Summary:
ZIP code 60501 has six schools serving elementary through high school: four elementary schools, one middle school and one high school, with 3,252 students total and enrollment ranging from 114 to 1,817. The latest elementary results show substantial differences among schools, with ELA scores ranging from 40% to 78% and math from 31% to 51%. The most important finding for families is that an area-wide average would hide these large differences in elementary results.
Dr Donald Wharton Elementary stands out at the top: its 2025–2026 results were 78% in ELA and 51% in math, respectively 22 and 11 points above state rates. Its ELA score was 30 points above the average of the other three elementary schools. At the other end, Otis P Graves Elementary had the lowest elementary ELA result, 40%—16 points below the state and 21 points below the other schools’ average. Walsh Elementary was another strong math performer at 50%, while W W Walker Elementary had the lowest elementary math result, 31%. At the secondary level, Heritage Middle scored 53% in eighth-grade science, 2 points above the state; Argo Community High was below state rates in all three reported 11th-grade ACT subjects.
Elementary averages improved from 2024–2025 to 2025–2026: ELA rose from 47% to 56%, and math from 35% to 41%, moving the group from below state rates to slightly above the state in math. SchoolDigger’s statewide percentile for Wharton rose from 21 to 75, and Walsh’s from 40 to 60; SchoolDigger rated Wharton four stars, Walsh three and Graves one. Context also differs: in 2024–2025, Graves and Walsh reported 97% and 96% free/reduced lunch eligible, while Heritage, Walker and Wharton reported that all students receive free meals through Community Eligibility. Ratios that year ranged from 7.9 at Walker to 13.3 at Graves, but similar contexts do not explain the different results.
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