CICS - Quest North Campus

1443 North Ogden Avenue

Chicago, IL 60610

25 Reviews

School District

Chicago Public Schools
Grade

9-12
Teacher/Student Ratio

1:10
Type

charter

Find Homes for Sale in this School Zone

Reviews

Submitted by parent on December 17, 2018

This school has poor communication skills! I can never get a hold of the principal or really the staff. My child was assaulted in front of this school with another student and no one seems to be available to speak with me about a permanent solution to this problem. I want an emergency safety transfer and I can’t get in touch with the proper staffing to do so. The other student is no longer attending this school as well. I need my son out of there he’s missing days due to the lack of me not being able to get in touch with the principal to put him in another school. Next step I will be calling the board of education!
Submitted by principal on August 24, 2016

Quest has undergone a ton of changes. However, the new staff really has it together. I've never felt so positive about the direction the school is going. They have prioritized academic achievement and extracurricular activities. I also, appreciate how early on students have to begin preparing for college applications. I'm proud of where this school is going.
Submitted by other on August 24, 2016

LOVE the new changes that are happening at CQ!!! Strong new leadership that reflect our students AND COLLEGE style new courses!
Submitted by other on August 24, 2016

This school has gone through a lot of changes recently-- and that is always hard. But the way things are going at this school now are so much better. Classroom management is way stronger and children are actually learning in their classrooms. The school has raised expectations for students a lot, and started to implement a consistent behavior management system and where teachers are backed up and supported, which you can see in changes in the classrooms. That is exactly what the school needed to be productive. Things are improving here day over day. And teachers finally have strong and consistent support systems to get feedback and become better teachers. Look out for great things from this school in the coming years!
Submitted by other on August 18, 2016

There is no organization. The staff turnover is unlike anything I've ever seen before, with some positions remaining unfilled for months after someone quits. In order to meet goals regarding enrollment, the leadership has decided to make it nearly impossible for students to be expelled, no matter what the students happen to do in the school (including regularly cursing out staff, starting or participating in fights, leaving school grounds without permission, etc.). It is a complete mess, it is not serving students, and it is in everyone's best interests if this school were shut down.
Submitted by other on February 14, 2016

It has some very unique programs and some amazing and friendly staff members!!! It is definitely a place where students can go and grow. Lots of one on one resources and attention!
Submitted by parent on January 30, 2016

As a parent, the changes this school has gone through in that last couple of months has been traumatizing for my child. The new CEO has come in and destroyed my child's sense of family and culture that students got up and spoke about at the board meeting when trying to keep this school open. My child will not be returning next year. Many of the leaders have left (most likely due to the changes) and who knows who else will be leaving. All I can say is my child deserves and thrives on consistency, as does every child, and if more changes happen (which is usually not messaged until parents until after the changes start without any parent input). I just hope the leadership is able to ask the community what they want. It seems as though the parents, students, and even teachers have no say in the changes that are happening. If they say it's a community, I hope it starts feeling like it soon before it gets even worse.
Submitted by teacher on October 05, 2015

As the second school of its kind, ChicagoQuest is making history with its innovative game-like learning approach. With this model, ChicagoQuest works to meet students' needs by engaging them in lessons that are relevant, rigorous, and reflective. Students are encouraged to be leaders and thinkers inside and outside of the school community by engaging in curricula and service learning projects that allow them to transform from consumers to producers. I would recommend and encourage students and their families to consider applying to this school.
Submitted by teacher on May 30, 2015

I unfortunately cannot recommend this school, despite believing it its mission and approach. Since inception the school has been plagued by high staff turnover (routinely half the staff have to be replaced each year), and not even the principals are safe; new ones each year. Most substitute teachers won't even touch the place. Obviously, with so many new people trying to learn their way around a new school and teach with a new approach with new leadership, it's just crazy. But the worst part has to be the lack of student accountability. There are just no really meaningful consequences. Kids who do nothing all year are promoted to the next grade level anyway. Behaviors that would get a kid suspended in a normal school just earn a slap on the wrist. Cuss out a teacher? That kid will be back in class the next day without so much as an apology. This isn't the teachers' fault because they're not allowed to do basic things like give detentions or kick the kids out of class (and if a kid were kicked out, they'd usually just disrupt all the other classes in the hallway). Most of the teachers were great, professional people who took their jobs very seriously and did their best to ensure a good learning environment despite having very little power in their own classroom. The bottom line is that the consequences for students are far too lenient because kids who get suspended, expelled, or pulled out cut into the school's funding, so they try to keep attendance and enrollment up however they can (while telling themselves its in the best interest of the kids). By the time a kid is removed, they've already irreversibly damaged the learning environment for the rest of their class and probably several other classes too. It's an extremely short-sighted and unsustainable solution that will likely result in the school's closure. And unfortunately, I hope it does, because no kid should have to go to a school like this believing it to be normal when there are so many decent schools around.Basically, the school was terribly mismanaged from the start and hasn't had a chance to recover. Now all of these problems are entrenched in the student body and it's a borderline alternative school. If we were friends, I would tell you not to send your kid here no matter how good it looks on the surface.
Submitted by parent on January 05, 2015

Since school has started I have witness a decline in some of the teachers dedication to educating students. The classroom management is very poor in some classes. Workshops should be provided to teachers focused on student behavior issues and how to control students quickly. An outreach program should be developed that involve parents in controling behavior issues outside of the school system and what is expected of them when they send their children to the school. As a parent of a 7th grader this year of learning is very important for high school opportunities. If the dean can not help in solving some of the problems in the school a new one should be added to the team. As for the teachers by coming to work and taking control of students quickly by sending them out of the room and adding additional work for behavior issues should send a strong message to the students that their grades will be affected and they may not continue to the next grade. A stronger message to the parent should be fees connected to behavior. Hit the parents in the pocket and you will see a change quickly.
Submitted by parent on January 04, 2015

Chicago quest is not a school I would recommend any to send their child to. I have a student there for 2 years. The teachers do not know how to control their students. The kids are so disrespectful and disobedient because no one in there knows how to control them. At times the school can be safe but at time they cannot. Children in that school can leave anytime. They say they do not tolerate bullying and try to act like they do something about but they do not. My child comes home or calls me at work saying " I couldn't learn anything today ma, teachers gave up." Who wants to hear their kid say that. Quest can be a good school but the staff care is poor and the dean is horrible so is the principal and asst principal. Thank god this is my kids last year.
Submitted by other on December 03, 2014

It sucks and I am a student here and ther are a lot of gangbangers who constantly break the rules and I can not learn
Submitted by parent on November 05, 2014

I love this school... As a parent it is so nice to know that you are welcomed. The Principal,Teachers and other Staff Members are always nice and very helpful. I have watch this school grow over the last two years. Growing from just a Middle School to adding it's first 9th grade class in 2013, now adding 10th grade in 2014. I love the innovative ways the teachers engage their student to invoke learning with technology and gaming as a backdrop. Chicago Quest is a very progressive and cutting edge school.
Submitted by other on August 07, 2014

Progressive school with highly qualified and dedicated teachers and staff using interactive learning techniques that really resonate with kids.
Submitted by other on May 15, 2014

This is a school of the future. Reading, writing, arithmetic and coding is the future of the world economy, and this school is cutting edge.
Submitted by other on February 23, 2014

The school isn't good at all. In fact, the students cannot stay quiet for one minute and are always acting up. The teachers cannot handle the students at all whatsoever . I can see what the school is trying to do, but the students are just a distraction.
Submitted by other on January 10, 2014

PART 4: But as every day goes by I can't help but notice this weight of guilt I now carry. Instead of being afraid to speak up and realize that even though they can hurt me, they would not because of who I am. I should have said something. Maybe that could have caused a difference. --Anonymous
Submitted by other on January 10, 2014

PART 3: On my way to high school, I've realized how easy it was to understand-- far easier than I had hoped. Because of ChicagoQuest I have all honors classes. This was as a result of the astonishingly advance education that they taught. I remember reading a book of George Orwell, "1984" is what it was called, and another by William Golding called "Lord of the Flies" (which I can't shake the feeling that the teacher intentionally or rather coincidentally brought in to tell us that, "THIS IS HOW YOU GUYS BEHAVE!"). They were good books and good morals to take. The math: slope-intercept, implied quadratic equations, exponential growth and decay, all kinds of math that we would definitely need to have a strong start in high school. And science, my favorite subject of them all; we've learned basic genetics, but then our teacher left and was replaced by a new one who taught physics. I also enjoyed the other classes and I'm sure the others who brought along the chaotic "tornado" with them because it was there that they released all of their energy (the classes were suspiciously placed as the first ones).
Submitted by other on January 10, 2014

PART 2: I would be that student who would sit far from the others, absorbing more knowledge than drawing in friends and unnecessary attention. Albeit the past, present, and even future conditions of this institution may seem off, I still see no reason strong enough to stand to point fingers to anyone to know that this was truly all our fault; students, teachers, staff, even parents. I know I can't say my name, but my attitude towards education has been recognized by my friends, the other students, and even the teachers to know who I am; they'll know who I am when they read this.
Submitted by other on January 10, 2014

PART 3: On my way to high school, I've realized how easy it was to understand-- far easier than I had hoped. Because of ChicagoQuest I have all honors classes. This was as a result of the astonishingly advance education that they taught. I remember reading a book of George Orwell, "1984" is what it was called, and another by William Golding called "Lord of the Flies" (which I can't shake the feeling that the teacher intentionally or rather coincidentally brought in to tell us that, "THIS IS HOW YOU GUYS BEHAVE!"). They were good books and good morals to take. The math: slope-intercept, implied quadratic equations, exponential growth and decay, all kinds of math that we would definitely need to have a strong start in high school. And science, my favorite subject of them all; we've learned basic genetics, but then our teacher left and was replaced by a new one who taught physics. I also enjoyed the other classes and I'm sure the others who brought along the chaotic "tornado" with them because it was there that they released all of their energy (the classes were suspiciously placed as the first ones).