Chicago · Licensed center

Guidepost Montessori Wicker Park

Medium center, licensed for 112 children.
Shortlist has found no website for it yet.

What these mean, and where they come from

Medium means the middle half of Chicago-area’s 1,949 licensed centers by state-licensed capacity: 49 to 118 children. Small is 8 to 48; large is 119 to 487.

Shortlist doesn’t have these yet: cost, hours and late pickup, teaching approach, ratios and staff, a typical day, sick and biting policies.

What the state has found

Routine visits: 2 of 2 cited something

Chicago-area centers: the state cites something at about 5 in 6 routine visits. Two visits are too few to read as a pattern.

From Illinois DCFS’s published reports, last checked September 25, 2026.

Read every record and the state’s reports

State record — Illinois DCFS

Last visit: June 21, 2022
On file: 2 visits since October 2019 — both cited findings
Fixed?: The latest correction deadline was July 21, 2022. Illinois DCFS does not publish whether it was made.
Most serious: Illinois DCFS does not publish a severity level for a citation, so there is no most-serious to name.

Illinois DCFS cites each subsection of a rule separately, so one audit of a filing cabinet can produce ten citations. It publishes the rule’s title and a correction deadline, but no description of what was observed.

Jun 2022 Monitoring visit 11 findings

Monitoring visit · June 21, 2022

Personnel Records

7 citations · 89 Ill. Adm. Code 407.120(a) through (e)(4) · Violation substantiated

89 Ill. Adm. Code 407.120(a) · 407.120(a)(1) · 407.120(a)(2) · 407.120(a)(3) · 407.120(a)(4) · 407.120(a)(6) · 407.120(e)(4)

Organization and Administration

2 citations · 89 Ill. Adm. Code 407.70(b) through (e) · Violation substantiated

89 Ill. Adm. Code 407.70(b) · 407.70(e)

Staffing Structure

1 citation · 89 Ill. Adm. Code 407.90(a)(5) · Violation substantiated

Background Checks for Personnel

1 citation · 89 Ill. Adm. Code 407.110 · Violation substantiated

DCFS compliance lookup On that page, enter provider number 562730 in the Provider box and choose Search; the compliance report downloads from the button on the result row.

Oct 2019 Monitoring visit 11 findings

Monitoring visit · October 15, 2019

Personnel Records

4 citations · 89 Ill. Adm. Code 407.120(a)(2) through (b) · Violation substantiated

89 Ill. Adm. Code 407.120(a)(2) · 407.120(a)(3) · 407.120(a)(4) · 407.120(b)

Health Requirements for Children

3 citations · 89 Ill. Adm. Code 407.310(a)(3) through (6) · Violation substantiated

89 Ill. Adm. Code 407.310(a)(3) · 407.310(a)(5) · 407.310(a)(6)

General Requirements for Personnel

2 citations · 89 Ill. Adm. Code 407.100(c)(5) through (f) · Violation substantiated

89 Ill. Adm. Code 407.100(c)(5) · 407.100(f)

Cited: FHSEC305

0 citations · 89 Ill. Adm. Code · Violation substantiated

Cited: CCASEC4

0 citations · 89 Ill. Adm. Code · Violation substantiated

DCFS compliance lookup On that page, enter provider number 562730 in the Provider box and choose Search; the compliance report downloads from the button on the result row.

How the comparison is built

Routine visits: across Chicago-area centers, the state cites something at about 5 in 6 routine visits (19,088 visits).

Details

7736634732

Address: 1530 N Damen Ave
License: pending renewal application (rn)
Chain: Guidepost MontessoriSource: guidepostmontessori.com
Run by: Guidepost Global EducationGuidepost says its schools are run by Guidepost Global Education, a new, independent company formed in spring 2025, before the former operator, Higher Ground Education, filed for bankruptcy, and that none of its schools were part of that Chapter 11 case. On October 28, 2025, Guidepost said 83 schools remained open. It says the company has its own owners but does not name them. guidepostmontessori.com

Do you run Guidepost Montessori Wicker Park? Shortlist has no tuition, hours or ratios for it, because the state does not publish that. Adding it is free and takes about ten minutes.

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Sources and dates

Where every fact on this page came from, and when Shortlist last checked it against that source. Anything Shortlist could not source is named here rather than left blank.

State record

Every state visit and complaint on file, shown in full and never edited. Open a date to read what the state wrote.

Details

Phone, Address, License — Checked July 2026 sunshine.dcfs.illinois.gov. To check it, open sunshine.dcfs.illinois.gov's Licensed Provider Lookup, enter "GUIDEPOST MONTESSORI WICKER PARK" under Provider Name and 60622 under Zip, and press Search (DCFS provider 562730).
Chain — Checked September 2026 guidepostmontessori.com
Run by — Checked September 2026 guidepostmontessori.com