Summary:
Palos Heights School District 128 has four schools serving prekindergarten through grade 8: three elementary schools and one middle school. In 2025–2026, the three schools with reported scores averaged 75% in ELA and 57% in math, compared with state results of 56% and 40%. The most important difference is that reported math results vary much more from school to school than ELA results: a 30-point range in math versus 15 points in ELA.
Independence Junior High leads reported ELA at 82%, 15 points above Navajo Heights Elementary at 68%; Chippewa Elementary is at 76%. Math has a different leader: Chippewa scored 77%, about 30 points above Independence at 47% and Navajo Heights at 48%. Navajo Heights’ overall ELA score hides a sharp grade-level split: fourth grade was 86%, compared with 56% statewide, while fifth grade was 51%, 4 points below its state result. Independence’s math result was above the state but was the lowest among the three schools.
Scores and SchoolDigger’s relative rankings softened at two schools, while Navajo Heights improved in both reported subjects. From 2024–2025 to 2025–2026, Independence’s ELA and math scores fell 5 and 3 points, and its SchoolDigger percentile rank declined from 91 to 77; Navajo Heights’ rank went from 72 to 59. Navajo Heights’ ELA rose 1 point and math rose 3, though both increases were smaller than the state’s gains. As context, all four schools reported free/reduced lunch eligible figures for 2021–2022: 5% at Navajo Heights, 8% at Indian Hill, 12% at Independence and 16% at Chippewa. Independence had the lowest reported student-teacher ratio, 10.9, yet the lowest reported math score; these figures do not point to a simple pattern linking the measure or ratio with results. Indian Hill has no listed test scores, and the schools’ different grade spans mean their overall results do not compare the same grade cohorts.
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