An equity score of 31/100 ranks Sycamore Cusd 427 #531 of 759 districts in Illinois (state average 38). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $17,897 per pupil, Sycamore Cusd 427 ranks #358 of 845 Illinois districts by per-pupil spending (Illinois districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
3,598
Total Enrollment
7
Schools
$17,897
Per-Pupil Spending
Elementary, High
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Sycamore Cusd 427 operates 7 public schools serving 3,598 students, placing it among the smallest districts in Illinois. The school portfolio breaks down into 4 elementary, 1 high, 1 middle, 1 combined schools, a small enough portfolio that most families will interact with nearly every campus in the district at some point. These enrollment and school figures come from the NCES Common Core of Data (CCD) 2024-25 release, and the district is based in Dekalb County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $17,897 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, in the upper half of 845 Illinois districts by per-pupil spending. See how Illinois compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 59.3% local, 36.1% state, and 4.6% federal, a local-revenue-heavy mix that leaves the district more exposed to property-tax swings and local ballot measures than state-funded peers. The district's equity score is 31/100, ranked #531 of 759 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.
Academic infrastructure includes 1 of 7 schools offering Advanced Placement (10 AP courses district-wide), a 405.3:1 student-counselor ratio, well above the ASCA benchmark though still under the roughly 408:1 national average, and 17.5% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 76.3% White, 12.8% Hispanic or Latino, 3.8% African American across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is West Elem School, with a diversity index of 52.2/100.
Its largest campus is Sycamore High School, enrolling 1,161 students (31% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is West Elem School, at 270 students, a 4x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Sycamore High School accounts for 31.2% of all Sycamore Cusd 427 student enrollment
That dominant concentration means Sycamore Cusd 427-wide averages can mask substantial variation outside the largest entity. Grade band: high. The share measures enrollment concentration only; it does not establish how the district allocates programs, capital, or staff. Enrollment-weighted aggregates give this entity more weight than any smaller peer, while an unweighted entity average treats every record equally.
Sycamore Cusd 427 school enrollment varies 4.3× across entities
Sycamore Cusd 427 school enrollment ranges from 270 students (lowest) to 1,161 students (highest), a spread of 891 students. That relatively narrow ratio reflects an unusually homogeneous campus portfolio, most districts have a wider mix of school sizes. Per-school staffing ratios, programme availability, and capital-renovation cycles often diverge inside the same district based on enrollment shape.
Sycamore Cusd 427 student-counselor ratio is 405:1 — 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.
Sycamore Cusd 427 chronic absenteeism rate is 17.5% — near the typical range (US average ~28) — aligned with the national post-pandemic baseline of roughly 28% chronic absenteeism
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 Variation between sub-units within Sycamore Cusd 427 is typically wider than the Sycamore Cusd 427-aggregate figure suggests.