[14] Payton competes in the Chicago Public League and is a member of the Illinois High School Association.

Payton's girls volleyball team has made three appearances in the Illinois High School Association Class 3A state finals, finishing fourth in 2009, 2011 and 2014.

[15] The girls' varsity tennis team won state championships in 2018 and has placed in cities multiple times.

However, it was later revealed that Rauner had called then-Chicago Public Schools CEO Arne Duncan to overturn his daughter's initial rejection for admission.

[21][22] In May 2019, then–principal Timothy Devine ordered all of the yearbooks for the 2018-2019 school year reprinted due to contents showing students displaying the "ok" sign with their fingers below the waist, with the intention of getting others to look.

[26] According to an October 2019 news article published by WBEZ, Payton had dealt with a number of racist incidents, including Black students being called the "N-word" and bananas being thrown at them.

In the same article, then-principal Timothy Devine claimed that the incidents were a natural product of students from different backgrounds being brought together.

By May 2021, anonymous social media posts described the environment created by Resh’s administration as "a model of white supremacy culture.

"[28] Subsequent anonymous posts expressed lack of support given to the BIPOC community at Payton, and Resh resigned at the end of academic year.