At Chicago Parent we know how important education is to our readers. But with so many choices, how do you find the right school? With the help of our trusted education advertising partners, we’re here to help!
Your child’s education journey can set the tone for their future success. Take a look at the list below and discover how your child can grow and thrive!
The Avery Coonley School
The Avery Coonley School (ACS) is a place where it is safe — and fun — to be smart. Designed to meet the needs of advanced learners, ACS provides them with the environment where they can thrive and a curriculum with the depth, pace and complexity to challenge them to the fullest. We meet students where they are academically, then challenge them to think differently and even deeper.
We encourage them to take risks as they learn about the world and solve problems through hands-on experiences. Math, music, science, literacy and French are all part of our comprehensive curriculum starting in preschool.
British International School of Chicago, Lincoln Park
At British International School of Chicago, Lincoln Park, we educate your child to achieve academic success, enabling entry into the world’s leading universities. Globally respected curricula are enhanced by collaborations with pre-eminent organizations such as Juilliard, MIT and UNICEF to ensure that every child develops the skills and mindset needed to thrive in an ever-changing world.
Chicago City Day School
Chicago City Day School prepares elementary students to succeed in high school and beyond with a rigorous curriculum, a compassionate approach to learning and a dynamic 2-acre campus. City Day stands apart with a unique focus on public speaking, which helps students become confident communicators. We offer numerous travel opportunities, including immersive trips to France and Spain and a science research expedition to the Bimini region of the Bahamas.
The indoor and outdoor spaces on our campus make it a true “oasis of learning” in one of Chicago’s most vibrant neighborhoods. For more than 40 years, City Day graduates have attended top high schools in Chicago and around the country.
Council Oak Montessori School
At Council Oak Montessori School, your child will learn and grow in a vibrant community of children and adults exploring the world around them and their role in it. On our campus, housing a 38,000-square-foot building and a half-acre of gardens, each child spends their day immersed in beautiful inquiry-based learning spaces both indoors and out. They are joyful learners, absorbing not only from the academic curriculum, but also entrepreneurship, music, fine arts, and movement.
Our guides are specialists in their fields, bringing with them a passion that inspires and motivates our young learners. Our eighth grade graduates, now internally motivated to learn and grow, leave us confident in their ability to self-advocate, advocate for others and be ready to take on the challenges of high school and beyond as authentic leaders.
It Takes A Village Leadership Academy
It Takes A Village Family of Schools, a Chicago-based network, has been dedicated since its founding to transforming communities through high-quality, culturally responsive education and comprehensive social services. Founded in 2004 by former Chicago Public Schools educator Gwendolyn Harris, her daughter Nakisha Hobbs and their friend Anita Andrews-Hutchinson, the network emerged from their shared disappointment with systemic educational failures. The initial establishment in Chicago’s Western Humboldt Park served 47 Black children and their families. ITAV has gained recognition for its commitment to loving Black children and designing education tailored to meet their unique needs.
Through partnerships and programs addressing physical, mental health, educational, employment, housing, and nutritional needs, the network has made a significant impact in the community. This dedication led to the creation of Village Leadership Academy, a K-8 school with ongoing growth and expansion. With a clear mission to create a more just and liberated world by supporting Black children and their families, ITAV continues to evolve and innovate in the education sector.
Rogers Park Montessori School
Rogers Park Montessori School has been supporting children and families for nearly 60 years, preparing them to wonder, to collaborate and to lead. RPMS students are curious, independent and confident; and over 95% of RPMS graduates are admitted into the high school of their choice.
Rowe Elementary School
Rowe Elementary & Middle School, operated by Northwestern University Settlement House, prepares students to succeed in, and graduate from, college by cultivating the desire and expectation to go to college and delivering an academically rigorous curriculum infused with unique social and emotional programming! We best serve our students and their families by instilling in them the college mindset — holistically preparing them to successfully navigate the road to college graduation.
We believe that our community is full of brilliant young people who, when provided an excellent education, are able to compete at colleges across the country.
Sacred Heart Schools Chicago
Sacred Heart nurtures the whole child, mind and heart. As the best and oldest independent school in Chicago, Sacred Heart adheres to its own time-honored vision and high standard of excellence, to create a dynamic curriculum designed to meet the needs of modern students, but rooted in 5 common goals; faith, love of learning, social action, community, and personal growth. While 50% of our students are Catholic, the rest of the student body comes from other religious backgrounds and the school welcomes and celebrates faith diversity.
Its unique blend of single-gender classrooms and co-educational opportunities empowers students to explore their identity, build relationships and develop essential life skills. Students graduate with the confidence and competence to take their place in the city’s best high schools and with a sense of compassion and commitment that allows them to make a positive impact on their communities throughout their lives.
Sonia Shankman Orthogenic School (O-School)
Founded more than 100 years ago at the University of Chicago, the Sonia Shankman Orthogenic School (O-School) provides a safe haven and a path to hope for bright children with significant social-emotional needs, typically due to a mental health challenge or ASD. Highly respected by mental health professionals, the O-School offers an ambitious curriculum, a highly skilled team of clinicians, and instructors and a rich array of fine arts and co-curricular opportunities for therapeutic day school students.
Through its comprehensive supports, the O-School breaks the cycle of repeated interventions, fosters healing, and prepares students for a successful future. Additionally, the O-School offers a Diagnostic and Evaluation Center and a supportive summer camp.
St. John’s Northwestern Academies
St. John’s Northwestern Academies is an independent, coed, college preparatory and leadership development boarding and day school. We are dedicated to the individual preparation of our students for success in college and life. Integral to our mission is the development of personal character and leadership traits in our students
Center for Talent Development at Northwestern University
Center for Talent Development (CTD) at Northwestern University works with families and educators to help young people PreK through grade 12 find their strengths and interests and create their unique talent development path. Through CTD’s assessment, academic enrichment and accelerated course options, students discover what they truly love to learn and how to reach their full potential. And as a leader in gifted education and talent development, CTD conducts research and helps schools implement programs and services that identify and nurture exceptional talent using equitable, evidence-based practices.
Academic Approach
Academic Approach’s customized programs and motivating tutors offer students a unique skills-based learning solution that supports continuity in their education. It specializes in tutoring for High School Admissions, preparing for the ACT and SAT, and academic subjects.
Bennett Day School
At Bennett Day School, we believe that every child is born wondering and that fostering this innate curiosity leads to a lifelong love of learning. Inspired by the schools of Reggio Emilia, our educators are experts in child development and keen observers of students and their interests. Our students learn by doing through dynamic project-based learning experiences, and our competency-based approach to education and assessment provides each learner with actionable feedback based on their strengths and areas of challenge.
British International School of Chicago, South Loop
We offer local heritage, global education. We are committed to helping students, from 3 to 18 years, achieve excellence academically, personally and socially in an inclusive and vibrant community. Our personalized learning approach means your child will achieve more than they ever imagined possible.
Catherine Cook School
Catherine Cook is a warm and inclusive learning community that values curiosity, connection, and compassion. From age 3 through 8th grade, we provide a strong academic program that lets students explore their interests, develop empathy for others, build strong relationships and, most importantly, have fun. Our graduates are highly prepared for the future, with 100% of the Class of 2024 accepted into at least one of their top three high school choices! Financial support is available. Schedule a tour and see for yourself why our families love Catherine Cook.
Chesterbrook Academy Preschools
Our preschools combine learning experiences and structured play in a fun, safe and nurturing environment. Our focus is making sure each child is happy, thriving and ready for what comes next. Our proprietary curriculum, Links to Learning, was created by a team of highly skilled experts not only in the field of early childhood education, but also in elementary and secondary education. This ensures that our curriculum is robust yet flexible, meets the needs of each child, and prepares children for elementary school and beyond.
Our teachers are enthusiastic about developing lifelong learners. They genuinely care about children and have the sensitivity and knowledge to understand a child’s individual developmental needs. We give our teachers the freedom and flexibility to develop their own creative activities within the framework of our curriculum. This allows them to match the interests, learning styles and abilities of each of their students.
Chicago Jewish Day School
Chicago Jewish Day School is home to a welcoming, intentionally diverse community of Jewish children deeply engaged in innovative, student-centered learning. Our research-based academic program fuels a lifelong passion for learning in every student. With deliberately small class sizes, we ensure personalized attention and high levels of engagement.
Our innovative curriculum seamlessly integrates hands-on learning across multiple disciplines, including both Judaic and General Studies. Whether in the maker space, on a field trip, or in the classroom, this holistic approach not only enhances understanding but also encourages students to apply their knowledge practically, connecting with the world beyond the classroom.
At the core of a CJDS education is the commitment to developing deep, comprehensive knowledge and fostering the essential skills that prepare students to thrive as proactive, independent learners wherever they go. Our learning environment, focused on limitless possibilities for growth, empowers students to confidently embrace challenges and learn from failure, paving their way to academic achievement.
Countryside Day School
Individualized curriculum is exciting and inspiring, but it is only the beginning. At Countryside, education also develops skills needed to build a life: agency, initiative, communication, collaboration, empathy, respect, responsibility, resourcefulness and accountability. Education should do more than offer rigorous academic content with a side dish of character curriculum.
At Countryside, we have blended these two educational aspirations: applying a genuinely individualized approach that allows for optimal learning and creating living classroom communities that inspire students to grow the essential competencies that will be indispensable in the future.
Gateway Montessori School
Gateway Montessori School is a small, nonprofit school recognized by the Association Montessori Internationale (AMI) and located in a vibrant, multicultural Chicago neighborhood. It has been nurturing the potential within each child since 2006. Our child-centered programs are The Community, age 15 months to 3 years, Children’s House, age 3-6 years, and Elementary age 6-12 years. Summer programs and aftercare programs available.
GEMS World Academy Chicago
We are an International Baccalaureate school in the heart of downtown Chicago. Our location allows our teachers to use the city as an extension of their classrooms, providing students with experiential, real-world learning opportunities. Students are guided to their fullest potential as well-rounded, empathetic problem solvers who are ready to make an impact on our world. As part of our dedication to global citizenship, we require daily French, Spanish or Mandarin instruction.
About 1/3 of our student population are international, 1/3 are from other parts of the U.S. and 1/3 are rooted Chicagoans. In the multicultural hub of Chicago, GEMS is a model of our increasingly interconnected world.
German International School Chicago (GISC)
The German International School Chicago (GISC) is an IB World School that provides students with a bilingual, international education from Preschool through Grade 8. Low student-teacher ratios enhance the supportive and individualized learning environment that prepares students to become well-rounded, creative, and responsible global citizens. The current student body represents over 40 nationalities with 26 languages spoken at home. GISC is a welcoming, diverse and inclusive learning institution with a strong sense of community. It serves both American and international students.
Hyde Park Day School
We educate bright students with learning disabilities to prepare them for successful transitions to mainstream public, private or parochial schools in their home communities. We believe the complex nature of significant learning disabilities requires a program that focuses on the remediation of fundamental skills, development of strategies to compensate for learning challenges and the use of appropriate accommodations.
This is accomplished through a low student-to-teacher ratio, a state-of-the-art technology program, an integrated services approach, highly talented staff, all with a comprehensive professional development program and a safe, nurturing environment designed to build self-esteem, self-confidence and a genuine interest in learning.
Immaculate Conception Grade School Elmhurst
Immaculate Conception Grade School partners with parents to prepare students for lives as Catholic leaders. As Christians empowered by the Holy Spirit, we focus on formation through prayer, message, concern and service to the community. We teach students to live a life that embodies these values, is centered in Christ and strives for their greatest academic potential. With a full-time Reading Specialist, Math Specialist, Nurse and Social Worker, we are able to provide a well-rounded education for all students.
We strive to meet every child where they are at with a leveled learning platform in reading and math which caters to each student’s unique needs.
JCC Chicago
We offer a discovery-based curriculum focused on social, emotional, cognitive, fine and gross motor skills, language and spiritual development. Nurturing educators work purposefully with each child as they engage in active learning, exploring the outdoors and gaining 21st-century skills. Families find it easy to build friendships as extended members of the beautiful classroom communities we build every day. We have a full-time social services team on-site.
Swim lessons offered for 3s and 4s at West Rogers Park and Northbrook sites. Free day camp for full-day, year-round 3s and 4s. New families could save up to $2,000 with the help of JUF Right Start. Scholarship available.
Latin School of Chicago
For more than 135 years, Latin School School of Chicago has helped students realize their full potential. Our commitment to academic excellence is rooted in our belief in the value of an exemplary liberal arts education that promotes learning that is inquiry-based, personal and inclusive. We provide a well-rounded educational experience that empowers our students to tinker, make mistakes, ask questions and change how they see the world around them.
We put our students at the heart of everything we do, embrace their uniqueness, and encourage their curiosity, creativity, collaboration, and empathy. We also ensure that every Latin Learner has what they need to thrive both in and out of the classroom.
Lycée Français de Chicago
Journey the world with Chicago’s premier international school. At LFC, we believe a good education is the beginning of a successful lifelong journey. Our focus on academic excellence, language immersion and a personalized experience empowers students to thrive around the world, in college and throughout their academic, professional and personal lives.
Metropolitan Schoolhouse
Metropolitan Schoolhouse empowers diverse learners to succeed in the classroom and beyond. Our whole-child, individualized curriculum provides the academic rigor our students deserve and the social-emotional support they need.
North Shore Country Day
North Shore Country Day prepares students with the skills to navigate a rapidly changing world with confidence.
Redwood Day School
Redwood Day School is an educational program for K-8th grade students with learning disabilities. Our curriculum employs evidence-based interventions tailored to students diagnosed with learning disabilities such as, but not limited to, dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia and ADHD. We offer an alternative learning environment for more individualized academic and social-emotional support. Through our small group instructional model, each student is fully known, supported, celebrated and equipped with tools and advocacy skills for their educational journey.
Saint Clement School
We engage every child in a challenging academic environment that empowers and inspires them. Upon graduating from Saint Clement School, our students enter high school empowered by their rich experience of faith, service and intellectual discovery. Our students are compassionate leaders entrusted with a sacred responsibility to share their gifts, serve the common good and respond with confidence to the challenges each day.
One testimonial: “Saint Clement provides a strong, nurturing and safe community with high expectations for academic achievement. The junior high teachers excel and prepare the graduates to perform well at whatever high school they attend.” Saint Clement School received the 2020 National Blue Ribbon School Award.
Solomon Schechter Day School
Schechter is an ISACS-accredited, National Blue Ribbon award-winning school with the Sager School (K-8) and the Ginsburg Early Childhood Center. We offer an innovative, nurturing and joyful environment that blends academic excellence with Jewish life, learning and values.
Schechter not only lays the foundation for children’s Jewish identity but also fosters their growth within a vibrant and nurturing community.
This community serves as a cornerstone, where students not only receive an exemplary education but also find support for their academic, social, emotional and spiritual needs.
St. Catherine of Siena Academy
As a Roman Catholic high school for young women, led by the laity, our mission at St. Catherine of Siena Academy is to nurture students in their authentic femininity as cherished daughters of God. Here, St. Catherine’s students flourish in a supportive community while pursuing their unique passions and interests. Our education goes beyond academics, weaving together moral values and standards of excellence to empower graduates to navigate the world with confidence and courage. St. Catherine Academy offers a robust college preparatory curriculum, featuring a wide array of honors and Advanced Placement courses.
Central to our teaching philosophy is the Harkness method, fostering student-centered discussions reminiscent of Socratic teaching. Noteworthy aspects of our program include numerous dual-enrollment opportunities with Madonna University and other nearby colleges, facilitated by our collegiate block schedule. Furthermore, our rigorous science program provides eligible students with the opportunity to engage in pre-medicine internships.
St. Celestine School
St. Celestine School has an advanced technology program, rigorous academics and a strong faith-filled community. Our tuition is affordable with tuition assistance available for families. We strive to give students and families the very best learning experience possible.
Timothy Christian Schools
Timothy Christian Schools is a nondenominational Preschool-12th grade campus where Christ is at the heart of everything that we do. Recognized as a National Blue Ribbon School, Timothy is a college preparatory school rooted in Biblical Values and Truth. From our youngest preschool students to our high school seniors, we see our students as individuals with God-given gifts and talents.
With personalized and targeted instruction in the classroom, we combine challenging programs with a Christ-centered community. At Timothy we go beyond growing minds and transform hearts — one student at a time.
The University of Chicago Laboratory Schools
A great school is one thing, but a great school that is also part of a world-class research university is quite another. Established in 1896 by legendary philosopher and educator John Dewey, Lab is the country’s first laboratory school. It is considered a pioneer in the progressive education tradition and to this day, provides a best-in-class experiential college preparatory education for a diverse community of children entering Nursery School (age 3) through Grade 12.
