Seward Elementary Communication Arts Ac

Seward Elementary Communication Arts Ac is a public elementary school serving grades PK-8 in Chicago, Illinois, part of the Chicago Public Schools District 299. The school has struggled academically, ranking in the bottom 10% of Illinois elementary schools for the past several years, with consistently low performance across student subgroups.

Seward Elementary stands out for its extremely high chronic absenteeism rates, ranging from 25.4% to 40.8% over the past few years, significantly higher than the district and state averages. Academically, the school lags far behind, with only 23.5% of students proficient in ELA and 14.5% proficient in math in 2024-2025, compared to 42.8% and 27.3% for the district, and 53.1% and 38.5% for the state. The school's struggles are evident across all student subgroups, with 3rd grade ELA proficiency at just 6.1%, compared to 36.2% for the district and 47.3% for the state.

Interestingly, Christopher Elementary School and CICS - Basil Campus, which are located in close proximity to Seward Elementary, significantly outperform the school across academic metrics, suggesting the low performance is not solely due to the neighborhood demographics. Seward Elementary also has extremely high rates of students from low socioeconomic backgrounds, with over 95% qualifying for free/reduced lunch, which likely contributes to the academic challenges the school faces. Despite these factors, Seward Elementary has consistently ranked in the bottom 10-15% of Illinois elementary schools for the past decade, with little to no improvement in its student outcomes, indicating a need for significant intervention and support to turn the school around.