Is Richards Career Academy High School a good school?

Richards Career Academy High School ranks in the bottom 12.1% of Illinois high schools.

How many students attend Richards Career Academy High School?

In the 2022-23 school year, 311 students attended Richards Career Academy High School.

What is the racial makeup of Richards Career Academy High School?

Students at Richards Career Academy High School are 54% Hispanic, 41% African American, 4% Two or more races.

What schools feed into Richards Career Academy High School?

Richards Career Academy High School is fed by the following schools: Elementary : Chavez Elementary Multicultural Academy Ct Elementary : Daley Elementary Academy Elementary : Hedges Elementary School Elementary : Lara Elementary Academy

Richards Career Academy High School

Summary:

Richards Career Academy High School is a public high school in Chicago, Illinois, serving 311 students in grades 9-12. The school has consistently ranked in the bottom half of Illinois high schools over the past decade, with a ranking between 610-690 out of around 700 high schools.

Richards Career Academy High School faces significant challenges in academic performance, graduation and dropout rates, and chronic absenteeism. In the 2023-2024 school year, only 2.1% of 11th-grade students were proficient or better in SAT Mathematics, compared to 18.6% for the Chicago Public Schools District 299 and 26.1% for the state. The school's graduation rates have ranged from 51.4% to 68.8% over the past five years, significantly lower than the 96.1% rate at Lindblom Math & Science Academy High School. Additionally, Richards Career Academy High School has experienced extremely high rates of chronic absenteeism, reaching as high as 78.8% in the 2022-2023 school year.

The data reveals a stark contrast between Richards Career Academy High School and some of the higher-performing nearby schools, such as Lindblom Math & Science Academy High School and Noble St Charter - Mansueto. Despite the school's poor performance, it has a relatively high per-student spending of $24,301 in the 2022-2023 school year, which is significantly higher than the spending at some of the higher-performing nearby schools. This raises questions about the effective allocation and utilization of resources to drive student success.

Detail:

Public 9-12

5009 S Laflin St
Chicago, IL 60609-4940

(773) 535-4945

District: Chicago Public Schools District 299

SchoolDigger Rank:
613^th of 697 Illinois High Schools

Per Pupil Expenditures: $29,071

Feeder schools for Richards Career Academy High School:

Elementary:	Chavez Elementary Multicultural Academy Ct
	Daley Elementary Academy
	Hedges Elementary School
	Lara Elementary Academy

Student/teacher ratio: 11.7

Number of students: 311

Racial breakdown:

Hispanic:

54.0%

African American:

41.2%

Two or more races:

3.9%

Free/discounted lunch recipients: 94.9%

See top rated Illinois high schools

Compare Richards Career Academy High School to nearby high schools!

Performance Trends

Compare Details Richards Career Academy High School ranks worse than 87.9% of high schools in Illinois. It also ranks 77^th among 145 ranked high schools in the Chicago Public Schools District 299. (See more...)

Compare Details In 2024 the calculated Average Standard Score was 13.66. (See more...)

The four-year cohort graduation rate measures the percentage of students at Richards Career Academy High School who earn a standard high school diploma within four years of starting ninth grade.

The high school dropout rate measures the percentage of students who do not complete their high school education.

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 Richards Career Academy High School has the largest high 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 Richards Career Academy High School is $29,071, which is the 29^th highest among 145 high schools in the Chicago Public Schools District 299.

Schooldigger 2024 Rankings:

Richards Career Academy High School:

SchoolDigger ranks Richards Career Academy High School 613^th of 697 Illinois public high schools. (See Richards Career Academy High School in the ranking list.)

High School Test Score Ratings by Student Subgroup:

English Language Learner students:

Special Education students:

Low Socio Economic Status students:

Homeless students:

Female students:

Disabled students:

Male students:

African American students:

Hispanic 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 Richards Career Academy High School

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Rank History for all students at Richards Career Academy High School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked High Schools	IL State Percentile
2003	0.98	567^th	586	3.2%
2004	0.51	588^th	592	0.7%
2005	0.55	580^th	590	1.7%
2006	0.92	586^th	596	1.7%
2007	2.91	580^th	612	5.2%
2008	1.04	612^th	624	1.9%
2009	3.10	594^th	632	6.0%
2010	1.36	631^st	643	1.9%
2011	1.95	639^th	655	2.4%
2012	2.29	637^th	665	4.2%
2013	1.89	648^th	670	3.3%
2014	2.73	638^th	670	4.8%
2015	9.35	610^th	614	0.7%
2016	8.95	635^th	643	1.2%
2017	3.47	638^th	642	0.6%
2018	6.00	634^th	647	2.0%
2019	7.30	670^th	701	4.4%
2021	9.83	647^th	688	6.0%
2022	8.55	662^nd	699	5.3%
2023	7.42	690^th	699	1.3%
2024	13.66	613^th	697	12.1%

See the entire list of Illinois High School Rankings!

Rank History for English Language Learner students at Richards Career Academy High School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked High Schools	IL State Percentile
2018	26.39	126^th	151	16.6%
2019	29.57	141^st	183	23.0%
2021	32.79	86^th	189	54.5%
2022	23.51	190^th	205	7.3%
2023	23.07	201^st	217	7.4%
2024	39.93	110^th	248	55.6%

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

Rank History for Special Education students at Richards Career Academy High School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked High Schools	IL State Percentile
2018	27.23	248^th	374	33.7%
2019	29.55	306^th	473	35.3%
2021	29.28	270^th	453	40.4%
2022	31.21	286^th	493	42.0%
2023	21.07	375^th	476	21.2%
2024	27.15	329^th	482	31.7%

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

Rank History for Low Socio Economic Status students at Richards Career Academy High School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked High Schools	IL State Percentile
2018	10.08	567^th	585	3.1%
2019	11.49	608^th	639	4.9%
2021	15.13	557^th	611	8.8%
2022	13.00	591^st	626	5.6%
2023	9.87	635^th	644	1.4%
2024	19.64	534^th	639	16.4%

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

Rank History for Homeless students at Richards Career Academy High School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked High Schools	IL State Percentile
2019	43.77	42^nd	91	53.8%
2022	28.47	46^th	98	53.1%
2023	28.07	55^th	104	47.1%
2024	47.49	53^rd	125	57.6%

See the entire list of Best Illinois High Schools for Homeless Students!

Rank History for Female students at Richards Career Academy High School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked High Schools	IL State Percentile
2018	6.22	602^nd	620	2.9%
2019	6.87	642^nd	665	3.5%
2021	11.03	586^th	639	8.3%
2022	9.01	609^th	658	7.4%
2023	8.06	644^th	656	1.8%
2024	17.55	542^nd	664	18.4%

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

Rank History for Disabled students at Richards Career Academy High School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked High Schools	IL State Percentile	SchoolDigger Rating
2023	23.38	382^nd	428	10.7%
2024	27.00	261^st	429	39.2%

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

Rank History for Male students at Richards Career Academy High School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked High Schools	IL State Percentile
2018	6.16	602^nd	619	2.7%
2019	8.27	637^th	675	5.6%
2021	8.58	626^th	653	4.1%
2022	9.13	635^th	664	4.4%
2023	7.38	663^rd	668	0.7%
2024	10.95	631^st	668	5.5%

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

Rank History for African American students at Richards Career Academy High School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked High Schools	IL State Percentile
2018	20.92	233^rd	253	7.9%
2019	24.19	237^th	299	20.7%
2021	23.07	241^st	281	14.2%
2022	23.82	241^st	294	18.0%
2023	18.59	293^rd	301	2.7%
2024	29.74	208^th	299	30.4%

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

Rank History for Hispanic students at Richards Career Academy High School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked High Schools	IL State Percentile
2018	9.77	284^th	291	2.4%
2019	10.15	307^th	317	3.2%
2021	13.82	305^th	317	3.8%
2022	12.33	322^nd	335	3.9%
2023	9.70	331^st	333	0.6%
2024	17.91	291^st	336	13.4%

See the entire list of Best Illinois High 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

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Enrollment information for Richards Career Academy High School

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Year	White	African American	Asian	Hispanic	American Indian	Pacific Islander	Two or More Races	Not Specified	Total
1988	38	471	4	313	2	n/a	n/a	0	828
1989	37	410	1	343	3	n/a	n/a	0	794
1990	37	407	9	364	1	n/a	n/a	0	818
1991	30	395	2	350	1	n/a	n/a	0	778
1992	14	457	3	312	3	n/a	n/a	0	789
1993	14	507	2	289	1	n/a	n/a	0	813
1994	9	468	1	348	1	n/a	n/a	0	827
1995	4	454	0	354	0	n/a	n/a	0	812
1996	4	454	0	354	0	n/a	n/a	0	812
1997	2	397	0	351	0	n/a	n/a	0	750
1998	8	385	2	385	1	n/a	n/a	0	781
1999	8	329	0	345	0	n/a	n/a	0	682
2000	5	281	3	264	0	n/a	n/a	0	553
2001	5	284	1	208	0	n/a	n/a	0	498
2002	2	285	0	227	0	n/a	n/a	0	514
2003	2	285	0	227	0	n/a	n/a	0	514
2004	1	279	0	202	0	n/a	n/a	0	482
2005	2	281	1	189	0	n/a	n/a	0	473
2006	4	203	1	257	0	n/a	n/a	9	474
2007	2	184	1	365	0	n/a	n/a	12	564
2008	2	162	1	418	0	n/a	n/a	11	594
2009	11	166	1	520	0	n/a	n/a	0	698
2010	6	160	0	442	0	n/a	n/a	0	608
2011	5	152	0	401	0	3	1	0	562
2012	1	153	0	314	1	0	1	0	470
2013	4	142	0	318	3	0	1	0	468
2014	1	142	1	221	1	0	2	0	368
2015	3	147	1	196	1	0	1	0	349
2016	1	108	0	159	0	0	2	0	270
2017	1	107	0	140	1	0	1	0	250
2018	2	85	0	130	0	0	0	0	217
2019	2	89	0	125	0	0	1	0	217
2020	1	109	0	110	0	0	2	0	222
2021	2	108	0	227	1	0	5	0	343
2022	4	108	0	224	1	0	10	0	347
2023	1	128	0	168	2	0	12	0	311

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 Richards Career Academy High School

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Year	# Students	Full-time Teachers	Student/Teacher ratio	% Free/Discounted Lunch
1988	828	44.8	18.4	n/a
1989	794	43.8	18.1	n/a
1990	818	43.8	18.6	n/a
1991	778	47.0	16.5	n/a
1992	789	42.8	18.4	n/a
1993	813	42.6	19.1	n/a
1994	827	36.4	22.7	n/a
1995	812	40.8	19.9	n/a
1996	812	40.8	19.9	n/a
1997	750	43.0	17.4	n/a
1998	781	45.0	17.4	n/a
1999	682	41.0	16.6	n/a
2000	553	34.4	16.1	n/a
2001	498	33.6	14.8	n/a
2002	514	33.0	15.6	84.2
2003	514	33.0	15.6	84.2
2004	482	31.3	15.4	84.4
2005	473	31.9	14.8	83.7
2006	474	39.9	11.9	81.1
2007	564	29.0	19.4	86.1
2008	594	34.0	17.5	90.6
2009	698	36.0	19.4	77.1
2010	608	36.0	16.8	97.2
2011	562	34.0	16.5	89.5
2012	470	37.0	12.7	92.1
2013	468	39.6	11.8	94
2014	368	36.0	10.2	99.2
2015	349	27.0	12.9	98.3
2016	270	20.0	13.5	84.4
2017	250	16.5	15.1	90.4
2018	217	15.6	13.8	98.2
2019	217	22.0	9.8	99.1
2020	222	21.0	10.5	99.1
2021	343	n/a	n/a	n/a
2022	347	22.5	15.4	86.5
2023	311	26.5	11.7	94.9

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 Richards Career Academy High School

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Year	# Students	Full-time Teachers	Student/Teacher ratio	% Free/Discounted Lunch
1988	828	44.8	18.4	n/a
1989	794	43.8	18.1	n/a
1990	818	43.8	18.6	n/a
1991	778	47.0	16.5	n/a
1992	789	42.8	18.4	n/a
1993	813	42.6	19.1	n/a
1994	827	36.4	22.7	n/a
1995	812	40.8	19.9	n/a
1996	812	40.8	19.9	n/a
1997	750	43.0	17.4	n/a
1998	781	45.0	17.4	n/a
1999	682	41.0	16.6	n/a
2000	553	34.4	16.1	n/a
2001	498	33.6	14.8	n/a
2002	514	33.0	15.6	84.2
2003	514	33.0	15.6	84.2
2004	482	31.3	15.4	84.4
2005	473	31.9	14.8	83.7
2006	474	39.9	11.9	81.1
2007	564	29.0	19.4	86.1
2008	594	34.0	17.5	90.6
2009	698	36.0	19.4	77.1
2010	608	36.0	16.8	97.2
2011	562	34.0	16.5	89.5
2012	470	37.0	12.7	92.1
2013	468	39.6	11.8	94
2014	368	36.0	10.2	99.2
2015	349	27.0	12.9	98.3
2016	270	20.0	13.5	84.4
2017	250	16.5	15.1	90.4
2018	217	15.6	13.8	98.2
2019	217	22.0	9.8	99.1
2020	222	21.0	10.5	99.1
2021	343	n/a	n/a	n/a
2022	347	22.5	15.4	86.5
2023	311	26.5	11.7	94.9

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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