Chicago · Licensed center

Stepping Stone Nursery School

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.

How they teach

Montessori

“Our authentic Montessori programs for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers provide children with the tools they need to grow themselves.”In their words, August 2026.cadence-education.com

One of 15 Chicago-area providers that describe a Montessori approach, out of 129 that describe any approach at all.

Shortlist doesn’t have these yet: cost, ratios and staff, sick and biting policies.

What the state has found

Routine visits: 3 of 4 cited something

Chicago-area centers: the state cites something at about 5 in 6 routine visits.

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
March 25, 2024
On file
4 visits since November 2020 — 1 cited nothing
Fixed?
The latest correction deadline was April 24, 2024. 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.

Mar 2024 Monitoring visit 1 finding

Monitoring visit · March 25, 2024

Personnel Records

1 citation · 89 Ill. Adm. Code 407.120(a) · Violation substantiated

DCFS compliance lookup On that page, enter provider number 575592 in the Provider box and choose Search; the compliance report downloads from the button on the result row.

Mar 2023 Monitoring visit 2 findings

Monitoring visit · March 15, 2023

Personnel Records

1 citation · 89 Ill. Adm. Code 407.120(a) · Violation corrected

Nutrition and Meal Service

1 citation · 89 Ill. Adm. Code 407.330(b) · Violation corrected

DCFS compliance lookup On that page, enter provider number 575592 in the Provider box and choose Search; the compliance report downloads from the button on the result row.

Sep 2021 Compliance monitoring visit nothing cited
Nov 2020 Monitoring visit 1 finding

Monitoring visit · November 13, 2020

Personnel Records

1 citation · 89 Ill. Adm. Code 407.120(a)(2) · Violation substantiated

DCFS compliance lookup On that page, enter provider number 575592 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).

A day here

Outdoors
Daily nature experiences with plenty of unstructured outdoor play
Schedule
full-time, part-time, half-day, before/after school care, drop-in, flexible care (FlexiPass)

Details

7739042965

Website
cadence-education.com
Address
2750 W Lawrence Ave
License
pending renewal application (rn)

Do you run Stepping Stone Nursery School? Shortlist has no tuition, ratios or policies for it, because the state does not publish that. Adding it is free and takes about ten minutes.

Add what is missing
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.

How they teach

State record

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

A day here

Details

  • Phone, Address, License — Checked July 2026 sunshine.dcfs.illinois.gov. To check it, open sunshine.dcfs.illinois.gov's Licensed Provider Lookup, enter "STEPPING STONE NURSERY SCHOOL" under Provider Name and 60625 under Zip, and press Search (DCFS provider 575592).
  • Website — Checked August 2026 cadence-education.com