This is a special school in the Schenectady, New York area, that serves children with many…read moredifferent abilities. They have before and after school care with highly trained staff and lots of opportunities. Come check us out!

I just finished attending the CIP Berkshire center. It does have some good and bad parts…read more Pros: self-paced curriculum, kids are treated like individuals, expected to behave like adults, many students are successful upon leaving Cons: price, student houses aren't all that great, very few students get paid jobs, staff don't always listen to student complaints even though they say they do, and signing up for activities has become increasingly difficult, inconvenient location for those who don't have cars, also the curriculum is extremely repetitive so if you've been there for a couple years, you'll continue to hear the same things over and over again.

CIP is a phenomenal program preparing students with learning differences for vocations and…read moreindependent living. As mother of a son with ASD and ADHD, I'm so grateful for a program like this, tailored to his unique needs and committed to helping him realize his highest potential!

We are so thrilled that we found Forman. It has certainly been a game changer for my son. He came…read morein as a rising Junior full of self doubt about his future and capabilities, and will graduate in a few months as a Senior who has been accepted by an excellent selection of quality colleges. He "found" his learning style with the help of the caring, talented educators at Forman. This DID NOT happen at his large public (highly rated) high school. Socially, he "found" his voice and "his people". If you have a child who struggles due to learning differences, please give Forman a look. They KNOW what they're doing, and do it well.

The Forman School quite literally changed the course of my daughter's life. The caring and…read moresupportive faculty know how to make the educational experience amazing for every student. My daughter went off to her first choice college and will graduate in weeks. She was ready for the rigors of college and had the tools and knew how to use them to get the most out of her college career. I would not hesitate to recommend Forman to any parent who thinks their child needs a little more guidance to not only succeed academically but to enjoy learning again. These are amazing, smart kids who learn differently. Forman gives them opportunities to explore subjects that they are passionate about and supports and encourages their passions. The state of the art Visual and Performing Arts Center is to open in Fall of 2017 and the Fabrication Lab opened this year. It is the perfect school for an "outside the box" kind of student who wants more from a school.

HillCrest has been a complete game changer. I can't imagine what his life would be without the…read morelove, support, and constant patience, the overwhelming kindness and respect that comes generously and genuinely through the hearts of every staff member. He is free to speak to me and tell me anything. He truly loves all the staff. Thank You, for all you continue to do !

From the owner: Hillcrest Educational Centers provides specialized care and individualized comprehensive treatment…read moreand special education services for children, adolescents and their families.

I debated quite a long time about whether I should write a review about our experience at Woodland…read moreHill (WH). After talking to so many other parents that experienced and are experiencing similar issues as we did. I would feel remiss to not help another family trying to make a difficult decision to either put in or remove their child from WH. WH has a beautiful property and facade, there are some good people that work there. However, that is where my praise for WH stops. There are a few main issues that I and others have had with WH that I feel should be shared. They do not give you a good idea where your child is academically. There are very few points of contact from the teachers. They send home 2 very vague progress reports a year with "WH language" by which I mean they tend to use words that are very neutral or ambiguous. The 2 parent teacher conferences throughout the year are very short, and there is little time to discuss. When I was able to meet with the teacher, they would revert to a thing my child said which seemed to divert any attention from the teacher. Every meeting we had they said the same thing, anything else they said was generic and neutral. Multiple parents that I have spoken with that left the school were astonished about how far their child was behind. They were embarrassed to not have noticed it and had to hire tutors. More importantly. There is a MAJOR BULLYING PROBLEM. The concerns that I had brought up to the teachers were actually about bullying and not academics. Again, these concerns were brushed off with generic language like talking to a politician. We were assured that a specialist was going through every class, and urged to wait for that to happen. It was months before that specialist got to our classroom, and nothing changed. Several parents have contacted us with the same issue, asking to get together so that our children can play so they can feel better after being bullied all day in school. For two years my child told me when he walked into the school that he felt "empty inside". They would come home and tell us that it was the worst year of their life. They saw a child from WH and literally ran and hid because of how they had been treated. You can see the school trying to bring in faculty to address this problem. Ironically from my experience, the faculty that were tasked with this were the same faculty that clearly had no experience in child education and were the very faculty that made my child afraid and uncomfortable to walk into the school daily. There is a yearly fundraiser for WH where they hire a professional auctioneer. There are people that pay $30,000 for a reserved parking spot, that you will never see a car in. Do you really think they would tell the parent of that child that they were bullying other children or do anything about it? What some other parents said to me rang so true. WH is more like a daycare than a school. Sure, some children will thrive in this environment, and WH will be sure to prop them up on a pedestal when contested. If for any reason you are trying to decide if you should make a financial sacrifice to give your children, then I urge you to not make this choice. WH will make you feel like you can't get an education anywhere else, and if your child leaves you are doing them a huge disservice. It is a multi-level marketing \ cult mentality. Once you see through it is nothing but BS. If this review sounds jaded. It is. The experiences I was promised from WH were all false. They claim that the older children will build the younger children up, bring up their confidence, and foster a love of learning. In reality, mine's confidence and spirit was crushed. My child was frozen with panic, forced to skip recess and lunch. These false promises go right down the extra curriculars. You sign up for a cooking class and make brownie mix from a box. Leaving the school was the best decision we ever made for our child, and they are finally healing from the years of turmoil by attending there.

I'm grateful every day that we found WHMS! Where do I start?…read more This school encompasses everything that is good about Montessori school---they teach kindness and self-sufficiency and self-directed learning. My daughter learns so much there every day. Her teacher, Nancy, is the embodiment of calm and awesomeness--she's like a Zen master! We visited another school and my three year old daughter cried through the entire visit. When we visited Woodland Hill, she was calm and happy and said, "Mom, I really want to go to school there." I love their values around sustainability, peace, and treating others with respect. The school itself is exceedingly well-run, organized, and structured (in a good way). I feel that it is the best of all worlds, and the tuition is beyond reasonable for what they offer. There's a great community of families; I haven't met one single person I don't like, and people really work together. It's fun getting to being a part of this.

Update. Want to make sure that all parents who may be considering Hillcrest Brookside do their…read morehomework. Ask questions. Feel free to reach out to me if you have questions I may be able to assist with. This program failed my family. Brookside took 800 days away from us. I do not recommend for anyone who has family ties; perhaps Brookside is a proper fit for girls in the court system or who lack family supports.