Administrators will focus on the upper grades because parents will want their kids going to the best thing that comes afterwards. So for Latin/British admin would focus resources on the high school years since those parents begin to focus on academics in high school so their children are college ready. Many parents choose to go to those private schools in the early years  so they don’t have to worry about competing for a seat in high school. As such the focus on the academic rigor is less at those private schools at the elementary level, compared to the elite CPS elementary schools whereby kids again compete to get into a good high school. One only needs to look at the standardized reading and math scores at the 4th grade level. Most private schools don’t publish the results (wondering why?) whereas CPS does, and you will find that the CPS elite elementary school scores are impressive. However, at the end of the day, I firmly believe that it doesn’t really matter where you send your child. The success of the child really depends on the level of involvement of the parents, no matter which school your child attends.

@buzzchicago

If you can get your child into SN/Edison or any of the classical/gifted schools do it SAVE that coin!!! For undergrad of grad school. I have done it both ways however when I look back at it I would save that coin and invest it later you can spend it on extra tutoring for enrichment learning.

Hercules

You made some very good points I did it both ways private with one and selective with the other both great investments but damn it would be nice to have some of that coin back now!! And parental involvement is key !!! No matter where you send your child there will be challenges so you have to advocate in both cases.

@jazzman Thanks for sharing your experience. We were always choosing SEES to save the coin but it is great to hear from private school parents and even better to hear from a parent that has done SEES and private to compare.

@Hercules and jazzman – that makes sense. thank you for your inputs. would you choose elite private over mediocre public school though?

The SN/Edison are public private . Check the environment at those elite private schools. I public option is mediocre  I would go private. If you get SN/Edison or etc., I am going with selective enrollment put that money in tutoring and/or college

Original poster, what grade/age is your child currently? You said hypothetically, so I assume he/she is still in preschool and you are only planning on taking the SEES test.  Is your child at Latin or British now?

I would ask yourself what makes those private schools “elite”? Do they send the majority of their graduates to the university that you hope your child will get into? More than likely you will find the answer to be no.  Do the private schools have higher standardized test scores than your public mediocre school? You need to compare but I would bet they are on par. Will those private school classrooms give your  child diverse perspectives from various social economic tiers of society?

It is also important to compare the quality of the staff. CPS requires a lot of Professional Development for teachers, and they pay the most out of all private schools so it is very competitive to become a CPS teacher. Ask any teacher, the benefits and comp at CPS are MUCH higher than private, so  the training budget and compensation for teachers are higher at public, so, do you think smart teachers want to go where they get paid more and get well trained?

The private schools will give your child more enrichment opportunities such as clay making, music dj studios, dance, smart screens in every class, etc. but is that worth the tuition? You can get those lessons elsewhere and much for economical.

Many parents choose private so they can network and try to increase their own business interests. If this is you then private might be worthwhile, but parental networking has nothing to do with the education of your child .

For all of the above reasons, I would hands-down choose to go public mediocre over elite private, and I would be very active in self educating my child, and pay for enrichment activities where I see the school lags, such as foreign language lessons.

Hope this helps!

@Hercules

Could share any great foreign language programs you know of?

Also, on another thread I believe you stated your child went from a Classical to a RGC school, is that correct? Which RGC?

@Hercules

Could share any great foreign language programs you know of?

Also, on another thread I believe you stated your child went from a Classical to a RGC school, is that correct? Which RGC Classical did they leave from?

@chicagoborn

Living the language in bronzevile is excellent.

@ChicagoBorn

Montessori Gifted Prep School (MGP) in Lincoln Square offers Mandarin and/or Spanish afterschool, weekend group, private or zoom distance learning classes for elementary aged children. True foreign language command comes with daily language instruction, and I like  MGP because they offer foreign language tutoring 5 days/week, it’s fun for the kiddos, and they also offer 1:1 tutoring as well – they’re very flexible.

Thanks jazzman and Hercules