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How We Ranked Them
The charts on these pages are not allthe same.The larger set of chartsrankpublic elementary,middle,and junior high schools in Chicago and itssix surrounding counties; out of themore than 1,740 schools in the Chica-go area,we list only the 115 that cameout on top in thedata-crunchingprocessdescribed below.The num-ber of schools we list for each area isroughly proportional to the total num-ber of schools there; thus,for heavilypopulated Chicago and Cook Countywe list the top 30,but for the far lesspopulous McHenryCounty,only five.Onthe lastchart,we show rele-vant data for a select group of privateand parochial schools,but we do notrank or score them.(Instead,theyare listed alphabetically.) Althoughuniversal measuring sticksfor thepublic schools exist in the form ofstandardized data released bythe Illinois State Board of Education(ISBE) each fall,there areno suchcommon gaugesavailable for privateschools.All information on privateschools comes directly from theschools themselves.The ISBE,based in Springfield,gathers data on every public school inthe state,measuring hundreds of at-tributes—from the essential,such asthe number of children at the schoolperforming at or above state stan-dards on math tests,to the esoteric,such as the percentage of the schooldistrict’s budget devoted to fire pre-vention and safety.This information isreported by the individual schools orschool districts,and later released tolocal communities in the form of anannual report card.
Chicago’ 
sdata isfrom the 2005 report card,the latestavailable,which came out last falland derives from the 2004-05school year.(New figures,reflecting the 2005-06school year,were scheduled to be released toschools in October.)The first step in picking the bestpublic schools was easy: we simplyopened the floodgates and let a riverofdata from the ISBE rush through.
Chicago 
then winnowed the datadown to a small set of attributes mostcritical to thequality of education aschool provides.Finally,we assignedpoint values for each of those attrib-utes and tallied up the totals to arriveat our rankings.Some of the data weusedis broken out on our charts byindividual school,while in other casesadistrict-wide figure is given.On the city chart,none of the inno-vative new charter schools rankin ourtop 30.One reason is that our scoringsystem awardedhigh marks toschools with more experiencedteachers and better pay.Charterschools tend to bestaffed by youngerteachers who are paid less than theaverage teacherin the Chicago PublicSchools (CPS).That does not meancharter school teachers are inferior, just that their lack of experience limit-ed their scores.For our chart of private schools,weinterviewed education expertsandcompiled a list of 25based ontheir recommendations.Althoughthese schools are topnotch,this is notadefinitive list of the 25 best.Because no comprehensive dataabout private schools exist,we thensolicited information from eachschool on our list,and included it inour chart.Many private schools,in-cluding the ChicagoCatholic schools,would not release data related tostandardized test scores.
TheA+Team
®
BYDENNISRODKINAND AMY RAINEYPHOTOGRAPHYBYCHRISGUILLEN
School Rankings
CHICAGOCOOK COUNTYLAKE COUNTYDUPAGE COUNTYKANE COUNTYWILL COUNTYM
C
HENRY COUNTYPRIVATE SCHOOLS
 
City of Chicago School District 299City of Chicago School District 299City of Chicago School District 299City of Chicago School District 299City of Chicago School District 299City of Chicago School District 299City of Chicago School District 299City of Chicago School District 299City of Chicago School District 299City of Chicago School District 299City of Chicago School District 299City of Chicago School District 299City of Chicago School District 299City of Chicago School District 299City of Chicago School District 299City of Chicago School District 299City of Chicago School District 299City of Chicago School District 299City of Chicago School District 299City of Chicago School District 299City of Chicago School District 299City of Chicago School District 299City of Chicago School District 299City of Chicago School District 299City of Chicago School District 299City of Chicago School District 299City of Chicago School District 299City of Chicago School District 299City of Chicago School District 299City of Chicago School District 299ChicagoChicagoChicagoChicagoChicagoChicagoChicagoChicagoChicagoChicagoChicagoChicagoChicagoChicagoChicagoChicagoChicagoChicagoChicagoChicagoChicagoChicagoChicagoChicagoChicagoChicagoChicagoChicagoChicagoChicagopre-K– 8K– 6K– 81 – 8K– 8K– 6K– 8pre-K– 8K– 8K– 6K– 8pre-K– 8K– 8K– 8K– 6K– 8pre-K– 8K– 8pre-K– 8K– 8K– 8K– 8pre-K– 8pre-K– 8K– 8pre-K– 8pre-K– 8pre-K– 8pre-K– 8pre-K– 8
1) Lenart Elementary Regional Gifted Center2) Decatur Classical Elementary School3) Edison Elementary Regional Gifted Center4) Keller Elementary Gifted Magnet School5) Edgebrook Elementary School6) McDade Elementary Classical School7) Hawthorne Elementary Scholastic Academy8) Oriole Park Elementary School9) Jackson,A.,Elementary Language Academy10) Poe Elementary Classical School11) LaSalle Elementary Language Academy12) Skinner Elementary School13) Lincoln Elementary School14) Sheridan Elementary Math & Science Acad.15) Murray Elementary Language Academy16) Wildwood Elementary School17) Bell Elementary School18) Thorp,O.A.,Elementary Scholastic Acad.19) Blaine Elementary School20) Franklin Elementary Fine Arts Center21) Sauganash Elementary School22) Garvy,J.,Elementary School23) Ebinger Elementary School24) Beaubien Elementary School25) Stone Elementary Scholastic Academy26) Canty Elementary School27) Burley Elementary School28) Norwood Park Elementary School29) Solomon Elementary School30) Washington,G.,Elementary School
23.026.027.0-31.027.031.520.028.520.031.029.722.528.529.034.030.028.328.328.029.028.526.722.030.526.026.032.030.022.322.025.527.030.040.025.031.032.530.525.032.026.531.028.530.528.028.728.320.528.026.027.025.327.020.724.526.522.538.020.7$61,178$61,178$61,178$61,178$61,178$61,178$61,178$61,178$61,178$61,178$61,178$61,178$61,178$61,178$61,178$61,178$61,178$61,178$61,178$61,178$61,178$61,178$61,178$61,178$61,178$61,178$61,178$61,178$61,178$61,178$6,023$6,023$6,023$6,023$6,023$6,023$6,023$6,023$6,023$6,023$6,023$6,023$6,023$6,023$6,023$6,023$6,023$6,023$6,023$6,023$6,023$6,023$6,023$6,023$6,023$6,023$6,023$6,023$6,023$6,02313.413.413.413.413.413.413.413.413.413.413.413.413.413.413.413.413.413.413.413.413.413.413.413.413.413.413.413.413.413.420.2/120.2/120.2/120.2/120.2/120.2/120.2/120.2/120.2/120.2/120.2/120.2/120.2/120.2/120.2/120.2/120.2/120.2/120.2/120.2/120.2/120.2/120.2/120.2/120.2/120.2/120.2/120.2/120.2/120.2/1
100.099.599.198.797.095.893.892.391.991.991.789.088.187.786.586.584.683.883.581.781.781.681.380.479.679.077.477.477.277.1
LowIncome(%)
 
District NamePupil-TeacherRatioTotalSchoolEnrollmentSpendingperStudent*2005 School Composite %Meets/Exceeds(reading,math,and science)
AVERAGE CLASS SIZE
KGrade 1Grade 3
30.025.028.028.030.022.031.029.529.529.031.530.033.530.528.028.028.027.022.029.029.023.528.528.830.028.023.031.030.029.032.022.031.028.027.028.029.530.531.525.029.532.325.030.028.027.026.731.018.531.037.030.026.028.830.533.020.525.033.018.7263266259231288186557525540182563611604527367334788817651368421541595993605609437350395699
Grade 6Avg.TeacherSalary*Avg.YearsTeacherExperience*Grades inSchool
Public Schools:CHICAGO
City
 
La Grange School District 105 (South)Northbrook/Glenview School District 30Northbrook Elementary School Dist.27Northbrook Elementary School Dist.27Kenilworth School District 38Northbrook/Glenview School District 30Sunset Ridge School District 29Northbrook Elementary School Dist.27Northbrook/Glenview School District 30Sunset Ridge School District 29Northbrook Elementary School Dist.27Northbrook School District 28Northbrook School District 28La Grange School District 105 (South)Winnetka School District 36Northbrook School District 28Winnetka School District 36Winnetka School District 36Winnetka School District 36Northbrook School District 28West Northfield School District 31Winnetka School District 36Oak Park Elementary School District 97Glencoe School District 35Riverside School District 96Pleasantdale School District 107La Grange Highlands School District 106Riverside School District 96West Northfield School District 31Evanston C C School District 65La GrangeNorthbrookNorthbrookNorthbrookKenilworthNorthbrookNorthfieldNorthbrookGlenviewNorthfieldNorthbrookNorthbrookNorthbrookHodgkinsWinnetkaNorthbrookWinnetkaWinnetkaWinnetkaNorthbrookGlenviewWinnetkaOak ParkGlencoeBrookfieldLa GrangeLa GrangeRiversideNorthbrookEvanstonK– 6pre-K– 56 – 8K– 3pre-K– 86 – 8K– 34 – 5pre-K– 54 – 8K– 3pre-K– 56 – 8pre-K– 6K– 4K– 5K– 47 – 8K–4K– 5K– 55 – 6K– 5K– 2K– 5pre-K– 46 – 8K– 56 – 8K– 5
1) Spring Avenue Elementary School2) Wescott Elementary School3) Wood Oaks Junior High School4) Grove Elementary School5) The Joseph Sears School6) Maple School7) Middlefork Primary School8) Shabonee School9) Willowbrook Elementary School10) Sunset Ridge Elementary School11) Hickory Point Elementary School12) Westmoor Elementary School13) Northbrook Junior High School14) Hodgkins Elementary School15) Crow Island Elementary School16) Greenbriar Elementary School17) Greeley Elementary School18) Carleton W.Washburne School19) Hubbard Woods Elementary School20) Meadowbrook Elementary School21) Henry Winkelman Elementary School22) The Skokie School23) Horace Mann Elementary School24) South Elementary School25) Hollywood Elementary School26) Pleasantdale Elementary School27) Highlands Middle School28) Blythe Park Elementary School29) Field School30) Willard Elementary School
15.517.3-13.020.7-16.3-14.0-16.315.7-16.018.619.019.5-20.017.818.8-18.521.019.019.0-18.0-18.016.523.0-18.315.3-19.0-21.5-17.816.0-12.018.013.720.3-20.720.016.4-17.820.412.019.0-15.0-21.0$66,438$65,216$67,685$67,685$63,693$65,216$62,091$67,685$65,216$62,091$67,685$59,595$59,595$66,438$59,855$59,595$59,855$59,855$59,855$59,595$60,924$59,855$60,032$55,967$57,870$56,494$56,485$57,870$60,924$63,032$7,409$7,661$9,595$9,595$7,856$7,661$9,094$9,595$7,661$9,094$9,595$8,785$8,785$7,409$7,103$8,785$7,103$7,103$7,103$8,785$7,155$7,103$6,542$6,556$5,652$6,435$6,041$5,652$7,155$6,52118.317.814.914.915.117.812.714.917.812.714.913.413.418.312.213.412.212.212.213.414.412.214.312.013.913.914.013.914.414.014.9/114.3/112.8/112.8/114.4/114.3/112.7/112.8/114.3/112.7/112.8/113.3/113.3/114.9/114.6/113.3/114.6/114.6/114.6/113.3/113.2/114.6/116.3/114.5/115.8/114.7/116.1/115.8/113.2/115.3/1
96.393.291.991.894.490.995.388.788.392.887.793.593.387.096.491.794.894.694.189.488.392.891.995.195.391.593.994.686.087.6
LowIncome(%)
19.522.7-18.023.7-17.3-18.5-17.816.0-25.018.018.718.5-22.517.417.0-18.8-20.022.8-17.0-22.015.5-15.9-19.022.7---19.0--16.622.0-------21.1----24.0-18.7-230442476262580401228297279311275322622204412312345462392522537464439437119470311108324311
 
LowIncome(%)
 
District NameCityPupil-TeacherRatioTotalSchoolEnrollmentSpendingperStudent*2005 School Composite %Meets/Exceeds(reading,math,and science)
AVERAGE CLASS SIZE
KGrade 1Grade 3Grade 6Avg.TeacherSalary*Avg.YearsTeacherExperience*Grades in School
Public Schools:COOK COUNTY
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