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

Cics - Avalon/South Shore

Federal NCES profile for Cics - Avalon/South Shore, including enrollment, faculty, free-lunch eligibility, demographics, and resource indicators - Resource Investment Index 17/100.

2024-25 NCES dataElementary school (grades K-5)NCES 170993006507Charter school
0/100100/10017/100
👥 S:T ratio
22
🌟 Gifted program
30
📋 Attendance
0
Scored 0–100 from federal NCES and CRDC indicators, resource allocation, not test scores. Full methodology →

The verdict

Cics - Avalon/South Shore earns 17/100 on the Resource Investment Index, with class sizes larger than 95% of Illinois schools. It is also less racially and ethnically mixed than most Illinois schools.

#89 of 102
elementary schools in Chicago · Resource Index
17
Resource Index · Lower
19.5:1
large classes for Illinois
469
students enrolled

Cics - Avalon/South Shore has class sizes larger than 95% of Illinois schools. Computed live against every Illinois school reporting to NCES.

By Resource Investment Index, Cics - Avalon/South Shore ranks #89 of 102 elementary schools in Chicago, IL.

School address

Enrollment

469

Illinois · 2024-25 NCES data

Teachers (FTE)

24.0

Federal CCD staff survey

Students per teacher

19.5:1

vs 14:1 Illinois avg

+39% vs state

Student-teacher ratio in context

How Cics - Avalon/South Shore compares with Illinois and U.S. medians

Larger classes than 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 Cics - Avalon/South Shore

Teacher staffing is the clearest operational constraint

Cics - Avalon/South Shore's enrollment sits away from the most extreme size bands, but its reported student-teacher ratio is heavier than most Illinois schools. That isolates staffing load as a more useful concern than raw campus size. A high ratio does not establish weak teaching or outcomes, yet it can indicate less adult capacity per enrolled student. The remaining federal indicators show whether support staffing and program access offset that pressure.

Attendance is the dominant support signal

Cics - Avalon/South Shore's 49.3% chronic-absence rate is more consequential than a generic staffing label: at least one quarter of students missed 10% or more of school days in the 2021-22 collection. That level can affect instruction, counseling demand, and continuity even when other reported resources look ordinary. The dataset records the scale of absence but not its causes, so it should prompt a current-year question rather than a conclusion about school management.

Cics - Avalon/South Shore is a mid-sized charter elementary school in Chicago, Illinois, enrolling 469 students.

Class loads run heavy: 19.5:1 is larger than about 95% of Illinois schools and 39% above the 14:1 state mean, so each teacher carries more students than is typical.

Enrollment of 469 puts it in the larger third of Illinois schools by headcount.

Its Resource Investment Index trails 98% of the 3,845 Illinois schools with a score on record, one of the lower results on this measure.

Its student body is predominantly African American (98% of enrollment), among the less diverse in the state (diversity index 4/100).

Chronic absenteeism is elevated: 49.3% of students missed 10% or more of school days (2021-22 Civil Rights Data 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): Cics - Avalon/South Shore is smaller than that campus by headcount and runs heavier classes (19.5:1 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 Cics - Avalon/South Shore.

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 Cics - Avalon/South Shore compares

Cics - Avalon/South Shore on the metrics families compare, against Illinois and U.S. means.

Metric This school vs Illinois Illinois avg U.S. avg
Students per teacher 19.5:1 ▲ 39% 14:1 15.7:1
Enrollment 469 top 34% - -

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

19.5:1
Leaner classes than 18% of US schools, heavier class loads than most.
469
Bigger than 58% of US schools by enrollment, mid-sized for the country.

Equity indicators (what these measure)

Staffing depth
19.5:1
students per teacher - 39% above state mean
Top 95% in Illinois - lower ratio than 5% of state schools
Between 16:1 and 20:1, squarely in the typical U.S. public-school staffing range.
Engagement
49.3%
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
Counselors0.0 FTE
Student-support staffing from the Civil Rights Data Collection.
Discipline context
0
in-school suspensions + 0 out-of-school
Suspension rate: 0.0 per 100 students. Combined in-school and out-of-school rate: 0.0 per 100 students. Reported via the Civil Rights Data Collection.

Student demographics

African American 98.1%
Hispanic or Latino 1.5%
Asian 0.2%
Two or More 0.2%

Largest group: African American at 98.1% of enrollment.

Student-body diversity index 3.7/100

Simpson diversity index - at 3.7, Cics - Avalon/South Shore 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 Cics - Avalon/South Shore.

$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 Cics - Avalon/South Shore Compares to District-Mates

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

Comparisons are relative to Cics - Avalon/South Shore'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 Cics - Avalon/South Shore'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 Cics - Avalon/South Shore

How many students attend Cics - Avalon/South Shore?

Cics - Avalon/South Shore has 469 students enrolled. It is an elementary school in Chicago, IL.

What is the student-teacher ratio at Cics - Avalon/South Shore?

The student-teacher ratio at Cics - Avalon/South Shore is 19.5:1, which is 39% higher than the Illinois average of 14:1 and 24% higher than the national average of 15.7:1.

What is the racial and ethnic makeup of Cics - Avalon/South Shore?

The largest demographic group at Cics - Avalon/South Shore is African American at 98.1% of enrollment, in Chicago, IL.

What is the Resource Investment Index for Cics - Avalon/South Shore?

Cics - Avalon/South Shore has a Resource Investment Index of 17/100 (lower reported resources relative to schools nationally) based on 3 factors: student-teacher ratio, gifted-program reporting, chronic absenteeism. Not a test-score or academic measure (national median ~41/100, see methodology).

How does Cics - Avalon/South Shore rank among elementary schools in Chicago?

By Resource Investment Index, Cics - Avalon/South Shore ranks #89 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 Cics - Avalon/South Shore, 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.