Original Research by School Decision on North Shore Academy
North Shore Academy is a special education school serving grades six through twelve, located in Highland Park and operated under TrueNorth Educational Cooperative 804, a regional special education cooperative that serves eighteen member districts across the North Shore.
The school's enrollment data is currently reported as zero, which appears to reflect a data-reporting gap rather than an active program. No state assessment results, graduation rates, attendance metrics, or other performance indicators are available. This absence of operational data makes it difficult to characterize the school's current status or student outcomes. A parent interested in this program should contact the school directly or reach out to the school district's IEP team to understand whether the school is currently serving students, what the enrollment pathway looks like, and what services and curriculum it offers.
The context around special education services on the North Shore is shifting. TrueNorth rebranded in July 2021 from the Northern Suburban Special Education District and moved from being the primary provider of special education services to offering a "menu" of specialized programs and supportive services requested by individual district IEP teams. This shift means that placement at North Shore Academy is no longer automatic; rather, the home school district's IEP team determines whether referral to the school is appropriate for a student's needs.
More recently, several large member districts including New Trier, Winnetka District 36, Glenbrook High School District, Glenview District 24, and Glencoe District 35 have announced plans to withdraw from TrueNorth and build their own in-district special education programs. These withdrawals are driven by districts' confidence in their own capacity and concerns about rising membership fees. For families in Highland Park considering North Shore Academy, this signals that the special education landscape is changing. Membership fee increases and shifts in how services are delivered may affect the availability and nature of programs over the next few years.
Highland Park itself is an affluent North Shore suburb along Lake Michigan, roughly twenty-five miles north of downtown Chicago. The community mixes historic homes with contemporary construction and downtown condominiums, centered on a vibrant business district anchored by the Ravinia Festival. Housing values in the area are well above state and national benchmarks. The city is in active redevelopment, with several large housing projects underway, including a major mixed-income townhome development on the former Solo Cup site expected to break ground in the second half of 2026, and smaller affordable-housing projects completed or under way. The central business district is walkable and well-served by Metra commuter rail and Pace bus service.
Given the limited operational data for North Shore Academy and the ongoing reorganization of special education services across the region, a parent or guardian should initiate direct contact with both the school and the home district's special education office to clarify whether the program is actively enrolling, what populations it serves, what curriculum and support services it provides, and how the broader transition at TrueNorth may affect placement and services.
See more original research from School Decision →