Columbus Preparatory Academy

3330 Chippewa St

School District

Columbus Preparatory Academy
Grade

K-12
Teacher/Student Ratio

1:18
Type

charter

School Map for Columbus Preparatory Academy

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 October 30, 2024

W school w school w school w school
Submitted by other on April 16, 2024

This school is a great place for children to learn and grow!!
Submitted by parent on April 16, 2024

My kids have been here for one year and so far I have not been disappointed. Communication is key to me and I feel like both of my daughter’s teacher. Teachers have been pretty great with communicating with me effectively and promptly and any concerns I address they work with me as aMy kids have been here for one year and so far I have not been disappointed. Communication is key to me and I feel like both of my daughters teachers have been pretty great with communicating with me effectively and promptly and any concerns I address they work with me as a team to make sure my kids are the most successful they can be in all aspects of their life. My kids have grown so much by being at the school they used to be at a smaller school setting, so I was very adamant about putting them in a bigger school setting, but they have come so far and made so many achievements. I can’t wait to see this. And has been a little bit challenging to say the lease with all of the testing and homework, but I believe that builds character and shows hard work and dedication
Submitted by parent on March 05, 2024

Teaching and support staff are amazing. We highly recommend this school to anyone looking to attend.
Submitted by parent on February 29, 2024

My children started at CPA during COVID. It was already a very challenging time for them being remote and starting a new school. I appreciated the creativity and devotion of the teachers during that challenging time and it set the tone for when they went back to in-person learning. It takes very special people to be able to educate and mold children and the staff at CPA have exceeded my expectations! I am so grateful for the kindness, compassion, and obvious joy they take in teaching. My high schoolers will without a doubt be prepared for college and more!
Submitted by teacher on February 28, 2024

As a CPA employee, I am happy to be able to recommend our lovely school to prospective families. We have a top notch team and amazing academics and consistently punch above our weight academically. CPA is a data-driven school, and we better prepare our students for state (and national) standardized tests than other area schools. We also offer better opportunities for college prep than nearby schools, offering multiple AP classes and ample CCP support. The team at CPA will help your child prepare for future academic success.
Submitted by parent on February 27, 2024

I have two kids enrolled in Columbus preparatory academy. The best decision I ever made and I recommend this school to everyone I know . They have a great teachers they treat our kids like their own . The teachers are highly educated and so respectful. I am so satisfied with my kids performance. Our kids safety is their priority. I don’t have enough words to describe how great this school is .Mohammad Alwawi
Submitted by parent on December 08, 2023

I have been a CPA parent for many years now and although there were some setbacks due to the covid times, I really feel like the administrative staff, counselors, and the teachers at this school work have been working hard and making great strides! They are not only teaching the kids what they need to know but also working on character development and college readiness skills. They really do a great job of communicating with parents through the CPA app, pre-recorded messages via phone, email, and text messages as well as the Facebook page. They also send out a newsletter every month and it’s available in the app and via email and the website. Pick-ups and drop-offs are also way faster and more convenient now due to re-routing the cars through the parking lot and implementing a numbered tag system for each family. Definitely pleased with all the improvements we’ve seen over the last couple years. Will keep recommending CPA to our friends and family!
Submitted by parent on September 30, 2021

The office staff here is terrible and I have never experienced anything like it at a school. They don’t do their job, don’t keep up with documentation. Don’t communicate with parents and teachers regarding your child. If you need something done through them you can bet on it not getting completed in a good time frame and they will be rude about it like you were the one in the wrong. They new principal co-signs their neglect and does not hold them accountable. Worst experience with a school office I’ve ever had. At this point I question how it is possible they have the test scores they have and their method of teaching for obtaining these scores.
Submitted by parent on August 24, 2021

Blocking parents on facebook just because they point out the excessive flaws in your ridiculous new pick up routine. IF IT'S NOT BROKE DON'T FIX IT. Just shameful. Such a great school going downhill fast with this new principal.
Submitted by parent on February 06, 2020

Couldn't be happier. Everyone we've had the pleasure of dealing with has been fantastic. Our child has progressed more than we could have ever imagined. They do such a great job of constantly pushing the children in the best way possible, all without leaving anyone behind.
Submitted by parent on February 01, 2020

I am happy with this school and proud that my daughter is a part of it. However, there are some issues that exist and of course room for improvement.
Submitted by other on May 13, 2019

This experience was horrible. This is just an average school; they only care about test scores. Scrolling down and looking at other reviews, I think they say the same. The entire staff needs to be replaced. The students spend around six hours in school, and they learn from the teachers; their behavior strongly resembles that of the teachers also. If you want to find a good school, don't just search for high test scores. I do not recommend this school to anyone. Don't send your children there. If you do decide to, don't expect rainbows and sunshine.
Submitted by other on November 29, 2018

Let me just say: the obvious problem is Mr. Carr.I am in highschool now setting up my career, an amateur tutor and an author-in-process, and I'm glad I left. I'm brown, and they tried to kick my whole family out! I was a top performing student there and went into the Excellency thing or whatever, along with both my younger siblings. They said my little brother "strongly opposed" writing, who is now writing stories for fun and a grade ahead of his new class. My parents went in to the school one day to ask some basic questions about the curriculum. Mr. Carr said, "If you don't like the school, you can leave." My mother tried to put in a complaint about the attitude of the teachers. From then on, they were highly hostile to my mother.
Submitted by parent on October 18, 2017

CPA's discipline policy is repulsive. They do not apply consequences that are appropriate to the child's behavior. The classroom enforces a numerical system which I support but once the teacher can no longer redirect the child they are sent to the principle's office and given inschool suspensions. A kindergartner getting inschool suspensions for getting out of his seat, throwing a pencil and being disruptive by making the other kids laugh. This type of escalation seems lazy on the administrative end. It's easier for them to just send students to inschool suspensions instead of developing age appropriate behavior modifications that can actually help the child learn social skills and impulse control. Sure the parent hand book spells out how the school disciplines but I had no idea my 5 year old child would be put into such categories listed in the handbook such as being "insubordinate." Disciple should be adapted to fit the age of the child and offense. Not a one size fits all for k-12th graders. The principle was not willing to change anything I suggested and told me it would be "unfair" to expect the teacher to develop a new behavior modification plan to "fit the needs of just one child." Please reconsider sending your child to CPA. There are better options out there. We initially chose it because it offered all day kindergarten and had high test scores. It is not worth it and it certainly wasn't worth my child having such a horrible first experience starting school.
Submitted by parent on February 23, 2016

I have mixed emotions about this school.I love that they push the students, and want them to succeed. I also love all of the fun activities like the Blitz, fall festival, and everything else they do for the kids. However, as soon as your child hits 3rd grade, it's all about tests tests tests. My son is in third grade and has went to CPA sense kindergarten. He's always been and still is a straight A student. He has tons of friends, loves his teacher and is not a problem child at all. However, this Ohio reading/language arts state test they did in the fall of 2015, is all the school is worried about. My son has always got good grades, and tested above where he should be on a reading level. But because he only scored at the state AVERAGE and not above average, he may have a chance of not being moved up to the 4th grade!!! That's just absolutely ridiculous to base the entire school year off of the scores of ONE test. If that's the case, then why do the kids even waist time learning anything else. They might as well just spend all day everyday on studying for this test. Like some of the other reviews, if your child is not a GENIUS they don't want them at the school. Test scores are important, but shouldn't be the only thing that matters. They only get one chance to be a kid, let them enjoy it while they can, instead of spending every moment of their day.STRESSING out about a score on one test. Kids shouldn't even know what stress is. And I have only had one incident where the principal was completely rude to my son and embarrassed him in front of his peers. But other than that, I've never had any issues with the principal. And I've loved all of the teachers we've had. So overall yes this is a great school. I just dont think tests should be all the school is worried about, just so they can keep their #1 rank. I think kids should be able to enjoy school and look forward to going to school, instead of stressing out night and day about a test.
Submitted by parent on October 04, 2015

I absolutely and wholeheartedly love this school! I've never met a group of such amazing teachers and families. The teachers are this hilarious team that the kids look up to. My daughter goes on and on about how much she loves them and how fun this school is to her, which continues to make make me so happy we chose this school. At this school my daughter is surrounded by teachers, students and parents who truly care about education (thank.... God! hahaha). I have to agree that your family and child needs to be prepared to have the educational part of school as your priority. This is soooo why I picked this school though. I didn't want my kids in the public schools where'd they be surrounded by the inevitable groups of kids who don't value school or are unmotivated. This school has a bunch of kids who are intelligent, motivated, and kind. Bullying is so not an issue at this school. There is such a diversity of kids and backgrounds and they all get along and thrive!! I love it, and I am proud to be a part of that. I am so thankful that this school was an option for us. It has the private school feel, the private school motivation that I wanted for my child. My son will be starting school next year and there is no doubt about where we will be sending him. I enjoy this school so much that I actually took time to write this review hahaha. I hope that it helps someone.
Submitted by parent on September 16, 2015

All they care about at this school is test scores and while some may think that is great, if you only have an average or slightly above average child, this school is not for you. They make sure they get rid or retain any child who would normally be passing at a regular school because they only want kids who are advanced, to have bragging rights that they have the highest test scores in the state. Well yeahhh if all schools could choose only the most advanced kids and kick out average kids than yeah you'll have better statistics. Statistics doesn't mean you are a better school especially when you dispose of average kids in a heartbeat. I see other parents are not happy with Mr. Carr too. He is most definitely a bully and belittles kids in front of everyone. He lacks tact or compassion and only cares about the few select highly advanced kids. They have longer hours (my son is picked up at 6:05 am and dropped off at 4:15-4:30pm at the bus stop) then there's homework almost every night so my son is mentally exhausted by the time he goes to bed and has no time to be a kid. On top of that they start the first week of August and expect kids to be in title 1 tutoring during their free time at school, tutoring after school and 4 weeks summer school. It's just too much. This school would be nice if they didn't let statistics run the school and put the best interest of the child first instead.
Submitted by parent on April 19, 2015

I have two children in this school, I am surprised to hear negative reports about the principal Mr. Carr. After reading them, I spoke to both my children to get their ideas about their principal. As I thought, both of my children had nothing but good things to say about him (as I expected). My oldest child attended a public school before CPA. This school is leaps and bounds above anything that SWCC OR Columbus Schools have to offer. While those Districts may be up to par for what they are, they have nowhere near the focus and dedication and expectations of the children that is present at CPA. There is nothing wrong with having higher expectations on children when they are developed with wisdom and love. These teachers and staff are doing a tremendous job educating my children. They are so much further along than I was at their age, and I grew up in a private school. Thank you CPA
Submitted by parent on June 02, 2014

Cpa is very focused on tests, OAA scores, and test prep. And while that's not exactly a bad thing, here its laid on pretty heavily. The principals saying such as 'if youre not first you're last', and others are a bit unreasonable for a school atmosphere. There are absolutly no bullying problems, although mr Carr is intimidating to the students. There arts and language teachers are phemnominal but unfortunatly the school dosent allow much space, budget or time for these classes. If you can get over the the principal, few ridiculous teachers, and the competitvness of the school, its a pretty great school. The education quality is fantastic, most the older grade teachers push you, and allow you to go further than you'd ever expect.