Coventry Christian Schools

Our child is in her 4th year at CCS and we are thrilled with the education she is receiving. My husband & I attended public schools and the difference b/w the work I did by 3rd grade and what my child is taught is staggering. They begin to learn how to do book reports and science projects from 1st grade. They are taught Spanish from Kindergarten onward. These are fundamentals that I was not taught (at least thoroughly) until I was a teenager. What is as important to us as academics is the moral/character education she receives. Sometimes you don't realize how much of a diff a Christian education makes until you see your child with other children who attend public schools. These are good kids but there is a. . . coarseness or not as much respectfulness of others as I see in the children at CCS. it is a significant financial sacrifice for us to send our child to CCS but it is an investment in our child that is well worth it.
--Submitted by a parent

Again, I am the Director of Advancement and previously served as Secondary School Principal for twelve years. The comments regarding numbers of students attending community college should be clarified. Here are the facts: Historically, 97% of alumni attend four-year universities. 2% attend community college or technical schools, and 1% join the work force. For complete information about colleges which our alumni attend, visit the school's website. Additionally, our teachers are highly qualified, holding state certificates, degrees in their fields, and graduate degrees as well. If you have doubts, when you come to visit, be sure to ask for staff credentials. We are also accredited by the National Christian School Association and Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools. If you read anything on this site that gives you concern, I suggest that you call the school, schedule a visit, and do your own research. By the very nature of anonymous web postings, you are unlikely to receive fair and balanced or even accurate assessments.
--Submitted by a teacher

Please note that the assessment of student performance on standardized tests below is inaccurate. I served as the Secondary School Principal for twelve years, moving on to another position in the school this year. Our current 3-year average composite SAT score is 1748. The cumulative average is even higher. This places our school second only to The Hill School in a comparison of all schools in our drawing area (12 districts and all private schools as well). This is even more remarkable since we include all students with learning disabilities and exclude all students who are in our program fewer than two years before testing. Many of those excluded students would be good for our average. Our curriculum does vary greatly from the state's, and this is intentional. We are a private school because we believe in a different philosophy of education. For this reason, we do not utilize the PSSA, which is a test of state curriculum. Our alumni perform well by national standards and are in the top 20% as a group on the nationally-normed Stanford Achievement Tests. We are committed to academic excellence in the classical Christian tradition, and our alumni are a testimony to this.
--Submitted by a teacher

I am a graduate of Coventry Christian Schools and graduated about 10 years ago. I simply cannot understand the negative comments below. I was accepted into McGill University in Canada, one of the most prestigious universities in the world. CCS helped to prepare me academically, even though teachers cross teach. I had no problems with this and found that students became closer with their teachers when they had more than one class with them. My teachers became part of our family and I can honestly say that there is no other school like CCS as teachers genuinely care about their students. As for students failing the SATs, I think it has less to do with the school curriculum and more to do with the individual students not studying enough or grasping basic principles. Please do not let negative ratings of one parent (as clearly those 2 negative comments were written by the same family) sway your decision to send your child to CCS. It was the best experience of my life and your child would be missing out on an amazing education experience if you choose not to send them there.

Do not send your child here if you intend for them to succeed, first in Christ and then in the world. The school operates under the guise of being a Christian school but follows every secular past time you can think of - Halloween (symbol of witchcraft) is a great example. A large number of their students end up in Community Colleges. Many of the teachers "cross-teach" other courses for which they are not fully qualified and / or accredited for - consequently children learn in snippets but do not follow the FULL and REQUIRED Pennsylvania standard - these gaps are later reflected in SAT scores. NOTE: They DO NOT test to the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) and it is therefore almost impossible to measure how far below the standard they really are. On a final note, the lower schools are where the problem begins and where it is at its worst. Here they teach the absolute bare minimum to get you to send your child there, but should you take the time to examine their curriculum and compare it to the State's performance requirements for K - 8th grade - you will notice how far below standard they are. Our advice, don't let your child be the next statistic for failure!
--Submitted by a parent

I started with my first born and now my third wll be attending CCS in 2012 if the lord wills. We have been very happy with school. A challenging education is very important to us as is a sound bible focused education. We are very happy with the school.The teachers are very involved with the kids and very capable. The KG syllabus is outstanding. My kids got a head start in math because of the curriculum at CCS. Compared to public school and other private schools in the area, , my kids are learning so much more. My friend stopped Kumon classes when their kid joined CCS. We love it. The kids look forward to school. I love that they have started teaching Latin in 3rd grade. This will make it easy for the kids to pick up other languages as Latin is the base for most languages. My kids have been going to the school for the past 4 years and we have been very happy. We live 13 miles away but still feel it worth it. Ofcourse there is no perfect school out there but so far I have only good things to say. Thanks you Mr. Neils.
--Submitted by a parent

My son attended CCS from K to 1st grade. There is a lot to love. Most of the staff is very kind. The principal & superintendent know every child by name. There is lots of opertunity for parental involvement and the coursework is very challanging. The playground is wonderful. Our top reasons for choosing CCS were that they offered a small class size and the curriculum is more advanced than the local public schools. As a parent considering this school, you should be aware that the coursework is about a year ahead of the public schools, for example, K uses 1st grade texts, 1st uses 2nd and so on. They teach from a fundementalist Protestant Christian worldview, such as New Earth Creationism as part of the science class. This was confusing for our son. We decided to change schools when the class size was increased to 25.
--Submitted by a parent

My grandaughter has been a student since Kindergarten, going into 7th soon and I think this school is wonderful. The curriculum is challanging. The values they teach are much needed in today's society. Do they teach their Christian standards? Sure, just like a catholic school teaches their Christian standards. I would recommend this school to any parent who is thinking of a private school.

I want to express how wonderful our experience has been with the CCS teaching staff. My son s teachers are truly Christian role models. I am so thankful that the teachers are blessed with the gift of meeting an individual student's learning, social, and emotional needs. I have noticed such a difference in the teachers from public school compared to CCS. Now, he is not an advanced test score for the school to use to say they are doing a good job. He has teachers who really care if he learns to work hard and do his best. His teachers accept him for who he is and view him as a unique individual while inspiring him to work to his potential. I hope CCS teachers realize the difference they are making in student s lives. We really see the impact they are making and appreciate their time, sacrifices, gifts, and energy.
--Submitted by a parent

I began attending CCS in the middle of 2nd grade until I graduated in 2005. I would be lying if I said that I had no bad experiences with this school. However, there will ALWAYS be problems with a school. After all, we're only human. No, the Christian emphasis does not always shine as much as one would like, but there is undeniably one, which is MUCH more than can be found elsewhere. The majority of the faculty is connected with the students, though there are some that are distant; elsewhere, the reverse would be true. I am noticing that the majority of the negative reviews here are from parents that did not seem to be very involved with their child's experience at the school; what are their children saying? Many, many graduates, myself included, return to volunteer or work for CCS, and are very happy with it.
--Submitted by a student