At-A-Glance

• Only ISACS-accredited K-8 school in Central Illinois
• Tornado shelter
• Financial aid available
• Small class size
• Unique classroom structure - kindergarten, 1st/2nd grade, 3rd/4th grade, 5th grade, & middle school with 5 homerooms
• Challenging, creative academics
• High school-sized gym and performing arts center
• Emphasis on character building
• Beautiful 14+ acre campus with playgrounds and soccer fields
• Competitive, no-cut policy sports program at grades 4 – 8
• World language choice & instruction at all levels (Chinese, Spanish & Latin)
• Project based, hands-on curriculum

Accreditations & Affiliations

IESA – Illinois Elementary School Association
IMEA – Illinois Music Education Association
ISACS – Independent Schools Association of the Central States
ISBE – Illinois State Board of Education
ISM - Independent School Management
NAIS – National Association of Independent Schools
Champaign County Chamber of Commerce

Our outstanding faculty members are selected for their enthusiasm, knowledge, and ability to nurture young minds. All elementary teachers have bachelor's or master's degrees and have completed a college teacher education program. Our middle school teachers have degrees in education or in their specialties, usually advanced degrees. In fact, the majority of our faculty have Master's or PhD degrees.

In addition, we have an excellent professional development program. Each year our faculty attends conferences and workshops to further their professional growth. There is very low faculty turnover.

Countryside School admits academically qualified students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to the rights, privileges, programs and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of gender, sexual identity, race, color, national and ethnic origin in administration of its education policies, admission policies, scholarship programs, and athletic or other school-administered programs.

Our graduates attend local public and private schools including Champaign Centennial, Champaign Central, Urbana, Academy High, Mahomet-Seymour, St. Thomas More, Judah Christian, Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy (IMSA), and University Laboratory High School. 

Our alumni have attended the University of Illinois and over 150 other colleges and universities. Several of these outstanding institutions are listed below:

• Amherst
• Barnard College
• Brown
• Bryn Mawr
• Butler
• University of California - Berkley
• Cal Tech
• Carleton College
• Carnegie Mellon
• University of Chicago
• Cleveland Institute of Music
• Colorado College
• Columbia
• Cornell
• Dartmouth
• Duke
• Eastern Illinois University
• Emory
• University of Florida
• Georgetown
• Georgia Tech
• Grinnell
• Hamilton College
• Harvard
• Harvey Mudd
• Haverford College
• High Point University
• University of Illinois
• Illinois Institute of Technology
• Illinois Wesleyan
• Indiana University
• Ithaca College
• Johns Hopkins
• Loyola - Chicago
• Macalester
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Miami University - Ohio
• University of Michigan
• Middlebury
• Mount Holyoke
• The New School
• New York University
• University of North Carolina
• Northwestern University
• Notre Dame
• Oberlin
• Oxford - England
• Parkland College
• Parsons School of Design
• University of Pennsylvania
• Pepperdine
• Princeton
• Purdue
• Reed College
• Rice
• Sarah Lawrence
• University of Southern California
• Southern Illinois University
• Stanford
• Swarthmore
• The University of Texas - Dallas
• Tufts
• Tulane
• UCLA
• United States Naval Academy
• Vanderbilt
• Vassar
• Wake Forest
• University of Washington
• Washington University - St. Louis
• Wesleyan University
• William and Mary
• Williams
• University of Wisconsin
• Yale

and many, many more…