Relocating to Chicago.. need info on school districts

[DadOfMAR]

We are relocating to the chicao area. Could anyone out there give us any helpful info on the chicago suburbs of good schools, neighborhoods etc

thanks

[Marilyn]

In general, the northern and western suburbs have some of the best school districts in Illinois. But they may also be highly competitive. Naperville has made Money Magazine's list of best places to live; it's about 40 minutes west of the city.

Here's a couple of articles from our local magazine with tons of data and other info: High Schools: How Your High School Stacks Up - Chicago Magazine - October 2007 - Chicago Elementary schools:The A+ Team - Chicago Magazine - October 2006 - Chicago

[astrophysicsmom]

How old are your kids? Generally, the school district is based on the high school....so even if you have middle-schoolers, you really want to look at the high school. You'll want to find the state reports that compare test scores as one factor (obviously that's not the only factor). Also, a key factor in Illinois is the amount spent per student. Generally, the more affluent the area, the better the high school, but this isn't always the case.

Once you zero in on a few districts, I'd advise doing some internet searching regarding any past (or current) referendums -- make sure that you're moving into a district that strongly supports the school....there are some districts who can't get referendums passed to build new schools/run current ones.

Most of my experience in the Chicago area (lived there for many years, but have been gone for a while) was in the Northwest suburban area. We had chosen to live in the Stevenson H.S. school district and planned to stay till our kids were out of high school. Surprise! Life had other plans for us, so we didn't have actual high school experience there. You won't find a high school that is free of drug or alcohol issues, unfortunately....that's a fact of life these days.

You'll find that the housing prices in the suburbs vary widely....and a lot depends on how far you want to commute to work (and how? driving or trains?)

Now I'll shut up and defer to others who are currently there. Teriwtt and others live in the Chicago area, so they can provide more current info.

Good luck!

[Marilyn]

Good point on checking local news about referendums - right now there's a group in our town that is trying to move the middle school out of the center of the village to free up the prime real estate. We've been in the same town for 20 years all the way from birth (DS, not me) to college and have been more than satisfied with the schools- you can pm me for specifics. But we might not be able to afford a house here today!

[barrons]

New Trier is probably the gold standard. Evanston is very good and more diverse. Glenbard West is very good too. Naperville is good.

[dbwes]

Naperville probably has the most, and the most diverse, housing stock. The high schools are extremely good, as are most of the varsity sports teams, if that is important to you.
Winnetka is very expensive, and is the home of New Trier high school. Old homes, right on the lake.
Stevenson High School is further west of the north shore, a more rural feeling area.
The western suburbs have more of a closer to the city, old suburb feel -- places like Hinsdale, Western Springs, LaGrange. Can be very expensive.
There are now more options in the city itself with very, very good magnet high schools like Northside Prep and Whitney Young.
Can't really say too much more without knowing where you will be working, whether you want to be near commuter rail, and a ballpark figure on what you want to spend on housing. PM me if you'd like.

[dbwes]

Also forgot to add the Fox Valley has become very popular. St. Charles, in particular, has lots of homes and very good high schools. Much farther from the Loop, however.

[mezzomom]

I graduated from a District 214 high school (NW suburbs) many [many] decades ago and felt I received a stellar education. I haven't been back in quite awhile, but a quick look at the charts provided by Marilyn makes me think they're still doing a decent job. Not the cheapest area to live but certainly less pricey than anything nearer the lake.

[mam1959]

New Trier is in a sense the gold standard, but that is in large part due to the wealth that lives in many parts of the district.

The school with the strongest middle class is in my view Deerfield High School. A greatschools.net 10/10 school and truly one of the best schools in the nation - the middle of the class often goes to Wisconsin and Michigan.

Disclaimer - I went there 30 years ago and was fortunate enough to win an individual state championship in sports and be on a multiple state champion team. The school challenged me to be exceedingly tough athletically and at the same time do very well in school. The town has some modest homes (the one I lived in with my brother and single mother), and it prepared me incredibly well for a top 10 USNWR undergrad and grad education. I cannot say enough good about the school. In my class of 700, every single student went on to college (but not all graduated) - still - gives you an idea of what the school is like.

My entire family was from the western suburbs (York, Glenbard, Naperville schools) and they are all good schools - but my mother very much wanted to get her kids in what she thought were the best - and up to Deerfield we went.

[Caillebotte]

Naperville, IMSA, New Trier, Stevenson, and Northside Prep are generally considered the strongest, academically.

[feldy]

I graduated from Deerfield last year, and I would have to say that it is an excellent school. New Trier and Stevenson are also both excellent. One difference is that New Trier and Stevenson are both much larger than Deerfield; the former two have between 4000 and 5000 students, while the later has around 1700. I don't think that you can say that being larger is better than being smaller, or visa-versa: both sizes have their advantages. I should point out that all of these areas are fairly expensive (not as expensive as, say, Lake Forest, but still well above average).

Of course, there are many other good schools in the area. Most suburbs in the North Shore have pretty good systems in general. There are several quality schools in the city itself, although I am not as familiar with them. IMSA is of course top notch, but that is in Aurora and is a boarding school, and would not influence where you plan to live.

I am personally biased towards Deerfield, since I did attend there and was quite satisfied. Of course, I did have my grievances, but I was far from the typical student, and most of my gripes are probably irrelevant. The point is that the quality of education is very good. If you have detailed questions, you can pm me.

[wjb]

In addition to the schools already mentioned, other excellent high schools in the North and Northwest suburbs are Glenbrook North, Glenbrook South, and Highland Park. Really, you can't go wrong in these suburban areas; the public high schools are almost uniformly excellent. The major differences are in size and in the makeup of the feeder communities themselves (although, as already mentioned, all are at least reasonably affluent).

[cheezwhiz]

Add Fremd High School to the Northwest suburbs location. Very good school

[meredesfilles]

There are a lot of great school districts around Chicago.

I have one D at New Trier and another who graduated from there a few years ago. The school is very large and competitive--but I am amazed at the opportunities at the school and what they have learned. New Trier High School pulls from New Trier Township--Winnetka, Wilmette, Glencoe, Northfield, Kenilworth and a small part of Glenview and Northbrook.

The elementary schools can be different in each town. My D's school had a "whole child" philosophy. While other schools may be more traditional.

I have friends with kids at ETHS and Evanston schools--and they are very happy. I know that Naperville has great schools --I don't know anyone in that school system--because Naperville is quite a ways away from me.

[DCforMe]

Any particular activities your kids are interested in? If they like Debate Glenbrook North would be a good one to check out (probably one of the best in the nation), Downers Grove South for speech, Homewood Flossmoor for drama, etc. Obviously individual talent plays a big part, but if your kids have a talent the coaching resources at schools with a record of success in these areas might be able to take them to the point they can put something on their application. check the Illinois High School Association website for a list of titles for your given sport/activity.

In terms of academics, make sure there's a balance. If your primary concern is college admissions, keep in mind that it's difficult to excel (i.e. class rank) at a highly competitive school, while at the same time it undoubtedly does create a better learning environment. Luckily, there's a lot of information available to you. Illinois requires all schools to put out a school report card, with a standardized format that keeps track of demographics, academics, teacher training, etc. But what's really good is that all students in Illinois are required to take the ACT, giving us a pretty valuable data point standardized across all schools.

That being said, here are some average ACT scores across some of the more prominent schools that others have mentioned or come to mind from 2005 (a little old, I know, you can investigate further, but I used the link Marilyn provided, since it provides all the numbers in a nice format). Obviously there's so many problems with standardized testing blah blah blah Averages are misleading blah blah blah. Take it for what it's worth:

Downers Grove North: 23.1
Downers Grove South: 21.9
Gelnbard East: 21
Glenbard North: 21.3
Glenbard South: 24.1
Glenbard West: 23.2
Fremd: 23.9
Hinsdale Central: 25.8
Hinsdale South: 22.2
Hoffman Estates: 21
Glenbrook North: 25.4
Glenbrook South: 24.1
Homewood Flossmoor: 21.6
Libertyville: 24.7
Maine East: 20.9
Maine North: 24.2
Maine South: 21.6
Naperville Central: 24.1
Naperville North: 24.6
Neuqua Valley: 23.8
New Trier:26.8
Stevenson: 25.6
Wheaton North: 23.3
Wheaton Warrenville South: 23.1
Waubonsie Valley: 22.6