Oak Forest Education, Oak Forest Schools, Oak Forest School Districts, Oak Forest Colleges, Oak Forest Universities

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Education

Education is a top priority for residents of Oak Forest, a city that is fortunate to be served by several first-rate school districts and institutions of higher learning. In addition, Oak Forest provides a variety of childcare and learning centers, including Acorn Child Care Center, Kindercare Learning Center and Triple R Child Care.

The academic excellence of Oak Forest’s three elementary and two secondary school districts is equaled only by their commitment to the community.

Forest Ridge Elementary School District 142 is comprised of four facilities—Ridge Early Childhood Center (pre-K-K), G. Kerkstra Elementary School (1-5), Lee R. Foster Elementary School (1-5) and Jack Hille Middle School (6-8)—all located within Oak Forest. The District’s curriculum features a child-centered environment that helps students reach their full potential in academics, as well as behavior/social skills.

Arbor Park School District 145 is dedicated to ensuring success in its students. The District serves nearly 1,500 students within four buildings—Kimberly Heights School (pre-K-K), Morton Gingerwood School (1-2), Scarlet Oak School (3-4) and Central Middle School (5-8).

Fostering learning in the area, Community Consolidated School District 146 is currently composed of six facilities—Fulton School (pre-K-2), Memorial School (pre-K-5), Kruse Education Center (pre-K-5), Fierke Education Center (K-5), Sandidge School (3-5) and Central Middle School (6-8). The District has instituted a new construction project, aimed at addressing its growth needs. The new Fulton pre-K through fifth grade facility will ultimately combine Fulton School and Sandidge School into one comprehensive facility, capable of housing 550 students. The campus is slated for completion in summer of 2009.

The majority of Oak Forest students move on to attend Bremen High School District 228’s Oak Forest High School. Home of the Bengals, OFHS strongly believes in its motto—“Academics plus Activities equals Excellence.” The high school takes pride in a strong curriculum and its multitude of available co-curricular activities, in which a high concentration of students participate. OFHS is also thrilled with the number of students that have earned awards in academics and athletics. With all of this and more, it is no wonder the Southtown Star newspaper ranked OFHS as the number three high school in the south, southeast and southwest Chicago area (based on the Prairie State Exam).

In addition to District 228, Consolidated High School District 230 also serves some residents in the Oak Forest area through its three high schools—Amos Alonzo Staff (Palos Hills), Carl Sandburg (Orland Park) and Victor J. Andrew (Tinley Park).

For those looking to pursue education post high school, Oak Forest is in close proximity to two higher education institutions.

South Suburban College in South Holland is a comprehensive, public two-year community college enrolling an average of more than 17,000 students from the communities of south suburban Chicago. In addition to a selection of career and transfer credit programs, SSC provides an assortment of personal enrichment classes as well as customized training and short-term instruction for local businesses through the Business and Career Institute.

Oak Forest is also home to a campus of the renowned DePaul University system. Conveniently located in the community, the campus opened its doors to the south suburbs in 1993. Enrolled students have access to both undergraduate and graduate degree programs, with offerings leading to the earning of a B.A. or an M.A./M.Ed. Adding to this are two non-degree programs, including the Professional in Human Resources Certificate and the Project Management Certificate programs.

Prairie State College in Chicago Heights is a two-year community college offering a number of associates degrees and technical and career certificates in more than 100 fields of study. In addition, the college offers adult, corporate and continuing education. PSC stands as the first community college in the state to guarantee that all credits earned while attending the institution will be transferred to other Illinois colleges and universities.

Governors State University is also close by, with its main campus situated in University Park. GSU is a public university currently serving approximately 6,000 students at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. Full-time and part-time students, transfer students and busy or working adults have access to 48 undergraduate and graduate degree programs, as well as 17 certificate programs.x