Ray Elementary School

The principal is horrible and never takes time to meet with parents. The current principal is vindictive and unresponsive to the needs of both parents and students.

My kids have been at Harte for the last several years. We've had other options but chose to stay at Harte because our kids have had an overall great experience. The principal at this school is the most helpful and engaged school administrator we have ever come across. Problems will arise with students and staff, like any school, but Mr. Bright is always available to listen and remedy the situation. Between my kids we have experienced every grade between pre-K to 6th, and so far my kids have loved their teachers, made great friends and progressed academically above their grade level. Bret Harte faces the same challenges as all the neighborhoods schools in the area, but it's small size and great leadership make those challenges much more manageable than at their peer institutions.

Kozminski isn't a bad school people just don't give it a chance the teachers actually care about their students and want them to try their best. From what I know teachers are preparing their students for high school already. The school has low funding so it's not at its best but their students and teachers are.

Akiba Schechter is an incredible school with dedicated, committed, passionate faculty. The students are very capable and are challenged to grow and learn while supporting the community and friendships.

This school was the worst choice I made as a parent. My son was there for first grade. My experience was nothing but negative. Please believe that the image they portray on social media is not the experience your child will have. They punish children inappropriately to age. Silent lunches are common and given for very minor instances along with heads down for 15 minutes for 6 and 7 year olds. They allow punishing a whole class when 1 child does wrong. They treat children like robots rather than people. His teacher was inexperienced and passive aggressive. She told the children they couldn't go to the bathroom except when she took them and was "tired of them asking". My child was terrified to ask questions or do something wrong. The children were made to feel "dumb" if they didn't know something. It diminished not only his self esteem and confidence but other children in his class. His tests scores dropped dramatically in his time there. The children were put on ipads for 30-45 minutes a day. Principal and assistant principal are unresponsive. The grading system was wrong almost the entire year and no one knew how to fix it. They couldn't even say what was transferred to other schools even though the grading was filled with errors. All they care about is money. They send a million reminders on class dojo to remind everyone to pay tuition but fail to relay important information related to your childs' education. To top it off, you have to pay tuition in advance, when I pulled my child they wouldn't refund upfront payments. This was honestly the worst school I ever experienced and I am glad I got my son out of there regardless of the expense.

I have compared U of C Lab school curriculum and students from grades 3-5 with the same at a Chicago north suburban public &for the price about $2500/ month/student Lab gets a bad rating. Lab does not challenge gifted math students as does the north public schools bc they did not provide different math levels at this crucial stage. I also saw the writing levels of 4th graders, was only impressed with 2 of ~ 20 students. Most students showed lack of structure, cohesiveness, spelling skills. Lab relies on the smarts of the best students and Lab will gladly take parents $ from nursery to gr8. No real assessments so no clue. By high school Lab weeds out the kids that will make them look bad when ACT test scores are used to compare them with public school kids. Lab asks the kids who will not make them look good to leave at ~high school. So In the end it's not Lab that makes the kids but the kids that make Lab. People who work at the university get 1/2 off and there are no other good schools public or private in the area. UofC Lab school is in the south side of Chicago (not good). It's really not part of the city where you could walk to rest of city. It is so far south past McCormick place that it feels like a south suburb. The children are told they are great by the school so they have a confidence but it's not grounded in reality. I am not impressed. For that same price per month for one child you can buy a home in the north suburbs and have free education that is better and have your child grounded in reality. If Lab was great then they would have their students take the same tests as the public schools so parents could very easily compare, but they do not, and that says a lot. They also have horrible security. They do not take responsibility for signing the kids out of school but let the kids out with no supervision. Because they are a private school they are not subject to state laws that govern public schools that protect the children. If your child is bright, I would not pay for them to make Lab look good. I have seen graduates of Lab who are not impressive but they sure think they are and this has only hurt them in life. They have a hard time coping with any criticism. I think this is a result of Labbies certainly talking themselves up to each other and are afraid to step out of the Lab zone for comparison. Not impressed.