Children's Academy-Springfield

The teachers are experienced and work extremely well together as a team. They're warm and kind yet very good at maintaining order. The curriculum is very faithful to the Montessori approach. My daughter has been extraordinarily happy at Children's Academy! As a preschooler, she now reads very confidently and can do addition and subtraction up to 20 -- but more importantly, she feels comfortable, safe, and appreciated in the positive environment of the Children's Academy.

This was not a good school for my child, or really any child. Imaginative play is discouraged by the teachers and children are often reprimanded for using their imaginations in learning and play. The outside equipment is only used in the warmest months of the year. When questioned about this the faculty responds that the school is too focused on academics to allow outside time or imaginative play, which shows a complete lack of understanding of the way pre-schoolers learn. If you go to their website you will see most of the children pictured look bored and unhappy, which is the general attitude of the children in this school. The teachers would rather have quiet children than active or engaged ones. My son attended this school for 2 years and learned almost nothing. We moved him to a pre-school with fun and toys and he learned to write his name and basic reading skills in under a month.

The student/teacher ratio is also not what they claim. There are over 30 students in the big room. While there are four teachers assigned to this room, two function as administrators also and spend very little time in the classroom.