1000
1990	n/a	1010	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	0	1010
1991	0	955	0	0	0	n/a	n/a	0	955
1992	0	938	0	0	0	n/a	n/a	0	938
1993	0	913	0	0	0	n/a	n/a	0	913
1994	0	888	0	0	0	n/a	n/a	0	888
1995	0	786	0	0	0	n/a	n/a	0	786
1996	0	786	0	0	0	n/a	n/a	0	786
1997	0	826	0	0	0	n/a	n/a	0	826
1998	0	855	0	0	0	n/a	n/a	0	855
1999	0	821	0	0	0	n/a	n/a	0	821
2000	0	884	0	1	0	n/a	n/a	0	885
2001	0	814	0	2	0	n/a	n/a	0	816
2002	0	839	0	8	0	n/a	n/a	0	847
2003	0	839	0	8	0	n/a	n/a	0	847
2004	0	800	0	14	0	n/a	n/a	0	814
2005	0	824	0	5	0	n/a	n/a	0	829
2006	0	788	1	3	0	n/a	n/a	1	793
2007	0	787	0	3	1	n/a	n/a	2	793
2008	1	713	1	0	1	n/a	n/a	2	718
2009	1	668	0	2	0	n/a	n/a	0	671
2010	1	605	0	1	0	n/a	n/a	0	607
2011	0	542	0	6	0	0	1	0	549
2012	1	473	0	2	0	0	2	0	478
2013	0	446	0	2	0	0	2	0	450
2014	0	420	0	4	1	0	3	0	428
2015	0	386	0	7	1	0	4	0	398
2016	1	393	0	6	0	0	3	0	403
2017	0	356	0	5	1	0	2	0	364
2018	0	372	0	7	0	0	2	0	381
2019	2	336	0	6	0	0	2	0	346
2020	0	322	0	5	0	0	0	0	327
2021	0	316	0	12	0	0	0	0	328
2022	2	281	0	13	0	0	0	0	296
2023	0	298	0	19	0	0	5	0	322

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 Cook Elementary School

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Year	# Students	Full-time Teachers	Student/Teacher ratio	% Free/Discounted Lunch
1989	1000	43.0	23.2	n/a
1990	1010	49.0	20.6	n/a
1991	955	50.0	19.1	n/a
1992	938	51.0	18.3	n/a
1993	913	49.0	18.6	n/a
1994	888	42.0	21.1	n/a
1995	786	45.0	17.5	n/a
1996	786	45.0	17.5	n/a
1997	826	41.0	20.1	n/a
1998	855	42.0	20.4	n/a
1999	821	40.0	20.5	n/a
2000	885	38.0	23.3	n/a
2001	816	41.0	19.9	n/a
2002	847	40.0	21.2	85.8
2003	847	40.0	21.2	85.8
2004	814	35.5	22.9	86.2
2005	829	42.4	19.6	99.6
2006	793	41.5	19.1	99.7
2007	793	31.0	25.6	99.6
2008	718	35.0	20.5	99.6
2009	671	35.5	18.9	98.4
2010	607	31.0	19.5	99.5
2011	549	30.0	18.3	99.5
2012	478	27.0	17.7	99.4
2013	450	28.0	16.0	93.3
2014	428	26.0	16.4	99.3
2015	398	24.0	16.5	97.2
2016	403	24.0	16.7	98.5
2017	364	23.7	15.3	98.6
2018	381	23.2	16.3	97.6
2019	346	22.0	15.7	72.8
2020	327	22.0	14.8	96.6
2021	328	n/a	n/a	n/a
2022	296	24.0	12.3	95.6
2023	322	20.0	16.1	81.4

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 Cook Elementary School

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Year	# Students	Full-time Teachers	Student/Teacher ratio	% Free/Discounted Lunch
1989	1000	43.0	23.2	n/a
1990	1010	49.0	20.6	n/a
1991	955	50.0	19.1	n/a
1992	938	51.0	18.3	n/a
1993	913	49.0	18.6	n/a
1994	888	42.0	21.1	n/a
1995	786	45.0	17.5	n/a
1996	786	45.0	17.5	n/a
1997	826	41.0	20.1	n/a
1998	855	42.0	20.4	n/a
1999	821	40.0	20.5	n/a
2000	885	38.0	23.3	n/a
2001	816	41.0	19.9	n/a
2002	847	40.0	21.2	85.8
2003	847	40.0	21.2	85.8
2004	814	35.5	22.9	86.2
2005	829	42.4	19.6	99.6
2006	793	41.5	19.1	99.7
2007	793	31.0	25.6	99.6
2008	718	35.0	20.5	99.6
2009	671	35.5	18.9	98.4
2010	607	31.0	19.5	99.5
2011	549	30.0	18.3	99.5
2012	478	27.0	17.7	99.4
2013	450	28.0	16.0	93.3
2014	428	26.0	16.4	99.3
2015	398	24.0	16.5	97.2
2016	403	24.0	16.7	98.5
2017	364	23.7	15.3	98.6
2018	381	23.2	16.3	97.6
2019	346	22.0	15.7	72.8
2020	327	22.0	14.8	96.6
2021	328	n/a	n/a	n/a
2022	296	24.0	12.3	95.6
2023	322	20.0	16.1	81.4

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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