A Message from Dr.
John W. Cooper
Head of School
ELGIN ACADEMY
Tradition ◊ Innovation ◊ Excellence
This
is an exciting time in the long history of Elgin Academy. Whether you are a
current student, parent, alumnus, or friend, we hope you are connected and
engaged with your school.
As we near the conclusion of a highly successful capital campaign,
"Building the Future," we celebrate the fact that we have raised almost $4
million for the campaign and an additional $500,000+ for improvements to
our programs and campus. Our new Harold D. Rider Family Media, Science, and
Fine Arts Center was opened on October 23, 2008 and now serves students
from preschool through 12th grade every day.
In 2008-09 we have an overall enrollment of
460. Our students have been
selected through rigorous admission tests and processes and they accomplish
work that is significantly above their age-group peers. The hallmarks of
the EA experience are:
• Small Class Sizes
• Academic Excellence
• Exceptional Teachers & Talented Students
• Outstanding Facilities
• History of Leadership
• True Spirit of Community
We have much to be proud of. For example, some fascinating data
recently appeared in an article entitled “Comparing Private High Schools”
in Chicago magazine (an earlier article provided the same data for public
high schools). Elgin Academy, and each of our ISACS “sister” schools in the
Chicago-area, such as the Latin School, North Shore Country Day School,
Francis W. Parker School, fared very well (ISACS, for those who don’t know,
is our accrediting association, the Independent Schools Association of the
Central States).
Elgin Academy has a solid presence among a very competitive set of
private high schools—and EA consistently outperforms public schools. All
data is for 2006-2007. Some highlights:
• EA is the only Preschool – 12th Grade
independent school in the Northwest and West Suburbs.
• EA’s tuition is the second lowest among ISACS schools while offering
ample financial aid.
• EA’s class size is third from the smallest among all private schools.
• EA has the highest percentage of Upper School teachers with Master’s
degrees of all the 26 public and private high schools in the Northwest and
West Suburbs.
• EA has higher ACT and SAT scores than all public schools, and all but one
of the religious schools, in the Northwest and West Suburbs.
While
similar data concerning the Preschool – 8th grade is more difficult to
obtain, there are many indications that EA’s strength is comparable. For
example, our PS-8 grades also have one of the highest rates of teachers
with Master’s degrees; EA’s class sizes are among the lowest in the region;
and our standardized test scores are generally in the 90th-95th percentile,
compared to about the 70th percentile for the average religious school and
the 65th percentile for the typical suburban public schools.
While statistical data do not tell the whole story of the value of
an EA education, they do help to quantify what we know anecdotally--EA’s
students and teachers are doing an outstanding job!
This website will update you on a wide
array of exciting activities and achievements by our students, faculty,
parents, and alumni. The site is constantly changing. We hope you will
“bookmark” it and return regularly to get new information and stay in touch
with others and the school. Let us know how we can make this website even
more useful for you.
Dr. John W. Cooper
Head of School
847.695.0300, ext. 220
E-mail: jcooper@elginacademy.org
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Updated
Monday, December 29, 2008
