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Markham, Illinois - 9 schools
An equity score of 36/100 ranks Prairie-Hills Esd 144 #442 of 763 districts in Illinois (state average 38). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $15,973 per pupil, Prairie-Hills Esd 144 ranks #421 of 848 Illinois districts by per-pupil spending (Illinois districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
2,511
Total Enrollment
9
Schools
$15,973
Per-Pupil Spending
Combined, Middle
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Prairie-Hills Esd 144 operates 9 public schools serving 2,511 students, placing it among the smaller districts in Illinois. The school portfolio breaks down into 7 combined, 1 middle, 1 elementary schools, a compact enough portfolio that families can compare every campus directly before they move, rent, or enrol. These enrollment and school figures come from the NCES Common Core of Data (CCD) 2024-25 release, and the district is based in Cook County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $15,973 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, in the upper half of 848 Illinois districts by per-pupil spending. See how Illinois compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 30.7% local, 53.0% state, and 16.3% federal, a state-revenue-heavy mix that insulates the district somewhat from local property-tax volatility, though it ties funding to state budget cycles. The district's equity score is 36/100, ranked #442 of 763 in Illinois against a state average of 38, in line with the typical spread seen across the state for how evenly funding reaches its schools.
a 383:1 student-counselor ratio, well above the ASCA benchmark though still under the roughly 408:1 national average, and 36.0% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 73.5% African American, 21.6% Hispanic or Latino, 2.1% White across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Fieldcrest Elem School, with a diversity index of 63.7/100.
Its largest campus is Prairie-Hills Junior High School, enrolling 766 students (31% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is Primary Learning Center, at 4 students, a 192x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Prairie-Hills Junior High School accounts for 30.5% of all Prairie-Hills Esd 144 student enrollment
That dominant concentration means Prairie-Hills Esd 144-wide averages can mask substantial variation outside the dominant entity. Grade band: middle. A single dominant campus often anchors a district's program offerings and staffing patterns; the share helps explain why district-wide averages may not reflect the typical neighbourhood-school experience. When one entity dominates a region's footprint, its programmatic and budget decisions effectively set policy for a majority of the affected population.
Prairie-Hills Esd 144 school enrollment varies 192× across entities
Prairie-Hills Esd 144 school enrollment ranges from 4 students (lowest) to 766 students (highest), a spread of 762 students. That ratio is an extreme outlier spread — among the widest gaps observed anywhere in this dataset. Per-school staffing ratios, programme availability, and capital-renovation cycles often diverge inside the same district based on enrollment shape.
Prairie-Hills Esd 144 student-counselor ratio is 383:1 — high (typically associated with staffing constraints that limit per-student counselor time; CRDC data shows higher ratios cluster in larger urban systems)
student-counselor ratio is the simplest comparative metric but it does not capture the full picture: the ratio counts FTE counselors against total enrollment, districts that contract intervention or social-emotional staff outside the counselor classification may be under-counted Higher values may reflect larger urban scale or recent resource constraints that have widened the gap.
Prairie-Hills Esd 144 chronic absenteeism rate is 36.0% — high (typically associated with higher-than-average disruption; recent CRDC data showed elevated rates persisting after pandemic-era schooling changes)
chronic absenteeism rate is the simplest comparative metric but it does not capture the full picture: a student is chronically absent if they miss ≥10% of enrolled days for any reason, illness, family obligations, or disengagement Higher values may reflect larger urban scale or recent resource constraints that have widened the gap.