Is Drexel Elementary School a good school?

Drexel Elementary School ranks in the bottom 20.7% of Illinois elementary schools.

How many students attend Drexel Elementary School?

In the 2022-23 school year, 431 students attended Drexel Elementary School.

What is the racial makeup of Drexel Elementary School?

Students at Drexel Elementary School are 97% Hispanic, 2% White.

What schools do graduates of Drexel Elementary School attend?

Students who attend Drexel Elementary School usually go on to attend: Middle : Unity Junior High School High : J Sterling Morton East High School

Drexel Elementary School

Summary:

Drexel Elementary School is a public elementary school located in Cicero, Illinois, serving 431 students in grades K-6. The school is part of the Cicero School District 99, which is ranked 718 out of 813 districts in Illinois and has a 1-star rating from SchoolDigger.

Drexel Elementary School has consistently ranked in the bottom 20% of Illinois elementary schools over the past decade, with a 1-star rating from SchoolDigger for most of that time. The school faces significant challenges, including very high chronic absenteeism rates, low academic performance, and equity concerns. For example, in 2023-2024, only 18% of Drexel students were proficient or better in ELA, compared to 23.6% for the district and 41.2% for the state. In math, only 9.8% of Drexel students were proficient or better, compared to 13.1% for the district and 28.4% for the state. The school's performance is particularly low for certain student subgroups, such as low-socioeconomic status students.

When comparing Drexel Elementary School to other nearby schools in the Cicero School District 99, such as Woodrow Wilson Elementary and Sherlock Elementary, Drexel consistently performs worse on academic measures, despite having similar student demographics and funding levels. Addressing the root causes of chronic absenteeism and implementing targeted interventions for the school's high-need student populations could be key strategies for improving student outcomes at Drexel Elementary School.

Detail:

Public K-6

5407 W 36th St
Cicero, IL 60804-4432

(708) 652-5532

District: Cicero School District 99

SchoolDigger Rank:
1640^th of 2,067 Illinois Elementary Schools

Per Pupil Expenditures: $23,295

Students who attend Drexel Elementary School usually attend:

Middle:	Unity Junior High School
High:	J Sterling Morton East High School

Student/teacher ratio: 13.4

Number of students: 431

Racial breakdown:

Hispanic:

97.0%

White:

2.1%

African American:

0.9%

Free/discounted lunch recipients: 80.7%

See top rated Illinois elementary schools

Compare Drexel Elementary School to nearby elementary schools!

Performance Trends

Compare Details Drexel Elementary School ranks worse than 79.3% of elementary schools in Illinois. It also ranks last among 8 ranked elementary schools in the Cicero School District 99. (See more...)

Compare Details In 2024 the calculated Average Standard Score was 21.54. (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 Drexel Elementary School has the largest elementary school student body size in the Cicero School District 99. (See more...)

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Teachers

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Finance

Compare Details The average total spent per student at Drexel Elementary School is $23,295, which is the highest among 11 elementary schools in the Cicero School District 99!

Schooldigger 2024 Rankings:

Drexel Elementary School:

SchoolDigger ranks Drexel Elementary School 1640^th of 2067 Illinois public elementary schools. (See Drexel Elementary School in the ranking list.)

Elementary School Test Score Ratings by Student Subgroup:

English Language Learner students:

Low Socio Economic Status students:

Female students:

Male students:

Hispanic students:

Cicero School District 99:

SchoolDigger ranks Cicero School District 99 718^th of 813 Illinois school districts. (See district ranking list.)

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Rank History for Drexel Elementary School

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Rank History for all students at Drexel Elementary School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Elementary Schools	IL State Percentile
2003	25.66	1600^th	2020	20.8%
2004	24.79	1658^th	2030	18.3%
2005	36.38	1466^th	2022	27.5%
2006	19.63	1791^st	2086	14.1%
2007	24.66	1757^th	2095	16.1%
2008	15.86	1837^th	2092	12.2%
2009	13.60	1902^nd	2120	10.3%
2010	22.79	1777^th	2139	16.9%
2011	20.86	1816^th	2147	15.4%
2012	11.87	2002^nd	2166	7.6%
2013	13.85	1936^th	2167	10.7%
2014	11.77	1913^th	2093	8.6%
2015	12.90	1907^th	2052	7.1%
2016	13.88	1859^th	2046	9.1%
2017	22.25	1623^rd	2044	20.6%
2018	18.43	1710^th	2037	16.1%
2019	23.58	1616^th	2086	22.5%
2021	16.49	1695^th	1948	13.0%
2022	18.51	1719^th	2082	17.4%
2023	18.90	1715^th	2077	17.4%
2024	21.54	1640^th	2067	20.7%

See the entire list of Illinois Elementary School Rankings!

Rank History for English Language Learner students at Drexel Elementary School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Elementary Schools	IL State Percentile
2018	32.91	531^st	718	26.0%
2019	34.86	529^th	743	28.8%
2021	41.14	276^th	537	48.6%
2022	31.19	599^th	768	22.0%
2023	29.47	645^th	788	18.1%
2024	38.52	497^th	826	39.8%

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

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

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Elementary Schools	IL State Percentile
2018	28.30	1358^th	1765	23.1%
2019	38.06	1157^th	1816	36.3%
2021	22.30	1327^th	1514	12.4%
2022	30.88	1256^th	1763	28.8%
2023	26.60	1435^th	1808	20.6%
2024	29.90	1312^th	1793	26.8%

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

Rank History for Female students at Drexel Elementary School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Elementary Schools	IL State Percentile
2018	17.16	1693^rd	1964	13.8%
2019	29.92	1415^th	2019	29.9%
2021	16.39	1475^th	1680	12.2%
2022	19.29	1620^th	1970	17.8%
2023	16.67	1721^st	1957	12.1%
2024	20.61	1569^th	1942	19.2%

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

Rank History for Male students at Drexel Elementary School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Elementary Schools	IL State Percentile
2018	21.84	1578^th	1972	20.0%
2019	22.15	1611^th	2019	20.2%
2021	13.02	1637^th	1707	4.1%
2022	18.91	1641^st	1977	17.0%
2023	21.85	1544^th	1984	22.2%
2024	23.67	1498^th	1959	23.5%

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

Rank History for Hispanic students at Drexel Elementary School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Elementary Schools	IL State Percentile
2018	27.62	725^th	938	22.7%
2019	31.34	697^th	955	27.0%
2021	24.91	630^th	742	15.1%
2022	24.17	797^th	954	16.5%
2023	26.02	783^rd	970	19.3%
2024	30.76	682^nd	959	28.9%

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

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Enrollment information for Drexel Elementary School

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Year	White	African American	Asian	Hispanic	American Indian	Pacific Islander	Two or More Races	Not Specified	Total
1988	325	1	18	135	3	n/a	n/a	0	482
1989	325	1	14	170	1	n/a	n/a	0	511
1990	332	n/a	17	240	1	n/a	n/a	0	590
1991	297	0	17	300	3	n/a	n/a	0	617
1992	296	0	12	354	1	n/a	n/a	0	663
1993	299	1	17	430	1	n/a	n/a	0	748
1994	269	1	12	403	1	n/a	n/a	0	686
1995	181	1	9	653	1	n/a	n/a	0	845
1996	181	1	9	653	1	n/a	n/a	0	845
1997	148	2	4	610	0	n/a	n/a	0	764
1998	137	6	0	719	0	n/a	n/a	0	862
1999	94	6	4	671	3	n/a	n/a	0	778
2000	101	1	4	692	4	n/a	n/a	0	802
2001	74	2	1	787	0	n/a	n/a	0	864
2002	98	3	2	829	0	n/a	n/a	0	932
2003	98	3	2	829	0	n/a	n/a	0	932
2004	49	6	2	660	0	n/a	n/a	0	717
2005	45	11	2	621	0	n/a	n/a	0	679
2006	29	7	2	616	0	n/a	n/a	0	654
2007	17	7	1	665	0	n/a	n/a	0	690
2008	16	6	1	702	1	n/a	n/a	2	728
2009	24	3	0	681	0	n/a	n/a	0	708
2010	30	5	0	743	0	n/a	n/a	0	778
2011	11	7	0	575	2	0	1	0	596
2012	12	9	0	611	1	0	0	0	633
2013	11	10	0	560	6	0	0	0	587
2014	20	8	0	560	13	0	0	0	601
2015	20	10	0	512	12	0	0	0	554
2016	29	8	0	515	10	0	0	0	562
2017	35	7	0	329	139	2	0	0	512
2018	34	7	0	502	5	1	0	0	549
2019	9	2	0	504	0	0	0	0	515
2020	7	6	0	434	0	0	0	0	447
2021	7	3	0	423	1	0	0	0	434
2022	9	1	0	402	1	0	0	0	413
2023	9	4	0	418	0	0	0	0	431

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 Drexel Elementary School

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Year	# Students	Full-time Teachers	Student/Teacher ratio	% Free/Discounted Lunch
1988	482	32.0	15.0	n/a
1989	511	31.0	16.4	n/a
1990	590	41.5	14.2	n/a
1991	617	39.0	15.8	n/a
1992	663	33.0	20.0	n/a
1993	748	40.0	18.7	n/a
1994	686	41.0	16.7	n/a
1995	845	44.5	19.0	n/a
1996	845	44.5	19.0	n/a
1997	764	40.5	18.9	n/a
1998	862	44.0	19.6	n/a
1999	778	42.0	18.5	n/a
2000	802	44.0	18.2	n/a
2001	864	49.0	17.6	n/a
2002	932	47.0	19.8	66.8
2003	932	47.0	19.8	66.8
2004	717	51.0	14.1	67.6
2005	679	42.0	16.2	72.6
2006	654	38.0	17.2	68.7
2007	690	46.0	15.0	73.6
2008	728	29.0	25.1	75.6
2009	708	38.0	18.6	81.9
2010	778	40.0	19.4	80.1
2011	596	36.0	16.5	78.4
2012	633	37.3	16.9	87.2
2013	587	55.1	10.6	91.5
2014	601	36.4	16.4	91
2015	554	37.0	14.9	94.8
2016	562	35.0	16.0	90.7
2017	512	34.3	14.8	88.7
2018	549	33.6	16.3	68.7
2019	515	33.7	15.2	94.6
2020	447	33.1	13.5	93.3
2021	434	n/a	n/a	n/a
2022	413	33.2	12.4	86.7
2023	431	32.1	13.4	80.7

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 Drexel Elementary School

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Year	# Students	Full-time Teachers	Student/Teacher ratio	% Free/Discounted Lunch
1988	482	32.0	15.0	n/a
1989	511	31.0	16.4	n/a
1990	590	41.5	14.2	n/a
1991	617	39.0	15.8	n/a
1992	663	33.0	20.0	n/a
1993	748	40.0	18.7	n/a
1994	686	41.0	16.7	n/a
1995	845	44.5	19.0	n/a
1996	845	44.5	19.0	n/a
1997	764	40.5	18.9	n/a
1998	862	44.0	19.6	n/a
1999	778	42.0	18.5	n/a
2000	802	44.0	18.2	n/a
2001	864	49.0	17.6	n/a
2002	932	47.0	19.8	66.8
2003	932	47.0	19.8	66.8
2004	717	51.0	14.1	67.6
2005	679	42.0	16.2	72.6
2006	654	38.0	17.2	68.7
2007	690	46.0	15.0	73.6
2008	728	29.0	25.1	75.6
2009	708	38.0	18.6	81.9
2010	778	40.0	19.4	80.1
2011	596	36.0	16.5	78.4
2012	633	37.3	16.9	87.2
2013	587	55.1	10.6	91.5
2014	601	36.4	16.4	91
2015	554	37.0	14.9	94.8
2016	562	35.0	16.0	90.7
2017	512	34.3	14.8	88.7
2018	549	33.6	16.3	68.7
2019	515	33.7	15.2	94.6
2020	447	33.1	13.5	93.3
2021	434	n/a	n/a	n/a
2022	413	33.2	12.4	86.7
2023	431	32.1	13.4	80.7

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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