Cossitt Ave Elem School vs Pleasantdale Elementary School

Cossitt Ave Elem School and Pleasantdale Elementary School sit just 5.0 miles apart in the La Grange, Illinois area, and both rank among the state's very best: Cossitt Ave Elem School lands at #46 of 3,813 Illinois schools while Pleasantdale Elementary School edges ahead at #36 of 3,813. Their overall ratings are nearly identical — Pleasantdale at 9.4/10 versus Cossitt at 9.3/10 — making this one of the closest school comparisons a parent will encounter.

The academic scores are similarly tight, with Pleasantdale Elementary School posting a 9.9/10 against Cossitt Ave Elem School's 9.8/10. The more notable divergence appears in growth scores, where Cossitt Ave Elem School scores 9.5/10 versus Pleasantdale Elementary School's 9.1/10 — a 0.4-point gap suggesting Cossitt's students show stronger academic progress relative to their starting points, even as Pleasantdale holds the marginal edge in raw proficiency.

The demographic and structural differences between the two schools are sharper. Free and reduced-price lunch eligibility stands at 3% at Cossitt Ave Elem School versus 19% at Pleasantdale Elementary School, a 16-percentage-point gap that reflects meaningfully different socioeconomic populations. Cossitt Ave Elem School enrolls 465 students with a student-teacher ratio of 11.3:1, compared to Pleasantdale Elementary School's 477 students and a 12.2:1 ratio — giving Cossitt a slightly smaller class environment on average.

The grade spans served differ in a practically important way: Cossitt Ave Elem School covers kindergarten through grade 6, while Pleasantdale Elementary School runs pre-K through grade 4, meaning families at Pleasantdale will face a school transition two years earlier. Pleasantdale's pre-K offering gives it an entry point for families with younger children not yet at kindergarten age.