How Black students are performing in Illinois schools

In Illinois, 32.2% of Black students are proficient at the typical school — against 58.3% of White students. Within Chicago Public Schools alone, the gap between the best and worst schools for Black children is 83 points. This tool helps you find the right one.

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38.4%

All students

32.2%

Black

41.3%

Hispanic

58.3%

White

73.5%

Asian

Share of students meeting proficient at the typical Illinois school. Groups are shown wherever Illinois reports them; a group is omitted from a school when too few students were tested to report safely.

These figures come from ISBE Report Card 2025, measuring proficient in ELA & Math · All grades. Across 0 districts, 1,127 Illinois schools report enough results to be included.

At the typical Illinois school the picture is black students at 32.2%, hispanic students at 41.3%, white students at 58.3% and asian students at 73.5%. That is a 41.3-point spread between the highest and lowest group, inside the same schools, the same districts and the same state — which is what this tool exists to make visible.

What the Illinois data shows

Opportunity

Illinois schools earn an A for Black students

An A means 80% or more of Black students are proficient. Eighteen schools clear it — led by L J Hauser Jr High in Riverside at 100% and Thurgood Marshall School in Rockford at 92.1%. Another 41 reach 70%.

Disparity

83.1 pts

gap between the best and worst schools for Black students in Chicago Public Schools

Keller Elem Gifted Magnet School reaches 90.9%. Herzl Elementary, in the same district, sits at 7.8%. Across 342 schools in one district, a child's address decides which end they land on.

Statewide

26.1 pts

separates Black and White students at the typical Illinois school

32.2% of Black students are proficient, against 58.3% of White students. Rockford and Peoria each show gaps above 84 points between their strongest and weakest schools — the pattern is not confined to Chicago.

Where Black students are doing best in Illinois

These are the schools where Black students most often meet proficient, among those with at least 25 Black student results reported. Every group's result is shown alongside, because a school that serves one group well and another poorly is telling you something too.

School	All	Black	Hispanic	White	Asian

Flags show magnet, charter, alternative and virtual schools. Some campuses — early college and specialized academies among them — also admit by application, and this page cannot yet identify all of them. Check with the district before assuming a school is open to your address.

Where Black students are struggling most

The same measure at the other end of the range. In many of these schools every group is falling short, which points at the school rather than at the students in it.

School	All	Black	Hispanic	White	Asian

Illinois districts

Districts with at least ten schools reporting Black student results, by school count. The percentage shown is the average across that district's schools for Black students.

How these averages are calculated. The figures above average across Illinois schools, giving each school equal weight. They describe the typical school, not the state's tested population, and will differ from the headline figure ISBE Report Card 2025 publishes — that one weights every student equally, so larger schools count for more. Use the state's own published figure when citing a statewide number.

How to read the school data. Illinois suppresses results for groups with too few students tested. Schools without a reportable Black student result are excluded rather than shown as zero — 1,127 of Illinois' schools have reportable data, concentrated in the 33 counties where enough Black students are tested to report. This ranking reflects the 2025 Illinois Assessment of Readiness administration. The Illinois State Board of Education publishes updated results annually. Rankings will be refreshed each year as new data becomes available. Because every state sets its own proficiency standard, Illinois's figures should not be compared directly against another state's.