Best Public Schools in Markham, IL

The city of Markham, Illinois is home to 5 schools, including 4 elementary schools and 1 middle school, spread across two different school districts - Prairie-Hills Education Service District 144 and Hazel Crest School District 152-5. The standout school in the area appears to be Prairie-Hills STEAM Academy, which outperforms the other schools and district/state averages in both English Language Arts and Mathematics assessments.

While the overall academic performance across the schools is low, with most schools performing well below state averages, Prairie-Hills STEAM Academy stands out with significantly higher proficiency rates. For example, in the 2024-2025 school year, 49.2% of all grades at Prairie-Hills STEAM Academy were proficient or better in ELA, compared to 27% for the Prairie-Hills district and 53.1% for the state of Illinois. In math, 24.6% of all grades at Prairie-Hills STEAM Academy were proficient or better, compared to 14.1% for the district and 38.5% for the state. This suggests there may be significant differences in resources, teaching quality, or other factors that contribute to the higher achievement at Prairie-Hills STEAM Academy.

However, the schools in Markham face significant challenges, including high chronic absenteeism rates, ranging from 25.4% to 25.4%, which are well above state averages. Additionally, the schools have very high rates of free and reduced lunch recipients, ranging from 93.45% to 100%, indicating a high level of economic disadvantage among the student populations. While the data reveals funding disparities, with per-student spending ranging from $13,024 at Prairie-Hills STEAM Academy to $26,042 at Barack H Obama Learning Academy, the overall picture suggests there is room for improvement across the district by learning from the successes of Prairie-Hills STEAM Academy.