Elementary school (grades K-5) · Chicago, IL

Black Magnet Elem School

Federal NCES profile for Black Magnet Elem School, including enrollment, faculty, free-lunch eligibility, demographics, and resource indicators - Resource Investment Index 38/100.

2024-25 NCES dataElementary school (grades K-5)NCES 170993000609
0/100100/10038/100
👥 S:T ratio
48
🌟 Gifted program
30
🎓 Counselors
33
📋 Attendance
43
Scored 0–100 from federal NCES and CRDC indicators, resource allocation, not test scores. Full methodology →

The verdict

Black Magnet Elem School earns 38/100 on the Resource Investment Index, with class sizes near the Illinois median. It is also less racially and ethnically mixed than most Illinois schools.

#21 of 102
elementary schools in Chicago · Resource Index
38
Resource Index · Typical
12.9:1
students per teacher
336
students enrolled

Black Magnet Elem School has class sizes near the Illinois median. Computed live against every Illinois school reporting to NCES.

By Resource Investment Index, Black Magnet Elem School ranks #21 of 102 elementary schools in Chicago, IL.

School address

Enrollment

336

Illinois · 2024-25 NCES data

Teachers (FTE)

26.0

Federal CCD staff survey

Students per teacher

12.9:1

vs 14:1 Illinois avg

-8% vs state

Student-teacher ratio in context

How Black Magnet Elem School compares with Illinois and U.S. medians

At or below state median

Source: NCES Common Core of Data As of 2024-25 federal staff survey Total enrollment ÷ full-time-equivalent classroom teachers

What stands out at Black Magnet Elem School

Scale and staffing sit near the state mainstream

Black Magnet Elem School is neither an extreme outlier in enrollment nor in student-teacher ratio among Illinois schools. Its profile therefore turns on the other dimensions rather than on scale alone: economic need, counselor coverage, program access, attendance, and district finance. This middle placement is useful because it prevents the campus from being mislabeled as unusually large, small, crowded, or teacher-dense when the federal comparison does not support that claim.

No single support indicator dominates

Black Magnet Elem School's available federal support indicators do not reveal an extreme in advanced-course access, specialist staffing, chronic absence, or IDEA enrollment. The most responsible reading is therefore component by component rather than a sweeping verdict: current counseling availability, health support, program schedules, and attendance policy still warrant direct confirmation. Missing or middle-range federal fields are not evidence that services are either strong or weak.

Black Magnet Elem School is a mid-sized elementary school in Chicago, Illinois, enrolling 336 students.

At 12.9:1, its student-teacher ratio sits close to the Illinois median, within a few percentage points of the 14:1 state norm, neither notably crowded nor notably small.

With 336 students, its enrollment sits close to the Illinois median campus size.

Its Resource Investment Index sits near the middle of the pack among 3,845 scored Illinois schools.

Its student body is predominantly African American (97% of enrollment), among the less diverse in the state (diversity index 5/100).

Counselor availability sits well past the ASCA benchmark, roughly 336 students sharing each counselor, though short of the most stretched campuses.

Attendance runs somewhat below the norm, with 22.9% of students chronically absent per the 2021-22 civil-rights collection.

The surrounding City of Chicago Sd 299 spends $22,699 per pupil, 25% above the Illinois average, a better-resourced district than most.

Its district draws 17.4% of revenue from federal sources, an above-typical federal share that tends to track a higher-need student population.

Among Chicago's elementary schools, it stands alongside Mount Greenwood Elem School (1,182 students): Black Magnet Elem School is smaller than that campus by headcount and runs leaner classes (12.9:1 vs 18.5:1).

City of Chicago Sd 299 also operates Lane Technical High School (4,604 students) and Taft High School (4,487 students) alongside Black Magnet Elem School.

Sourced from NCES CCD, CRDC, and F-33 (federal records, not a quality verdict). How we source and compute this.

Source: National Center for Education Statistics Common Core of Data + CRDC + F-33 · 2024-25

How Black Magnet Elem School compares

Black Magnet Elem School on the metrics families compare, against Illinois and U.S. means.

Metric This school vs Illinois Illinois avg U.S. avg
Students per teacher 12.9:1 ▼ 8% 14:1 15.7:1
Enrollment 336 top 57% - -

Source: NCES Common Core of Data School-level CCD + state/national means from Public School Universe · 2024-25

12.9:1
Leaner classes than 68% of US schools, among the more generously staffed nationally.
336
Bigger than 38% of US schools by enrollment, mid-sized for the country.

Equity indicators (what these measure)

Staffing depth
12.9:1
students per teacher - 8% below state mean
Top 41% in Illinois - lower ratio than 59% of state schools
Well under the widely cited 15:1 individualized-attention benchmark, among the leaner class loads nationally.
Engagement
22.9%
chronically absent (missed 10%+ of school days)
At or above 20%, the commonly used threshold for "high" chronic absenteeism, signaling significant barriers to regular attendance.
Funding equity
$22,699
per pupil, district-wide - above Illinois avg of $18,196
Well above the U.S. public-school average, reflecting substantially higher local or state investment per enrolled student.
Support staff
Counselors1.0 FTE
Per 336 students, the combined health-and-guidance staffing load for this school.
Discipline context
1
in-school suspensions + 2 out-of-school
Suspension rate: 0.3 per 100 students. Combined in-school and out-of-school rate: 0.9 per 100 students. Reported via the Civil Rights Data Collection.

Student demographics

African American 97.3%
Hispanic or Latino 2.4%
Two or More 0.3%

Largest group: African American at 97.3% of enrollment.

Student-body diversity index 5.3/100

Simpson diversity index - at 5.3, Black Magnet Elem School is less mixed than the Illinois school average of 38.9.

Programs

Funding & spending

District-wide per-pupil expenditure for City of Chicago Sd 299, which includes Black Magnet Elem School.

$22,699
Per student
+25%
vs Illinois
Avg $18,196
+29%
vs U.S.
Avg $17,658
Revenue mix
Local 52.8%
State 29.9%
Federal 17.4%

Source: NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey District-level finance · FY 2022-23 Per-pupil expenditure reflects the district-wide average. Individual school budgets are not reported at the federal level.

How Black Magnet Elem School Compares to District-Mates

School Enrollment Economic Profile Student-Teacher Ratio
Lane Technical High School Larger No free-lunch data Higher S:T ratio
Taft High School Larger No free-lunch data Higher S:T ratio
Curie Metropolitan High School Larger No free-lunch data Higher S:T ratio
Kenwood Academy High School Larger No free-lunch data Higher S:T ratio
Young Magnet High School Larger No free-lunch data Higher S:T ratio

Comparisons are relative to Black Magnet Elem School's own figures; each column derives from NCES Common Core of Data.

Other Schools in This District

City Of Chicago Sd 299 · 5 sibling schools

View district profile

Similar elementary schools in Chicago

6 comparable elementary schools (grades K-5) serving the same city.

Similar elementary schools statewide

Matched by enrollment size and by staffing ratio across all of Illinois, not just this city - a different peer set than the local comparisons above.

Next steps

Verify locally before acting on Black Magnet Elem School's federal record.

Federal record (CCD 2024-25, CRDC 2021-22) - PlainSchools assigns no subjective rating; the composite quality score is a transparent, reproducible index computed from this cited federal data.

Frequently asked questions about Black Magnet Elem School

How many students attend Black Magnet Elem School?

Black Magnet Elem School has 336 students enrolled. It is an elementary school in Chicago, IL.

What is the student-teacher ratio at Black Magnet Elem School?

The student-teacher ratio at Black Magnet Elem School is 12.9:1, which is 8% lower than the Illinois average of 14:1 and 18% lower than the national average of 15.7:1. Lower ratios generally mean more individual attention per student.

What is the racial and ethnic makeup of Black Magnet Elem School?

The largest demographic group at Black Magnet Elem School is African American at 97.3% of enrollment, in Chicago, IL.

What is the Resource Investment Index for Black Magnet Elem School?

Black Magnet Elem School has a Resource Investment Index of 38/100 (typical reported resources relative to schools nationally) based on 4 factors: student-teacher ratio, gifted-program reporting, counselor availability, chronic absenteeism. Not a test-score or academic measure (national median ~41/100, see methodology).

How does Black Magnet Elem School rank among elementary schools in Chicago?

By Resource Investment Index, Black Magnet Elem School ranks #21 of 102 elementary schools in Chicago, IL. This compares federal resource and staffing data among local peers; it is not a test-score or academic ranking. See all elementary schools in Chicago on the city page.

What other schools are in City of Chicago Sd 299?

Besides Black Magnet Elem School, City of Chicago Sd 299 also operates Lane Technical High School (4,604 students), Taft High School (4,487 students), and Curie Metropolitan High School (3,099 students). See the City of Chicago Sd 299 district page for the complete list.

Source: National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) CCD + Public School Universe (2024-25), CRDC (2021-22), F-33 District Finance Survey (FY 2022-23) · 2024-25 Data as of the 2024-25 school year. Coverage from U.S. Department of Education NCES Common Core of Data. Varies by entity type; administrative districts and certain charter networks may report only a subset of fields.

All federal data sources used on this page

Full source list and how we compute each figure: methodology page.

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Every figure on PlainSchools is rendered directly from the source NCES, CRDC and F-33 federal records, no number is typed in by an editor. Each school's figures reflect its most recent NCES/CRDC submission on file. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, the data changelog, or report a data error. Data current as of August 2026.