I cannot say enough wonderful things about the STEP-UP CAREER ACADEMY CENTER From the moment I…read morewalked through the doors, we felt a warm and welcoming atmosphere that immediately put us at ease. The staff is professional, nurturing, and genuinely cares about each child's well-being and development. The children have thrived in their care throughout the years--socially, emotionally, and academically. They also offer a great variety of activities like music, art, Storytime, and outdoor play that keep the kids engaged and excited to come each day. I absolutely love his company, thank you for all you do to help, grow, and prepare our children for their future. Review from Alisa D. Wimbley Chicago, IL.

I have nothing but positive things to say about this daycare/school. The staff and owners are very…read moreprofessional and are very nice people. The teachers are great. Ms. Shawny is a sweet person. She keeps this place going. If you want your child to attend a school where the staff and taechers care and actually teach your child and focus on development and social skills as well personal growth, this should be your choice . The extra activities is a plus.. always learning and stepping up on another level at A Step UP Career Academy.

I could not imagine going to a better school. I attended HCA from kindergarten through second grade…read moreand later returned for seventh grade and graduated from high school. If you are looking for a school where your child is not just a number, but a special individual then look no further. The teachers care about every student as if they were their own. I truly believe this school helped shape me into who I am today, not only professionally but also spiritually. If you are on a search for your child's schooling, please do yourself a favor and take some time to meet with someone at HCA. It could be exactly what you are looking for.

My children have attended HCA for several years. I love the sweet, family atmosphere and the…read morecommitment to academic excellence. The teachers and administrators truly care for my kids and they work hard to make sure they succeed. Each year my kids score at least one year ahead of their grade level, as do most students. The tuition is comparable to other private schools its size, and I am pleased with the friends and relationships my children have made. I'm grateful my children are able to be in such a great learning environment everyday.

My granddaughter attends this school. This is her first year. We had the opportunity to attend her…read moreChristmas program, which was very organized and well done. we also like the way they stress independent thinking.

We sent our sons there from P3 through 8th grade. The school was a great place for my two Black…read moreboys and they both really thrived there. I really appreciated that the school met them where they were at and built from there. I can say that of nearly every teacher they had during their 11 years at Ancona. The community is very engaged and feels like a small village in a big city. The results have been great as both of my sons have done great in HS, socially and academically, building on the foundation Ancona gave them.

I love studying here. The great history of the school is such an inspiration, every day I come into…read morethe school and get excited to learn, what all these exciting teachers have to say. Life is good at U-High, and everyday I love life here!

From the owner: Founded by the renowned educator John Dewey in 1896 and located in Hyde Park, the University of…read moreChicago Laboratory Schools are among the nation\ u2019s best.Being part of the University of Chicago means that the importance of intellectual lifeof thought and explorationinfuses everything we do across all aspects of our curriculum. Families who choose Lab care deeply about curiosity, inquiry, and creativity. All are attracted to a diverse community and an environment that creates and nurtures the habits of expansive thinking and complex problem-solving.Life after Labprepared for success in college and beyond Virtually all Lab alumni go on to graduate from a four-year college. They gain acceptance to outstanding colleges around Chicago and the country: from the University of Chicago, University of IllinoisUrbana Champaign, Northwestern, and DePaul, to Harvard, Emory, University of Southern California, and many more. And Lab grads find each other wherever they gotheir Lab relationships last for years after graduation, turning into unexpected opportunities over and over as they pursue any number of different fields: medicine, law, education, banking, finance, theater, and the creative arts.

This is an amazing school in the heart of Chicago. The new building opened about a year and half…read moreago and it is really state of the art. The building may be new but this school has a lot of history in the city. There is a beautiful green space on the roof of the school. It is great to go up here and enjoy the urban jungle which is our city. There is also a fun play area for the students including nets overhead...we would not want a basketball going over the side and hitting someone in the head 3 stories below. Ouch!!! The staff here is great. They truly care about the students. The IB program here is also really great too. I wish I could go back to grade school and attend here. I also love the front office and the security guards too. Everyone here is so friendly and it makes the experience of school fun. I also must throw out some congrats to Kenneth Staral the school principal. He cares so much about education and the well being of all of the students. If it was not for him, I am sure that this school would not be this successful. He is a blessing for putting together such a great education plan for the students. In the warmer months, there is a guy that lives in the high rise, over the school on Oak, that will play his bag pipes on the top floor of his balcony. At first, I thought I was in some movie with hidden cameras but then realized this guy was up there practicing. So if you are ever walking around the school and you hear the music just look up and you will see this guy. I do get a tear in my eye when he starts playing "Danny Boy"! My little one will start to dance...he has even waved at us from 20 stories above. Fun Fact: The school is named after the first mayor of Chicago. Mr Ogden was involved in real estate, he also was involved with canals too. In fact, his company cut out the canal that made Goose Island in Chicago. He later moved on to the railroads and was president of Union Pacific. He built a railroad to Wisconsin to bring grain to Chicago and also a railroad out West too. He was on the cutting edge of progress and growing our nation. The parents, students, faculty and staff make the learning experience here at Ogden great and I look forward to many more years here.

When I was a kid, I had aced the Iowa Test of Basic Skills. Did you know you could ace them?…read moreNeither did I. What I mean by that is that I scored a straight 99th percentile on every single one of my Iowa Tests and got a strange invitation in the mail. The invitation was from pre-International Baccalaureate Program to take an exam and potentially join Abraham Lincoln Elementary or William B. Ogden Elementary. Little did I know, this little invitation would change the rest of my life. At the exam, I met a friend that had moved away in third grade and we laughed wondering why we were both here. We both talked and said that Ogden School sounded better than Lincoln Elementary School, so that is what we decided. After taking their exam, I also had an interview. I was informed that I had scored the fifth best in the city and that I could pick Ogden or Lincoln. Seeing as my friend and I agreed on Odgen, Ogden it was. I missed my first day of school because the school bus did not show up until 9 in the morning, but by then I had already walked back to Volta Elementary as I did not know what to do. Over the years the bus was pretty consistent, except for the day that I missed it and decided to take the train downtown to school. Being eleven years old, sometimes you just don't know where you're going. I got off the train and started walking and then realized that I had no idea where I was. I walked into a police station and yelled, "Help, I need help!" After explaining that I was lost and late for school two cops drove me six blocks to school and apologized for swearing like pirates. I arrived to the playground in the back of a cop car and the kids thought that I had been arrested! With regard to the curriculum, it was a bar up from the Gifted Program that I had been in Volta Elementary and the adjustments took awhile because whereas before I was able to dominate, I struggled with the new social situation and had to take extra time to regain my bearings. By 7th grade, I was doing well in school again and liked French class the best since it was the most interesting. I still speak French today, which serves as a testament of the merits of Ogden's rigorous curriculum. At Ogden, you also learn to deal with kids coming from the deep south side and kids who live right around the corner on the Gold Coast. The pre-IB Program at Ogden set me up well for my future IB entry exams at Lincoln Park High School. The French curriculum is a must have for kids who will want to be speaking French in the future and is a cheaper alternative than sending kids out for private lessons. I also learned the ability to respect and tolerate the diversity of races and socioeconomic statuses of the various Chicagoans that will be found at this school. If you ever wonder who William B. Ogden was, he was the first mayor of Chicago. He worked extensively with land developers and reached the epic agreement that guarantees the land on our lakefront as public parks now and forever. Well forever until the city decides to lease it out for the next quick buck.

My youngest son has been attending here since he was roughly 4 months, he's now 3 1/2. I literally…read morefell inlove with this Academy when I toured it & Ms.Ro was always so welcoming & friendly. Made the experience less stressful since I was enrolling a infant at the time. She would literally text me pictures of him every other hour to make me at ease! I've never had any issues with the staff, they've done a nice job reporting accidents as well. They use the ProCare app which is 10/10 to me. Ms. Reyna is also one of the teachers who has watched my big boy flourish, she's so warming & we love her!

my baby loves it here and they've done everything possible to make sure that she has the best…read moreexperience while also creating a great environment for the teachers and other children. I'm so thankful to have this space to send my child to. I trust them so much with her.

My son Transferred from a wonderful Montessori school in South Holland that he was aging out of. I…read morehad planned to research schools for him to attend in a year after he completed 3rd grade, his final year at the Montessori school. I visited this school and one other nearby private school. The first private school I visited costed less, but the administrator was very abrasive. Without ever meeting my son or looking at his grades, she told me that my son may not do well, because of the school he was transferring from. Then she began to bad mouth his school and told me that if he couldn't keep up, i would need to pay someone outside of the school to tutor him, and that if that didn't work, the school would kick him out. When she learned that I was not enrolling him until the next year, she tried to pressure me to enroll him right away. It was NOT a pleasant experience. THEN, I reached out to Calvin Christian School. I liked what I saw on their website. And the admissions administrator, Tanya,, called me right away. We arranged to meet and she spent a substantial amount of time answering my questions. She also pointed out the additional assistance the school offers to ensure that every child succeeds. She told me that in the spirit of Christ, it is their goal to make sure that they meet each child where they are and help build them up. I truly felt the love of God in this place. From Principal Moes who knows each child by name and takes the time to get know then personally, to the kids and their families- who are very welcoming and Christ-like. I was so imp that I enrolled my son that year, even though I hadn't planned to. He attended for 6 years and graduated in 2020. Sidenote: he did not need extra help, as the previous school had asserted he would. He is now attending high school in his sophomore year and is taking all honors and AP classes and earning all "A"s. He ranked #2 of 498 freshmen. And Calvin prepared him to excel at the next level. Highly recommend this school!

Calvin Christian is an awesome school. My daughter has been going there since Pre-K 4 and will be…read moregraduating from the 8th grade this year. Calvin Students receive a top notch education in a Christian environment. One thing I personally will miss next year when my daughter enters high school will be the leadership of Principal Randy Moes. Principal Moes is truly a man of honor and integrity. I would recommend Calvin Christian to anyone. My only regret is that the school doesn't go up to high school.

this school is something else. When I sent my child there, his friend took his Chromebook and was…read moretrying to hide it from him as a joke and put a big hole in the wall and a lot of drywall dust came out. The principal demanded to have a meeting with my son. He told us that he would suspend my son if we didn't pay up. So, when I told the principal that we refused to pay since we were about to buy a new car. He said, "YOU WANT YOUR SON SUSPENDED! FINE. HE IS SUSPENDED STARTING TOMORROW." So,when I asked him for a number to the administration, his response was in more yelling, "I DON'T HAVE THAT, CAN YOU LOOK IT UP!!! And worse my SON wasn't aggressive with anyone. So, now, he is threatening to suspend our son over something he didn't do. I would rather send my son to a school that actually cares about education instead of money.