Libertyville High School in Libertyville

Category	Rating	Details
College Readiness	9/10	The College Readiness Rating uses this high school's graduation rates, college entrance exam participation and performance, or AP, IB, or Dual Enrollment participation to determine how well schools are preparing students for success in college and beyond. The College Readiness Rating was created using the following data from the 2021 Civil Rights Data Collection: percentage of students enrolled in IB, AP or Dual Enrollment classes in grades 9-12, using 2025 4-year high school graduation rate data from Illinois State Board of Education, and using 2025 demographic data from Illinois State Board of Education.

Posted: August 21, 2025

Libertyville High School could have provided me with a better education but was better than Oak Grove Elementary School.
Students are not supported & LHS does not prepare students for college and the real world.
Most teachers are not willing to help students learn. Teaching is just a job to them. Many couldn't meet with students before or after school. Many cared more about getting home to their families than staying after school to help students.
Many teachers focus on sports over academics and small talk over learning, which affects education, quality & meant that I had to self teach.
Counselors don't encourage students to reach their full potential. They focus on emotional well being at the expense of academic achievement.
Career counselor told me to aim lower and apply to less selective colleges. Not taking her advice was one of the best decisions I ever made.
LHS has no standing with selective schools, the career center person told me colleges declined to visit LHS.
Students who say in the reviews that the same kids are chosen for everything are right, LHS is very insular.
At least I had a few caring teachers and this place wasnt as bad as my elementary / middle school: Oak Grove Elementary School.

Posted: August 21, 2025

Posted: July 23, 2025

Excellent - my daughters graduated from here and were very well prepared for highly ranked universities. Excellent and holistic approach to the academic and social emotional well being for all students. My daughters participated in athletics, arts, academic and social clubs. Highly recommend!

Posted: July 23, 2025

Posted: May 21, 2025

Before Covid, I would give 5 starts to LHS. Now, 3 is generous. Since Covid, there is way too much coddling. There are usually no deadlines for homework ("get it in before the end of the semester") and tests can be retaken. My son's counselor pushed nothing but the easiest possible schedule: told him he only needed 3 years of math to graduate when he asked to take a math class for senior year (he is an Honors level student: he absolutely should be taking the AP calculus class he was asking to take). She also encouraged him to take fewer electives so he could end each school day earlier as he already had the minimum number of credits to graduate with. I should've transferred all of my kids to Carmel back in 2020. I have been "waiting out" the disaster LHS became during COVID for way too long. The teachers for the most part are amazing, but unfortunately, administrators don't listen to their opinions. Highly disappointed in what LHS has become.

Posted: May 21, 2025

Posted: December 21, 2024

My oldest graduated from this school last year, and now I have my 2nd in senior and the youngest in sophomore. None of my children had good experiences with LST. They reach out to the family or students only when they think the students caused some trouble instead of investing their time in learning an individual student and their world from the starting point of their time at LHS. Also, the counselor for my child(ren) didn't do her job correctly- she offered the wrong information regarding one of the class requirements, so my child was assigned a class that she didn't even want to take. The same counselor gave very generic advice to my child regarding class recommendations. She didn't even ask what schools/majors my child had in mind. Cannot understand why there is such a bigger body of LST which is not helpful at all.

Posted: December 21, 2024

Posted: March 20, 2024

LHS has provided what I believe to be an average education for my child, but not nearly close to what I expected given the schools previous reputation. LHS is steadily going downhill and has already lost pace with VHHS in academics, diversity and other initiatives. The school is outdated on so many fronts and communication with families and community is poor. Its as if LHS is stuck in a time capsule from the 90s and doesnt know how to progress. Theres also a heavy celebration of athletics versus creative and academic extracurriculars. This isnt a Chicago suburban high school, this is a small town high school that cant adapt to modern changes.

Posted: March 20, 2024

Posted: June 3, 2023

This school is such a disappointment. We moved here for this school as everyone we spoke with highly recommended it. Our kids attended Oak Grove and always felt like the kids regardless of race were valid and important as their focus was on academics. Although OGS has taken a negative turn as well with the new superintendent, LHS is pathetic. The assigned LST and several teachers are so focused on social emotional wellbeing when it comes to gender, sexuality and race that when a student has concerns academically, its not even considered. Instead I was encouraged to pay for tutors. If you are not confused about your gender or are white, you will be treated like you have no problems and struggling in classes are a financial problem your parents need to address. If your child has differing political or has Christian values, they best keep it to themselves or be outcasted by teachers.
Our daughter maintained a 3.0 so shes not a bad student but shes incredibly bored with classes and has a hard time staying engaged. Additionally, the amount of makeup homework and retakes on tests is appalling. People wonder why kids are so entitled but they are being dumbed down but when you dont make them work hard from the beginning and they think they can just turn everything in at the end of the semester or retake tests 3-4 times bc they can. They come to expect it and the entitlement begins. We are constantly battling in the home what is acceptable to us vs what the teachers/school permits. I have only ever had one teacher contact me in the 2 years we have been at LHS. That teacher was exceptional and not the norm. If I could do it over, I would have picked a private school vs paying these taxes. I thought would have provided a better education and student experience.

Posted: June 3, 2023

Posted: February 8, 2023

I don't feel part of LHS. Teachers and administrators choose who is important and its the same kids for everything. Student council, link crew, hoco, all are selected by teachers and don't represent the students in any way. LHS is over 80% white and the school is trying to look diverse by not picking them for any thing. I am so board in my classes none of the teachers make any thing interesting.

Posted: November 16, 2022

As a student at the school, I am happy to say that the teachers here are amazing. As a stem student, I have had an amazing experience with the teachers here and they have been super helpful in getting us ready for high school. The school is very fast-paced, but I believe that is gonna help prepare us for college. Overall, amazing emotional support as they have a dog for emotional support for the students.

Posted: November 16, 2022

Posted: August 29, 2022

This school was awful. Some cons: some of the highest property taxes in the US, disproportionate # of kids have anxiety and depression, the school can't stop talking about mental health. Many kids get extra time for SAT/ACT so median score is inflated. Some pros: some really inspiring teachers.

Posted: August 29, 2022

Posted: May 21, 2022

The environment at this school is extremely toxic. There's a façade that looks amazing. But once the veil is opened, everything comes crashing down. Students are pressured by administration, teachers, and parents well beyond what is appropriate. They participate in clubs, sports, as many AP classes as they can shove into their schedule, the whole sha-bang. But this doesn't have anything to do with desire; it comes down to pressure. The kids feel that they have to participate in everything or else they aren't good enough. They feel (incorrectly) that if they don't do everything they can, colleges won't accept them, and they'll be a loser forever. Depression is everywhere, and nobody thinks anything about it. So many students participate in organizations like Link Crew and Best Buddies not because they care about helping people but because colleges like to see it. As a former student, I never fit in because I couldn't relate to the constant depression, stress, and despair that other students felt. Dr. Koulentes, the principal, is amazing and truly cares about the students, and he has solved many of the problems from previous leadership. Some of the teachers and administrators are great as well, but there's constant pressure to keep ratings high and as a result, pressure students so much just to make the statistics and numbers look good. With all this pressure, you'd think the academics would at least be great, right? Wrong. The academics at this school are a complete train-wreck, with almost no creativity in anything. The science department is particularly atrocious, completely avoiding almost all forms of interactivity that should be implemented in science curriculums. It's so incredibly boring and the only reason anybody cares is because they're obsessed with grades. This is a very by-the-book type of school, and any deviation from this attitude is deeply frowned upon. I feel this school did very little to prepare me for college; I learned far more in my first semester than I did the entire four years at this school. Growing up, I went to a small elementary school with only a handful of students per grade. The funding at that school was paltry compared to the funding at LHS, but they used their money where it mattered, and I received a great education and loved school. LHS is unbelievably boring and ravages any desire for learning. My family moved here for the nationally acclaimed schools, but the stellar results are not from quality but senseless stress.

Posted: May 21, 2022

Posted: July 26, 2020

Basically every kid there would join Linkcrew, Best Buddies, NHS, etc. because it "looks good on a college application", not because they wanted to help people.

Posted: July 26, 2020

Yeah, I was always in APs, so it went at a good pace for me.

Posted: July 26, 2020

It was horrible. I would not recommend it to anyone.

Posted: July 26, 2020

Homework was fine. It wasn't too heavy.

Posted: October 11, 2018

As a parent with two children in the school, I can attest to the fact that they are both very happy and successful at Libertyville. Every parent and child that has gone on to college has said that Libertyville does an excellent job preparing the kids for university.

Posted: October 11, 2018

Posted: November 25, 2017

As a alum of LHS, I'm seeing recent students' reviews that are a similar experience as mine. I studied hard and tried to achieve, but the school didn't seem to reward that. I'll never forget when my history teacher stopped the class so that a male wrestling team member could show everyone that he could do ten "handstand pushups". I was not pleased, because I was there to learn but the academic focus was not part of the school experience. In a way, I had to recover from LHS in undergrad to come back out of my shell. I graduated from college, got a masters degree, and went on to work at Google but I can't say LHS prepared me for that. Other than seeing what I didn't want to be when I grew up.

Posted: March 16, 2015

When I arrived LHS as a Freshman in 2008, I was excited and thrilled to start high school. Slowly as the year went on I realized something was wrong. I as I was about to graduate and head off to college, I stood at the podium on graduation and realized that this school really sucked. If you're not an ap student, (and especially if you struggle in math and science), or part of assisted learning, they could care less about you, and as a result, my high school career was comprised of me just feeling like a number (in such a small class) left behind. When I struggled in math and science, I was judged by instructors, and the majority would get antsy with me, and lock up mentally. I never felt smart enough compared to the rest of the school, and things were starting to seem very dark. Diversity was also very few and between, with the school being very predominantly white, and I maybe had two instructors who stood out to me out of hundreds. In the fall I will be starting my senior year of college, and as I look back on my high school career all I can think of is how everyone told me I "couldn't do it" and that I "lack motivation".

Posted: June 10, 2014

LHS is the least accommodating school around. The faculty believe that there is one way to do something - their way - and that is it. All of the students are names on papers and I can honestly say none of them have had a positive life-long impact on me. All they care about are the letters that show up on the students' report card. If you do not have a lot of money like most of the student body, you are easily left out of a lot of in-class activities because you lack a smartphone. If you're not in all AP classes you're a misfit and are to be frowned upon. Not only are the teachers unhelpful, but the students too. It seems as if the only thing motivating them to get through the day is to put others down. There is extreme judgement and exclusive cliques that make me feel uncomfortable to go to school every day. You are excluded if you don't wear name brand items or don't have a car. There is no sense of community at LHS, and overall it's absolutely terrible. I previously attended a different high school that was much better than this with many aspects. I've seen what a good functioning high school is, and LHS isn't one of them.

Posted: September 15, 2013

I'm currently a junior at this school and out of all the teachers that I have had so far maybe 2 (being generous) so far have made any impact on me than besides just being a name next to the grade on a transcript. The math department is determined of never letting go of their math book and not showing students new ways of learning/helping themselves in this department (Kahn Acadamy). Science there is good for facts and learning the basics, again not expanding into what actually gets kids excited about science (Neil Degrasse Tyson). The Lit department is an absolute trainwreck, the worst department by far at the school. Do not teach anything new from year to year, my teacher last year was probably the worst teacher I'V ever had in my entire life. The SS their is good mostly depends on the teacher you have. The life lessons that every talks about them helping us out with I don't see them. The principle is the least involved person with the students in the world. Very little contact with students, only shows up when we do something good to be the face of it. Takes no advice from student council/students in general. School is good if you only care about getting into a good college

Posted: September 13, 2013

I have one child who has taken advantage of what LHS has offered and now in premed at slu. Currently I have a child in 11 th grade and I find the teachers to be demanding and strict. That is a good thing. Your students are in the process of becoming adults and life is full of demands on jobs and personal responsibility. The lessons they learn now will help them deal with life in the future and be better people in the end. So when your child complains ask them if they done enough give them the responsibility to fix it. You will not be there forever! From a parent with children in the low end middle and high end of ability. Life gives you what you put into it.

Posted: August 26, 2013

My second child is now at LHS and I have to say the school failed my first and is well on the way to failing my second. The school is fine if you have kids that fall within the 80% ability level, but if your children are on either end of the extreme, the school basically tries to shove the square peg in the round hole. There is one way of doing everything from sports to counseling and if you disagree you are on your own. I was also very disheartened to hear my daughter tell me that two teachers and one coach this year asked "so you all have iPhones, right?" She does not - we are apparently one of the last families in this town who cannot afford them for our children. She cannot get group messages related to homework and practices as a result. That seems like an awfully high hurdle to expect for all residents of Libertyville! Yes, the teaching is mostly good. Yes, the school says all the right things. But there's something missing at the heart of it all - concern for the individual child. I know all high schools are like this to a degree but I hoped for more, given the extraordinary ratings this school always gets.

#	Name	Type	City	State	Distance
1	Forrestal Military Community	Neighborhood/Subdivision	North Chicago	IL	5.1 mi
2	Forest City Nimitz	Neighborhood/Subdivision	North Chicago	IL	5.2 mi
3	Woodlake Apartments	Apartment Complex	Gurnee	IL	5.6 mi
4	Reserve at Eagle Ridge	Apartment Complex	Waukegan	IL	10.8 mi

#	Name	City	State	Overall Rating	Distance
1	Libertyville	Libertyville	IL		0.7 mi
2	Waukegan	Waukegan	IL		8.3 mi

Base	Distance
Great Lakes Naval Station	5.7 mi.
Coast Guard Chicago	36.1 mi.
General Mitchell ANGB Milwaukee	45.7 mi.
Coast Guard Milwaukee	49.6 mi.

Libertyville High School

Libertyville, IL 60048

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Libertyville High School

Libertyville, IL 60048

School Ratings

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