Two Elmhurst Schools Named Among State's Best Private High Schools

Two Elmhurst private high schools were ranked among the best in Illinois in a recent report from Niche.com.

IC Catholic Prep and Timothy Christian School made the list, ranking No. 29 and No. 31, respectively.

The report ranked 3,880 private high schools based on three factors: Academics, Student Culture and Diversity and Survey Responses from current students, parents, alumni and administrators.

The factors were chosen to ”represent a healthy balance between statistical rigor and practical relevance in the ranking,” according to the website. A high ranking in academics indicates that students are happy with the quality of education, they perform well on standardized testing and they leave the school ready for college and careers.

Academics account for 60 percent of each school’s Niche “grade,” with 30 percent for student culture and diversity and 30 percent for survey responses.

IC Catholic Prep received an overall grade of B, with other grades:

• B in Academics
• B+ in Educational Outcomes
• B+ in Student Culture and Diversity

Timothy Christian School received an overall grade of B, with other grades:

• B in Academics
• B+ in Educational Outcomes
• B- in Extracurriculars
• B in Food
• C+ in Sports and Fitness
• B in Student Culture and Diversity
• B- in Teachers

One Niche user ranked IC Catholic Prep five out of five points for Educational Outcomes.

“The biggest thing you can take for ICCP is that it will prepare you for life. I have gained so much knowledge of people and myself that I would be hopelessly lost if I had never gone to this school. It turned me into a leader and a strong person in mind, spirit, and body. I have also made an outstanding number of lifelong friends here.”

Another person wrote that the extracurriculars at Timothy Christian School were easy to organize.

“Because it is a smaller school it does not have as many extracurriculars as bigger high schools, but if the students really wanted to start a club all they had to do was get permission. There were science clubs, math clubs, chess club, mock trial, sewing club, book clubs, volunteering clubs, devotional clubs, plays, and even one secret club that was started my senior year. No one was allowed to know what the club was about unless you attended the meeting, but anyone could join

Read more commentary and find out more about the methodology at Niche.com.
See what other schools finished in the top 100.

Images via Facebook. Lauren Traut (Patch Staff) contributed to this story.