Jane Addams Elementary School

My kids love it there. They came two years ago to the school and have been learning and having a good time.

Not so happy. There is no real interest for improving. Could be better maybe. This make me sad but is the truth.

This school is not a place for children and families not of Hispanic origin. They are very discriminatory towards children with behavioral, social and emotional needs especially black children. They do not provide adequate support and will try to throw a child in a different placement before trying to help them.

I want to be clear that I am assessing the new Washington Dual Language Academy that started this school year 2014-2015. I have to admit I was extremely skeptical to enroll my daughters in this school given the District's reputation, but given the focus on dual language acquisition and competency I felt it was a calculated risk worth taking. Also, given this was a new program I believed that if there were enough committed parents and teachers all working toward the same goal, this school could be different. I'm pleased to say that from my experience this year it was MUCH better than I expected. Of course, the enrollment experience could have been better planned and executed but I didn't want that to impact negatively on my experience with the school as they were not at fault for the District's disorganization. We transferred in from Oak Park River Forest school district known for strong academic performances year after year. After experiencing OPRF (as a minority) I would strongly recommend this program for non-Spanish speaking students as well as already bilingual students. My daughters came into the program knowing very little Spanish given we don't speak it at all at home and it was not a strong emphasis (although offered as a course) in OPRF, but at Washing Dual Language they were in the perfect environment to learn it and have done well in their acquisition as well as literacy in both English and Spanish (both on grade level and above for each language). They also did not suffer in their development of the required core subject materials, it was just a bonus to also learn it in Spanish. I'm hopeful that the upcoming years will improve further as long as the community can see the value in the bilingualism of students and parents engage with the school in their individual child's journey. Let's continue to raise the standard for our community school and their overall performance.

St. Paul has an excellent teaching staff. It has provided a good Christian education to the community for many years. It is a safe, stable environment for our children. Tuition has not increased for 2013-14 so that it can be affordable. The teachers are dedicated to the students, providing the best education possible. I highly recommend St. Paul Lutheran School!

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