The online application and tour are two great ways to get the process started. The online application helps us get to know you and your child. This form asks open-ended questions regarding your child's development, his or her areas of interest, relative strengths and weaknesses, and your educational expectations. At Quest Academy, we believe parents know their children better than anyone and we truly value your input. When you apply to Quest, you are providing us with valuable information that will be used for admissions decisions and placement purposes.
We offer group and individual tours. Group tours are held on Wednesday mornings and last about 90 minutes. Please refer to the group tour schedule along the side of this page to determine what works for you. (You must reserve a spot for a tour as space is limited.) Lower School tours are intended for Kindergarten through Fifth Grade and Middle School tours for Sixth through Eighth Grade. Individual tours are gladly arranged with priority given to students who have submitted an application.
Preschool and Pre-Kindergarten group tours will be announced on this page and the Admissions Daily Bulletin page as they are scheduled throughout the year. Individual tours are recommended in order to provide an opportunity to get better acquainted with your little one and also complete the Preschool/Pre-Kindergarten screening.
Admission to Preschool and Pre-Kindergarten
The admission process for entry into our Early Childhood Program is designed to assess your child’s social, developmental and intellectual readiness for the program to which you are applying. You will be asked to submit an application for Preschool or Pre-Kindergarten, schedule a tour (with your child is highly recommended, although it is not required), complete screening with your child, and submit a Teacher Recommendation if your child has been enrolled a Preschool program recently. In order to enter Ques tAcademy’s Preschool, children must be three years old by September 1st and four years old for our Pre-Kindergarten.
Admission to Kindergarten through Eighth Grade
Administration of an intelligence measure is required for admission to Kindergarten through Eighth Grade. We recommend the use of the Wechsler Intelligence Scales for Children (WISC-IV) or the Stanford-Binet (S-B V). The baseline IQ for admittance is 125. If testing has been done in the past, please contact the admission office to confirm that it meets our criteria. Please see our EducationalTesting page for more information. Once enrolled, parents must also complete a Release of Student Records Form, which allows the child's current school to release copies of student records to Quest.
All students applying to Middle School (sixth through eighth grades) are required to submit a writing sample that your child has completed in school or on their own. Additional samples of work are welcomed such as a math test, art project, or any other area of interest.
Applicants to grades one through five are not required to submit their own work, but it is welcome and will be used to supplement his or her application file.
After all of the written information is gathered, applicants to grades one through eight are invited for a two-day visit in a classroom at their current grade level so they may be evaluated in comparison with their peers. Kindergarten applicants visit our Pre-Kindergarten for one full day. During the visit, the classroom teacher administers informal evaluations to determine the candidate's current level of functioning in relation to our curriculum.
The admission process at Quest has been developed to ensure that the mission and curriculum of Quest Academy are well matched to the individual needs of each child. Evaluating a child to determine whether he or she is a good candidate for our accelerated program is a multi-dimensional process. The Admission Committee uses all of the information gathered to determine whether the child would be well served by Quest’s program. If you have any questions about this process, please contact the Admission Office.
In accordance with the Illinois State Board of Education, new students must bring in an original birth certificate which we will copy for you. We need to witness the original certificate, therefore, we cannot accept your copy. A copy of the birth certificate is acceptable if sent from the student’s prior school when records are transferred.