Prairie Ridge High School

Prairie ridge offers a large amount of classes and I urge you to take a look at them they do offer honor and ap classes but they are hard to come by unless you have been set up with honors classes your entire life. I am not happy, no one cares about the student who wants more challenging classes and they make it extremely hard and frustrating to get into those classes it is not a good school for getting into America's best rated colleges and gives students a very limited educational experience. Prairie ridge is a good school I'll give it that, but academically it does not excel in. If your student wants a higher education you will not find it here, but the football team is good.
—Submitted by a student

This is the 2nd year in a row they have class room sizes for my child that are higher than stated to expect. When my child started Kindergarten they had dropped a class due to enrollment - but then due to 'last minute additions' the class size jumped from 18 to 22 and ultimately as 23 children to a single teacher for the formative Kindergarten year. The same excuse given this year, except my child starting as 1 of 24 students for 1st Grade. Prairie Grove has been highly rated for previous years, but this would be the start of a trend that could absolutely bode poorly for the future performance of students going through this school where classes are so large for these younger years. I understand classes of this size and a little larger for 4th or so an up - but not for kids that are 5yrs to 7yrs. Very concerned as feel very strongly my child was disadvantaged vs. friends of mine with children who had less than 15 kinds in their public school K and1st grade classrooms. To add to this, they allow very limited parental involvement in the school and even that is by lottery. This also contributes to current concerns with the longer term tend trend.
—Submitted by a parent

prarie ridge rocks my socks this is a school for fun and for learning it is a great inveroment for you soon kids to have this school if you go to it you wont regreat it!!!
—Submitted by a student

My two children graduated from Prairie Ridge. The school has an excellent curriculum for college bound students with many Honors and Advanced Placement classes. One of my children was able to accumulate 54 hours of college credit by taking advantage of the AP program and writing nine exams during his junior and senior years. The academic environment is very challenging at the Honors level and provides an excellent foundation for the rigor to be expected when a student moves on to the college level. This strong educational foundation allowed both children to earn technical (finance and engineering) degrees at top universities in four years or less Prairie Ridge has a fine staff, strong leadership, wide ranging extra curricular programs and top notch academics. It has everything the college bound student needs to be successful.
—Submitted by a parent

Four of my children graduated from P.R.H.S. Presently, two have graduated from college. One is in medical school and the other is awaiting acceptance to the same school. The younger one is doing extremely well in the undergraduate program. Thank you P.R.H.S. for conveying a desire to learn and to academically excel. My on complaint is 'thanks for all these tuition bills'.
—Submitted by a parent

I have a freshman at Prairie Ridge who just loves it. I have a daughter that graduated from Prairie Ridge who did very well in school and athletics. I have never heard any of my children complain about school. They both like it!!! I have been inside 'all' the Crystal Lake High Schools and Cary Grove and this is by far the best of all the schools. Students who's came to PR with honor rolls from other schools who did not do well at PR and who's parents blame the school for their kid's poor grades should look in the mirror and say maybe my kid is not as smart as I thought? Is PR that tough? PR is an excellent school and have the test scores to prove it!!!
—Submitted by a parent

Not the greatest of schools. I had to have my student trasnfer out of this school because of the bullying going on.
—Submitted by a parent

As a former student, I can honeslty say that Prairie Ridge was the best thing that ever happened to me. This may sound somewhat dramatic, but prior to PR I had a low C average, and had no plans on going to college. At PR I found a love for learning; soon my low Cs turned into low As, and am now at Loyola University in Chicago where I am well on my way to a degree in Secondary Education (inspired by my former educators at Prairie Ridge). The classes (particularly the AP programs) are challenging and well organized, and the (majority of) teacher are qualified, helpful, and friendly (albeit quite young).
—Submitted by a student

Anyone who is disappointed in any way in Prairie Ridge High School, needs to take a look at what they are saying in these reviews. The negative reviews about PR are very isolated situations. The test scores at Prairie Ridge are the highest in the area, and that is why real estate prices jump over 20% when you enter Prairie Ridge zoning. Academics is not an issue at PR. The students are definitely from a wealthier area of town, and that is something to be noted. But I have had no bad experiences with Prairie Ridge, and am yet to encounter anyone that has. Every school has its quirks, but PR is a great learning environment, and has the test scores to prove it.
—Submitted by a parent

I just graduated from Praire Ridge High School and I thought it was excellent academically. They offered classes many schools do not because of the level of difficulty and succeeded in them with no problem. Although PR thrives academically the guidance counselors do not and I have only seen the principal once in my entire high school career let alone heard him comment on anything.
—Submitted by a former student

I had a high honors student attending PR for 2 years. Our experience at this school was appalling and disappointing! When looking to them for leadership and guidance we recieved excuses and tolerance for bad behavoir. The safety of their students should have been their number 1 priority. It was not! I know of several students whom have chosen to transfer out of this school. They now thrive in an healthy, safe and academically challenging enviornment. If you are looking for a school with morals and integrity, keep looking you will not find it at Prairie Ridge. They have none.
—Submitted by a parent

I have had two kids graduate from Prairie Ridge and our youngest is a junior now. Like anything else, you get out of this school what you put into it. The students who work hard and achieve do very well, especially in the AP and Honors classes.
—Submitted by a parent

I graduated from PR in 2000, and it was a pleasant experience. The school lacked some of the 'history' that the other Crystal Lake schools offered, but this is clearly expected with a brand new school. I was never a straight-A student... but I did feel as though some of the teachers there had a solid compassion for my learning, and quite a few really went out of their ways to help me.
—Submitted by a former student

I had a son at PRHS for two years,and was very disappointed with just about every aspect of the school. The Principal and Academic Staff were very ineffective and unprofessional. They turned a blind eye to outrageous behavior on school athletic buses and by the coaching staff. They also seemed unable to control the behavior of the kids. I personally know one child with a 4.3 gpa taking all honors classes that actually changed schools because of the bullying environment. I also removed my son from the school because my honor student was not getting an academic experience that he respected or was stimulated by. This school is not for the progressive minded- the attitude at PRHS is very limiting and deadended. Don't expect your child to compete in college coming out of that school!
—Submitted by a parent

We expected much of PR. In four years of teachers my student had only 2 exeptional ones. The head of the department who is the teacher of the AP class basically had the students teach her class by assigning 'review pages' for the chapters. Having the students give oral presentations of their 'review'. Freshman year my daughter was given a poety project assignment where the student had to write 50 poems. After completing the 50 poem project the teacher graded the project giving the student a B because she didnt exceed the 50 poem count. The teacher proceeded to state that he didnt read the poems just counted them and graded on quantity. English teachers should be required to read all the assigned papers. These are just a few minor incidences.
—Submitted by a parent

Prairie Ridge High School is possibly the worst school in the state. I thought it was going to be the best school possible for my child. It is so bad that I had to transfer him to a different high school in the city. My son was in the top three kids in his class after we moved him, before that he was getting C's and D's in almost all of his classes. I am very dissapointed in this school, it could have been so much more.
—Submitted by a parent

Overall, Prairie Ridge is an excellent school. The academic standard at PR is high. We looked at surrounding schools including Marian Central and PR stood out among all of them. The Guidance Office is opening a new College center this year, which was needed. The principal could be a little more visible. Overall the student body is very academically motivated. The Booster club is very active and raises a lot of money for their sports/activities programs. They also have a very active website.
—Submitted by a parent

When I moved to Northeast Illinois, I made a spread sheet inputting all the statistical data from the published School Report Card of Illinois Public Schools, including high schools. The quality of our childrens' schools was of utmost importance to us. I considered all the high schools from Vernon Hills, to Mundelein, to Gurnee, to Lake Zurich to Crystal Lake. Comparing the ACT scores, overall performance in all the tests and the PSAE test, Prairie Ridge HS is far superior of all the neighboring high schools, except one, and far superior among the three Crystal Lake high schools (Central and South). These are facts. These paper facts proved to be indisputably correct since my child has been in attendance there in the past year. One disturbing fact however is the downward tread of the statistical bases I mentioned earlier. Complacency cannot be allowed to take over.
—Submitted by a parent

This school ranks among the top high schools in the county, northern IL, and the state, for good reason. Dedication by both staff and students, along with parents, makes it the envy of most in the area. Compare scores and you can see the impact.