Inter-American Elementary Magnet School

851 West Waveland Avenue

School District

Chicago Public Schools
Grade

PK, K-8
Teacher/Student Ratio

1:15
Type

public

GreatSchools Rating

The school rating calculation is based on four ratings: the Student Progress Rating or Academic Progress Rating, College Readiness Rating, Equity Rating, and Test Score Rating each designed to show different facets of school success. Learn more about GreatSchools Ratings

Reviews

Submitted by student on May 16, 2023

this school is trash. the teachers are mean,everyone is discriminated against, bullying is glorified and victims are punished. do not send youre child to this horrible place to avoid trauma and deppresion. the teachers are terrible, the staff is sexist and mean, and the building is falling apart. they ignore that lots of the students have economic issues and demand 52 dollars a person for field trips that no one wants to go on. most of the teachers dont speak spanish.
Submitted by parent on May 09, 2023

Don't.Just don't. I know you’re excited because it has “magnet school” in the name, and we were too, but we’ve learned the hard way that IAMS is a deeply dysfunctional place. CPS knows this is a troubled school, and goes to great lengths to hide it (Google the Block Club Chicago articles about IAMS from 2021 to see what I’m talking about). IAMS is about to hire their 4th principal in 6 years, after the most recent one was abruptly “reassigned” to the central office in the middle of the year, and there’s no reason to think the LSC will do any better this time around. This place is chaotically disorganized and growing steadily more dangerous (one “soft” lockdown so far this year). Communication is poor, grammatically incorrect and/or entirely in Spanish, despite their bilingual mission. If your child is not Latino, they WILL suffer harassment and discrimination. Teachers' kids are allowed to bully others with impunity, and appear to be exempt from the rules. Administrators actively protect bullies and retaliate against parents who advocate for their children. IAMS will boast about its parent involvement, but in reality it is run by a small cabal of *very extra* parents, and if you’re not among them, you and your child are second-class citizens. There are some excellent teachers there, as well a few really terrible ones. I have witnessed a teacher shouting and using sarcasm at a class of 4th graders. Very few people seem happy to be there. Add the Cubs traffic to all this, and it’s nowhere near worth it. Avoid at all costs.
Submitted by parent on May 09, 2023

Fantastic environment and genuinely caring teachers. Many staff have or had children attend IAMS so they even trust their colleagues with their children's learning. Such a unique family the school is and happy my children are part of it.
Submitted by parent on December 21, 2022

My kids were in a catholic school the previous year and let me tell you, what a difference with inter American. I don’t have enough words to say how much I love the teachers, the principal, the school staff, the school, the community of parents. my kids are learning crazy, they are happy and i have no regrets for switching them to inter american.
Submitted by parent on October 19, 2022

This school is great. We switched from Van Linne and the difference is huge. The teachers and stuff and great , very responsive and caring . Lots of after school programs which the other school didn’t offer. My son really enjoys going to this school. I am glad we were able to get in!
Submitted by other on April 23, 2020

Its not what it used to be. :(
Submitted by parent on December 19, 2019

Usually, there are very good teachers, but there are some others who are only there to get their salary, harming children and school with this attitude.
Submitted by parent on June 07, 2018

The Inter-American community has changed since the new administration. They are negligent, late in informing parents, late in doing task important to maintain the school functioing and do not communicate with parents, teachers or staff. One can see the moral among the staff is low and depressing. I do not understand why all the teacher were moved to teach grade levels they have never taught. It is a mess. The school is going down dramatically at an accelerated pace. That is so sad. This administration is not a good fit for this school.
Submitted by parent on February 26, 2018

As a parent and a former teacher, I have been very impressed with this school’s commitment to academic excellence with a heart for its students and community.
Submitted by parent on November 27, 2017

1 out of 5. I have waited some time now to share my opinion through any medium because I believe everyone can grow, but I am deeply disappointed with the current principal and assistant principal. Their lack of passion for the school is evidenced by their lack of organization, negative affect, and the school culture and community. As a parent I don't see a strong presence or representation on their part. They seem overwhelmed and out of touch. Parent communities seem more vibrant. I think that it is because of them and the teachers that the school is running and not by any initiative proposed by the administration. Their lack of communication is embarrassing. I see no evidence of strong initiatives that put kids first. I strongly believe in dual language education and support the foundation that was set by previous leaders, but I am sad to say the school is in decline as a result of poor management and more importantly the lack of passion and poor understanding of the values this school was founded on.
Submitted by other on January 29, 2017

Interamerican is a diverse, loving, kind community for parents and kids. It has a wonderful staff that not only teaches children English and Spanish, but how to be compassionate, respect differences, and celebrate diversity. It is also a great place where my daughter has started to develop new friendships and new skills .
Submitted by teacher on April 27, 2015

Things I like about our school: 1. Dual Language 50% Spanish 50% English K-8 2. Strong emphasis on social justice 3. Very safe; almost zero incidences of violence in school 4. Very little teacher turnover; I've seen one teacher leave in 3 years 5. Great specials: library, music, gym, dance, computers, and art 6. Teachers with school-aged children almost all send their kids to IAMS 7. Great sports programs 8. Strong test scores without over-emphasizing standardized tests 9. Teachers who care 10. Parents who volunteer Things I do not like: 1. Some of these reviews are truthful: the current principal cannot spell in English or Spanish. He is more of a manager than an educator. I do not think he knows many students personally. 2. Sometimes, the top students in 7th and 8th grade leave for a selective enrollment middle school. Our students are accepted into selective enrollment schools at a great rate, but it is sad to see students leave IAMS early because of worries that they have to get into a top high school before they are even in high school.
Submitted by parent on April 20, 2015

We are very pleased with the education our kindergartener is receiving. She tarted at 4 yr old in half day pre -k and she is really picking up Spanish and blooming. She loves her school.
Submitted by parent on March 30, 2015

The level of Spanish of some teachers is just ridiculous. They should be more prepared when it comes to teaching our kids. It is also embarrassing to read some of the school communications in Spanish full of typos and grammatical errors. Something needs to be done for the sake of the kids and their education.
Submitted by parent on October 22, 2014

IAMS was the perfect elementary school for my children.My oldest one got into Walter Payton HS and he is now a Senior in Archtecture at Carnegie Mellon University and works as an Assistant teacher in technology at CMU. My youngest got into to Lane Tech ( a terrible school based on test taking) but now is thriving at Global Citizenship Lab HS. She is a senior in HS and loves languages. Art and Sciences which she developed at IAMS and GCE. Both my kids are very proud of their language skills. Both speak Spanish and Portuguse with ease and the oldest also speaks French. The youngest learned Chinese ansd sign language. The creative, nurtering years at IAMS were very important for their solid formation as great young adults. Thank you IAMS!
Submitted by parent on October 22, 2014

Extremely disappointed in this school. We hoped that the focus on language and culture would support a sense of community and identity that we feel so passionately about. Unfortunately there is little to no communication between school and families. The new principal only talks about discipline and excellence and other buzz words when you do hear from him, but his only communication since the second half of last year was to ask for money. Before starting this school, our kindergartner wrote and illustrated bilingual stories all the time using invented spelling and dictating that she would give as gifts. She sat with books sounding out words on her own, excited to learn. Now two years in this place and she won't try to read and has not written a single story for fear that she will "write the letters wrong." She has a calendar of homework that includes weekends! All work and no play has killed her joy of learning. She constantly talks at home about how she wishes school didn't exist. We stayed for the use of our language. But exclusive English speakers are balanced to bilingual students not exclusive Spanish speakers, so English is the dominant language among kids.
Submitted by parent on August 22, 2014

If you want your children to learn Spanish and be a world citizen. This is the school for you. It's not perfect (what school is) but the parents care, are awesome, and the kids are even more fabulous. Read up on bilingual and learning two languages before you come. It's heavy on Spanish in younger grades (as research says it should be) and scores for the school will always be a little lower for 3rd grade due to testing inadequacies (standard tests only test one language) but all research says kids who are bilingual exceed in long term. There are some ignorant comments made in years past by parents who don't understand language acquisition. Most teachers are good and accessible but you do need. To be proactive if you think something isn't right or you don't understand.
Submitted by parent on March 23, 2014

My son currently attends preschool at Inter-American and I couldn't be happier. He loves going to school and he really enjoys and takes pride in learning to speak Spanish. His classroom teachers are constantly doing fun, creative art projects and his confidence in his ability to draw and write has grown immensely. On top of all of the Spanish that he is learning, he has also learned his numbers, letters and letter sounds in English. I am amazed at how much he is learning in a half day program. The JCYS is partnered with the school and runs an excellent aftercare program that my son goes to which I really appreciate as a working parent.
Submitted by parent on September 28, 2013

My son goes to pre-K at inter-American. My wife and I were concerned about all the normal school issues, combined with the language and cultural specifics as well. My son had the benefit of a wonderful baby sitter that is from Mexico, so his comprehension is already very high. We could not be happier. The sense of community and the level of professionalism and caring teachers is noticeable right away. We are completely impressed by the new principal and vice principal as well. He comes home singing songs in Spanish, corrects my Spanish as I am trying to catch up to him with Spanish language classes. I feel that we could not have made a better decision.
Submitted by parent on September 20, 2013

This is so sad this lady passed up the chance for her child to go to such a great school. I have three children there and I could not be more proud to say I'm an IAMS parent. We are an English speaking home and my son's Spanish is perfect. This summer we did an immersion trip and everyone we came across couldn't believe how amazing my son's Spanish was. They couldn't believe he knew Spanish so well when my Spanish was so bad. We proudly said it was because of the school he went to in Chicago! We have turned down Blaine, Frankin, Hamilton and Newberry for IAMS. No other Chicago public school can do what IAMS does, especially for an English speaking family. The teachers are wonderful. Every one of my children have has this teacher, and she is a passionate wonderful teacher. My children are in a loving environment, that teachers children how to learn, not how to pass a test. It is a gem in Chicago!