The Goddard School was integral to my son's development from age 2.5 -5.5. I watched him come out of his shy shell, make new friends, find his interests, and genuinely be accepted by a community of smart kind people. His teachers were exceptional, and we were extremely happy with this experience. We highly recommend the Goddard School. read more

There is no comparison to the value of the Goddard School philosophy and education. We have been happier than we ever thought with our LO at Goddard Lincoln Park. The facility is top of the line-including the most up to date technology, beautiful wall murals, clean and stimulating classrooms and an actual on-site outdoor play area which is rare in Lincoln Park. The administration and owner are available at all times with any needs we've had, and it is clear that the staff and teachers truly care about the children and value their role as educators. We cannot recommend this school enough! read more

I would recommend The Goddard School to anyone and everyone raising their kids in the city! My son attended The Goddard School from the time he was 6 months old to 4.5 years old starting in August of 2011 & it has been the most incredible experience! Everyone from the owner to the directors to all of the teachers along the way have been like family. They have been encouraging and excited about every milestone that he reached from crawling to walking to talking to being potty trained to reading & writing. My son has loved going to school there, speaks of his teachers fondly and loves his friends. It is extremely important to find a school that has the right balance of structure and play that lets our children flourish and have a positive educational experience. The play-based curriculum was crucial to Matthew's learning and also helped develop social and emotional learning skills. The teachers are the BEST! They are caring, passionate & incredibly creative and have always encouraged parent involvement. The facility is excellent as well & it is amazing that they don't ever need to leave the grounds to play. I never worried about anything while he was at school - I knew that he was always well taken care of. And the best part is that you get an email report each day about what they did with fun pictures and videos of the special moments that the teachers captured to share. It makes you feel like you were at school with them during the day and opens up a conversation for them to share details about their day. We looked at a lot of options before choosing Goddard and the moment we went on the tour, we knew it was the right place. It is far above the rest of the options in the city! It truly prepares your child for kindergarten making them more academically advanced than the rest of the kids in their class. Thank you to Jason, Gina & Lauren for always being available and taking such good care of our family. And a special thanks to the many teachers who have supported my son's learning along the way (Cara, Shenise, Melissa, Rosie, Hannah, Jen, Katie, Emily, Kirstin, Charlotte, Sarah, Kay, Kathy, Julie and the countless resource teachers who supported them)! We will miss you all! As we embark on the next part of our journey at The Latin School, I can only hope the rest of his educational experience will be this amazing! read more

The Goddard School has such a great group of people. They created a wonderful environment for Eliza and she was excited to go there every day! I never had to worry about Eliza when she was there. I had 100% trust in the staff and they always went over and beyond to make us feel connected to Eliza during the day when we had to be at work. We were very sad that we had to leave and I hope she gets to go back sometime in the near future if we move back to Chicago! read more

Per another reviewer's suggestion, I reported this business to the BBB. I strongly suggest others do the same if they feel that they have not received goods for services. This place is a joke. We are now almost 18 months past when we initially applied to the list and almost 12 months as to the estimate of when they told us a spot would become available. And the only communication we have received is through my reviews and email request for a refund. The only way I even know our spot on the list is from my last review on here in August which listed us as 3rd out of 7th (so glad Jason decided to share that with everyone else and am thankful that he still does not know the exact birthdate or name of our child for fear he also would have shared that). I think it's pretty obvious that the waitlist is a scam/way to make money. My assumption has always been that Jason keep slots in the infant room primarily for the younger siblings of the older children already enrolled in the school (2 years and up) as I assume that is where he makes a better profit since the child to teacher ratio increases. Which is fine so long as there is transparency which there is not. I pointed this out on another site and a person posing as a parent in love with the school then slipped up and said "nearly 80% of OUR infant classroom are first children, so spots are not just for siblings" which even if that were true would mean that by now a spot would have opened up in 18 months. Again, I no longer have any desire to send my child to this place given the level of mismanagement and apparent deceit but our only response from Jason has been that his door is always open and that we are still on the list. I will continue to update this and other sites until I receive a refund. read more

I toured various schools in the area and from the moment I walked in I knew this was the right place for our son. After three months we are still very happy with our choice. The teachers are all caring and loving. read more

My daughter started at the Goddard school when they first opened in 2011. We left a school less than 1/2 mile from our home in the Bucktown area and drove each day to Lincoln Park when Goddard opened. It is a simple commute to the school from many neighborhoods and easy to get to the loop. The school is absolutely the best for newborns through six. She attended from age 20 months through 3.5 years. She had many classmates who are attending Goddard until they begin kindergarten. She loved Goddard so much that we returned this summer to join her old friends and will do the same next summer. We only moved prior to kindergarten in order to guarantee her Pre-K-8th grade slot at her current school. The owner, Jason, is on site each day. He and the director, Gina, and assistant director, Lauren, have offices right when you walk in the door. They are always available to parents. They respond very promptly to emails. They attract wonderful, loving teachers to this school. Bachelors degrees are required for head teachers and nearly all assistants are also in school or close to finishing degrees. All of the teachers our daughter had were wonderful. They offer Mandarin, Spanish and music classes. It is a fantastic, clean and safe environment for kids to learn and play. read more

Goddard School in Lincoln Park has been amazing for our little girl. The teachers are phenomenal and she is coming home learning something new everyday. We love the structured curriculum and all of the learning activities designed for her age group. She was in a different daycare before and was miserable everyday but at Goddard she has been happy from day one. It is great to know that she is so well cared of and it really makes us feel relieved knowing she is in good hands. Thank you Goddard!! read more

We have had such a special time at the Goddard school, the team continuously goes above and beyond in the love and care provided to my girls, the teachers and administrators even give up their weekend time to come to the children's birthday parties, host fun fairs, all sorts of things. The curriculum and extra enrichments are phenomenal, creative and a perfect balance of challenging and fun- my daughters can sing songs in Chinese and tell me their colors and numbers in Spanish! The communication is also proactive and responsive. It's our home outside the home, I highly recommend this school! read more

The Goddard school has been great for my daughter. She has been going since about 19 mo and is now 27 mo. She loves it there, knows all the teachers by name, always talks about her friends, literally runs to school in the mornings and doesn't want to leave in the evenings. They have also potty trained her, taught her how to dress herself, and otherwise really encouraged her independence. She takes great naps there as well. The facilities are always clean and their outdoor space is excellent - fenced in and away from any roads and noise. The most important thing for me is of course that my child be happy and thriving and she is. read more

Teacher turnover is why we left, and what we found nearby was so much of a better match for my daughter at age 3 (maybe not at age 2 though, which is when she began at Goddard) that I felt it would be unethical to not come back and update my earlier review. Goddard was what we needed at the time (age 2) for the transition from home to a "school care" environment. We and our daughter fell in love with the teachers there, at that time. After a year though, those teachers seemed to become less communicative, more overwhelmed ... there was less eye contact ... shorter greetings ... the classes became more crowded, and eventually these awesome teachers left. The new teacher assigned to my daughter was clearly not as enthused about working with my child nor greeting or speaking to me about her as the former ones were (or used to be) ... as time wore on. It's an incredibly important job, and also incredibly undervalued in our society compared to so many other careers. It takes a lot out of you in a day, teaching ... especially early childhood in large numbers. The teachers we met when we started I learned have all moved on ... and they were spectacular when my daughter was there. My daughter's replacement teacher that we left, I learned has also left Goddard. We've found that when talented teachers feel well supported and that their creativity is nurtured, and when they seem to feel they have what they need to do what they understand is best for their students, the students and parents are happy too. We believe that we had that at Goddard for 90% of the time that our daughter was there. Yet when those teachers lost that feeling of support for whatever reason and withdrew, then left, my daughter was surprisingly consistent and articulate for 4 straight weeks about letting us know that we needed to "find a new and better school". The one we found is much smaller, not corporate, and less expensive. There is no focus on revenue, talent retention seems to be a palpable priority here. Again, Goddard was for the bulk of the year we were there exactly what we needed ... particularly because of the teachers we were lucky to meet and the way that they were supported for most of the time we were there. We're much happier now at a smaller school that really gets the kids out and about in the community, has more of a "mom and pop" feel to it, and sends comprehensive updates about curriculum plans both for the week coming up as well as how curriculum implementation panned out for the prior week ... every week. We also are inundated with more pictures than we know what to do with! My daughter's take on it: "We go everywhere!". Most notably, here you can FEEL the joy the teachers have in what they do for our kids every day. Spending a few hours here observing is easier here and you feel more welcomed to do it, and it's "not knowing what you don't know" that makes it hard to understand this sort of thing when you're looking for what school fits your child best for the first time. This is a really good fit for our now 4 year old. Here my daughter's teachers seem much more comfortable, love sharing about their creative ideas, are communicative and they really enjoy sharing what they know about my child when I visit. I'm welcome to go on the walks to nearby parks which happen every day that weather permits, to participate in circle time which is packed with Kindergarten + level curriculum, my daughter can write her name, knows about the 13 colonies, stripes on the flag, fifty stars for fifty states, about planets, there are frequent field trips to farms, zoos, Lego Land, museums, she knows her way around the neighborhood. We feel really lucky. read more

Best preschool experience I could have asked for!! My son attended Goddard for 2 years of preschool and we absolutely loved it there. He grew so much socially and intellectually all while having so much fun each day. The teachers are so patient, kind and work from an amazing curriculum. We really loved the small class sizes and daily outdoor activity. If only he could have stayed for kindergarten!! read more

My son has attended Goddard in Lincoln Park since opening and has now been there for nearly 2 years. Needless to say I have been pleased with the program, the teachers, the kids, and the development my son has made over the period. I have reviewed many programs in Chicago from Latin to Lil Gems International to paid Pre K and plan to continue comparing but, what I have found in my travels is that Goddard is a safe, warm hearted, friendly environment for my son to grow and learn (no discover) something new about the world around him. The curriculium is vast ranging from introduction to multiple languages, to experiencing productive peer interaction, to experimenting with devisive aids and instruction to keep him engaged and wanted to know more. I and my wife (like most) take our decisions on our childs education very seriously and through goddard have grown in confidence on the value of a sound early educational program. We may change our minds tomorrow on what is best for our son but to date have no regrets in placing him in the very capable hands of his extended Goddard family. Also, I care to read other opinions and believe they only hold value equaling their sincerity. read more

I can't say enough good things about Goddard. One of our daughters was there from the time she was 2 until pre-K "graduation" and our other daughter was there from the time she was 3 months old. The teachers aren't just amazingly kind and caring, but they're true teachers, with a passion for early education. The administrators are the epitome of professional. They're extremely buttoned up and are always available to chat about anything at all. The added bonus was meeting and becoming friends with so many of our daughters' classmates' families. It really feels like a community. We recently moved out of state, and every school we look at we compare to Goddard. It might seem a bit weird to miss a pre-school, but we do. read more

Not a great place to send your kiddies! Just before I pulled my child/ren out this year, I overheard several staff members, including administration talking about their previous night's activities. One staff member mentioned she was still hung over. Every time I was through the school, there seemed to be nights of unlimited drinking planned or had already occurred. I finally pulled my child/ren out and couldn't be happier. read more

This is a fantastic setting for early childhood education! Great teachers and a fantastic administrative team! Our daughter is 3 years old she started going to Goddard last November and we felt very welcome from day one! They have great enrichment programs for the kids (music lessons, Mandarin lessons, Spanish lessons) all included in the tuition. We love Goddard!! read more

Goddard is amazing.... although just a short stint due to a move in a different location, we are amazed at the progress our son has made. He has been thru two rooms, i love the attention, the curriculum, but most of all the amazing staff and teachers and their dedication to the kids. I'm super bummed i have to leave but couldn't end without saying amazing things about this place and how much i'll miss the teachers.... i can only hope for a daycare as good as this for my kid. read more

Our son has been at Goddard for a year and a half, and we are beyond thrilled with them. The owner, and Directors are top notch, and the teachers are wonderful. I actually wish he could go to Goddard until college:). It's incredible how much our son has learned there and how much he enjoys going. I can't say enough about the facilities either. They are top notch and there is nothing comparable. Thank you Goddard for everything you've done for us and our son! read more

We have LOVED the Goddard School. It is well run, safe, and like a family. Our son attended from age 2-5 and is now in Kindergarten. The amazing ( and responsive) administrators (Jason (owner), Gina, and Lauren!), incredible teachers, and support staff make this school feel like a wonderful community. Our son has grown and matured in so many ways- largely due to Goddard. The teachers displayed incredible professionalism, patience, kindness, and joy! The play-based learning philosophy is wonderful and really resonated with our son. We loved hearing about all the things he did during the day and the excitement with which he would tell us! Of course the daily photos and notes were good to fill in the blanks, too! We do miss those pics, now that he is in Kindergarten! Speaking of Kindergarten, he was extremely well prepared for it. In fact, he currently does less printing and numbers now than he did at Goddard. His ability to enjoy and appreciate foreign language in school is largely from Ms. Rosie's enthusiasm and energy during their Spanish sessions. He is confident, is making friends, and seems to have made a wonderful transition to his next chapter. Lastly, I'd like to say that our son has made some incredible friends through Goddard- and so have we. As our children grow we are endeavoring to stay in touch. Thanks for everything, Jason et al! read more

We absolutely loved our time at Goddard. Our son thrived there, we had awesome teachers in all of his classrooms. All the staff knew us by name right when we started. We loved the daily report we received every day and it really helped us reinforce subjects being taught in class and communicate with our son about his day. We loved he had a nutritious lunch and snacks every day- often foods he wouldn't otherwise be exposed to in our home. We will miss our time at Goddard so much! read more

We would highly recommend Goddard School in Lincoln Park. Our son attended the school for two years from age 3 to 5. Everyday he was happy to be there because the staff and teachers were warm, friendly, and always professional. He bonded well with all of the teachers. He enjoyed learning Mandarin, Spanish, Music class, and the themed activities assigned each week/month. As parents, we always felt at ease in terms of safety due to the mandatory entry process. In terms of the curriculum, our son left Goddard learning not only his letter sounds but was able to read beginner books on his own. This would not have been done without the encouragement and guided instruction the teachers give to their students. A great advantage and wonderful comfort is that the school has an inclosed playground only accessible from inside the school. Additionally we loved receiving the daily logs sent via email known as the Tadpole Reports. It was complete with the day's curriculum, photos and importance announcements/reminders. Previous to enrolling at Goddard, our son had attended two other learning centers, and what we found lacking was the inaccessibility to meeting and talking with the owner of the school. However, the ownership at Goddard is exceptional. We could always meet with Jason, the owner, if needed. He has a positive presence and all the kids knew him and liked him. Jason is very hands on and accessible. Gina, the curriculum director always greeted us every morning with a warm good morning and always had a hug to give to any student who needed it. Additionally, Lauren the Assistant Director was extremely warm and friendly to all of us when we left at the end of the day. Our son always walked into the office comfortably to say good-bye to her or GIna or Jason. We are very, very grateful for the nurturing and educational environment that Goddard offers. read more

Our daughter attended from 12 weeks until 3.5 years. We love the school and all of the staff. Our daughter is very social and caring of others and we attribute this to her time at Goddard. We knew that everyday she was learning but more important, we knew she was safe. read more

My 3 year old went here for a few months, and while this is a beautiful facility, they are lacking in depth of experience. My son did like going, however I found the experience to be a little "rigid". He couldn't take his shoes off to nap, and was held down to try and "help" him nap, which caused aggression towards the teacher. I was told by the director prior to enrolling that there was no problem if my child wasn't potty trained, however I got a very different response from the class teacher when she realized that she would be dealing with diapers and was told that it was going to be hard on her to leave the other children to deal with that . The reality is that 1 adult can not properly manage 10 + 3 year olds. If you're looking for a place to leave your kids for a few hours, this place would be fine, but for a working mother who needs all day care, there are better, more child focused choices out there. read more

I'm surprised by the few negative reviews I see here and totally unsurprised by the positive ones. Our daughter has attended for two years now, and she loves it. We love it. She loves her teachers, her teachers love her. She has a blast, she's in a mentally stimulating, creative environment, and she gets to do lots of things she loves like music and art. She taught my husband and I a song in Spanish last week, and last night she was singing a song in Mandarin (all learned at Goddard). Her teachers are very focused on the kids' emotional development, which is totally appropriate for three-year-olds, and the play-based curriculum is nicely balanced with the academic material that they're working on (letters, reading, basic math concepts, etc.). We get videos and photos of the kids throughout the day every day, which we love, and the school has been generally receptive to feedback. We have experienced a bit of turnover, but not an excessive amount and not anything to be concerned about. I can't speak about every teacher in this school, but the ones we have experienced have all been wonderful, nurturing, smart, and creative. Our only complaint is that it is very expensive -- but, unfortunately, it's right on par with similar preschools in Chicago. If you can afford it, it's a wonderful, safe, fun place to send your child. read more

My son is 18mos and has attended Goddard for 4mos now. At first it was hard, mostly for us as parents, to leave our son in the care of someone new but after just a few weeks of our son attending "school" he started to LOVE it. Instead of tears when we leave, his teachers know exactly what to do in order for him to be able to happily wave bye-bye to us. His teachers, Ms. Monica and Ms. Charlotte, are absolutely wonderful. We feel so lucky to have our son in their classroom. You can tell that they love their jobs and are happy to be with the kids each day. The office staff as well as all the teachers are very friendly and helpful with whatever needs we may have. The staff gets to know the parents and students on a personal level and makes communication very easy. We could not be happier with our choice of schools and we know we've made the right choice when we tell our son, "Guess what? You're going to school today!" and he gets a big smile on his face! I feel that my son has grown on so many levels since starting at Goddard and we look forward to seeing him grow and learn even more. Also, the staff puts on many fun events for the parents and children. For instance, there was a Thanksgiving lunch that the parents and children were invited to along with a Halloween party. They try to get the parents involved as much as possible. Thank you! Keep up the good work, Goddard!! read more

I cannot say enough good things about Goddard. If you are looking for a well-run school that feels like a family and infuses learning with creativity, love, and happiness, this is the school for you. I say this as a picky perfectionist. My daughter began at Goddard when she was 2.5 (about the time it opened) and attended for about 2.5 years. My son attended for 7 months. My husband and I were nothing but pleased with our experience at Goddard -- and in fact were blown away with how much both of our children blossomed there. The facilities are new and sparkly clean, the playground is fabulous, the food is outstanding, and the classrooms are filled with colorful signs of learning and fun. Music and language teachers who come in are definite highlights! Mr. Jason and Ms. Gina are so easy and pleasant to work with. They are the perfect combination of business acumen and welcoming warmth. The hardest part of our move was leaving Goddard. I still tear up when I think about it. Our children looked forward to going to school and made incredible friends there. I also made incredible friends through Goddard. Perhaps the most exciting part of our experience with Goddard, though, was seeing how much our daughter flourished academically (particularly in her Pre-K class). She was reading and doing math at 4 and was so excited about learning. Goddard gave our children the best possible first impression of school and the best possible foundation for future learning. I will be forever grateful. read more