Hi, for those whose kids tested in the CPS selective enrollment for Kindergarten how long your kids were with the tester? Mine was in there for only 30 minutes so I’m not sure whether we will have a chance….

I have a child in SEES (classical) and was accepted first round.  I think she was with an test administrator for 30ish minutes as well from my recollection.  I don’t think time spent taking the exam necessarily relates to what ultimately their score results are.  Try not to worry too much.  Did you test early so you know the scores or are you getting score results and offers at the same time this spring?

Hi SPMom,

Thanks for your reply. She tested in Jan…My older one who tested 2 years ago and got an offer in the first round spent more than 45 minutes with the tester…..so that’s why I’m very concerned this time when my younger one got out in 30 minutes….

Really hope that it was all because she answered the questions faster…. LOL. And we won’t know the result until 4/27 it’s a torture!

My girlfriend’s son tested last year, he was in for roughly 25-30 min and got into Poe. On the flip, another friend’s daughter tested and was in and out in less than 20 min, she did not get selected for any SEES or Magnets. My daughter was with the tester for about 25-30 min…I’m hopeful that she did well. I guess we know in a couple of months!

Hello Everyone,

My son took the selective enrollment test and received a score of 138 for the RGC test.  We are most interested in Bell, Pritzker or Edison.  Does this seem like a score that stands a chance of getting in? Wondering if I should have my hopes up or not. We are tier 3

I am just curious, how did you all decide to get your kids tested to get into a classical or regional gifted school? Did a preschool teacher tell you your child was gifted? I feel like my 4 year old is smart, but I have no clue if he is “gifted.”

Once you decided to to get him/her tested, did you prep for the test? He will not enter kindergarten until Fall of 2020, so just trying to get a jump on this.

My daughter took her test in December. She was gone about 45 minutes with the tester. While waiting for her, I saw children in and out in 10 minutes. One mom even started to cry when her kid came back so soon. Where as I on the other hand became instantly nervous because mine was gone much longer. The process is stressful.  A few more days and we all know our fate. I don’t even remember stressing out this hard when I took nursing boards.

Fortunately her pre-school is awesome. However we prepped a lot at home doing things such as reading books, then asking open ended questions, we worked on patterns A LOT, basic math, differentiation of pictures, etc. Hope god helps

Hey Sees family I am a mother of a 4yr old gifted son. I found out he was gifted at 2 he knew all his colors at 1 and was beginning to teach himself how to read. I switched him from school to school not knowing what to do with this overly gifted child until 2018 school year he was a first year child in a really big school. He literally would do all his work and begin picking with other children. His teacher never complained. I was concerned because I didn’t want her to think I was raising a bully. She insisted on getting him back on the right path. She gave him more work and still was done before the rest of the children. She gave him kindergarten work book and reading material and math and he aced it. I never heard of gifted testing until I met her. This is our first year taking the test I didn’t know how to prepare him so I didn’t I didn’t pressure him I let him go in with the knowledge he had and he came out with the tutor about 30 to 40 min later laughing. She told me she had a blast working with him and she would be sure to see him in his bright future! I’m excited about the results good luck to everyone!

All of this pressure and waiting is driving me nuts.  My daughter was in for 27 mins and came out Chatty Cathy.  I’m nervous about her timing but just prayerful that all is well.  I probably won’t look at her placement until Wednesday.  🙂  Best of luck to you all!

CPS website says results won’t be available until after 5:00 pm. I thought last year they were released around 2:00 PM? In any case, good luck to everyone!

Any chance they will release results before 5 pm? …..Anxiously waiting.

Will the school notify the parents about the offer before CPS released the results?

Just got a robo-call from CPS and I got nervous and excited…then realized it was just a call to tell me results will be available after 5:00 PM…I am not looking forward to the time when we are waiting for her college admissions…this sh*t is stressful!!

We are waiting on RGC as well and nothing posted online for us yet.

Does anyone know if you will receive your results even if you don’t get an offer?

RG Score 136

Entering 3rd.

No offers.

We knew it would be tough with so few spots.

Good luck everyone!

@MominFL which schools did you choose?

Tier 4, total score 857, no offers to WCAC nor Lane

tier 3

reading 98

math 99

offered skinner north first choice

accepted!

My Son got the following scores.

Classical Reading Score: 75

Classical Math Score: 81

Regional Gifted Centers/Academic Centers/International Gifted Program Your child’s score: 127

tier 4

Any luck getting into
SKINNER NORTH
SKINNER
BELL
EDISON
BRONZEVILLE CLASSICAL
COONLEY

• This reply was modified 5 years, 7 months ago by chicagoschooloptions.

Hi, did anyone have your child tested for 1st grade for classical program and did your child tell you what was tested? How was reading tested?

Tier 3

Classical Reading Score: 99

Classical Math Score: 89

RGC: 127

1st Choice: Bell Options – not offered

3rd Choice: Skinner North – Offered and going to ACCEPT

Tier 3

Score : 867

Offered Lane Tech for 7th

are there 2nd round offers from academic centers?

So sad we didn’t test prep – 842 and no offers at WY or LT AC’s.  Since that’s below our Tier Minimum, is it hopeless? Or is there the slimmest chance we’d still get an offer in August?  If you don’t get a waitlist number might they still call?

Tier 4, Math – 99 and Reading – 94, No offers from Decatur or Skinner North for 1st grade. Did zero test prep.

My kid got 99 in RGC. Is that even possible to get that low? Or is it some kind of a mistake.

Tier 4, received an offer for Whitney Young. Score – 882.

Does anyone know anything about Kenwood AC?  Is it good?  Please share.  My child is currently in the Skinner neighborhood program.  I’m not sure if we should stay or leave Skinner.   Thanks!

Grade 2

Tier 4

Math-87

Reading -95

RGC – 148

Got the first choice NTA.

Would love to get feedback on NTA and it’s gifted program

<p style=”text-align: center;”>Reading 96</p>
math 90

RGC 121

Tier 4; applied to grade 4, RGC-150.

Offered Bell (3rd choice). Edison was 1st choice (closer to us).  Anyone have feedback on Bell options program?   Would I be crazy to hold out for chance at Edison in 2nd round, esp. knowing that this is 4th grade we are looking at?

Thanks!

Tier 2

1st grade

Math 96

Reading 94

Decatur 1st choice NO OFFER

Getting to 2nd grade

Classical 99 98

No offered 1st round. Any hope to get Skinner North or Decatur 2nd round. Hopefully there will be spot open. What do the historical scores look like for 2nd grade

Kindergarten,

Reading 99

Math 87

RGC -131

Tier 4

Decture, 2nd Choice

But,

We’ve moved to SF Bay area, so will decline and the next lucky wait list will take your turn!

I’m looking for some insight from more experienced parents.  My daughter is currently in private school but struggling because the teacher’s don’t seem to know what to do with her!  We had her tested for fourth grade and her RGC score was 150.  She received an offer from our second choice, Beaubien, but not from our first choice, Edison.  I may be reading the letter wrong but I think this is a “perfect” score so I’m assuming there aren’t any spots at Edison in that grade?  Would waiting until closer to the end of the year to see if there’s a spot be any use?  I don’t want to turn down an offer in hopes of a better one that might never materialize.  Not sure what to do!

Kindergarten,

Reading 97

Math 96

RGC -145

Tier 3

Offered Skinner North

What was lowest score for SN and SW for KG in 2018 and 2017? This is for Tier4 , Kidergarten

Entering Kindergarten:

reading 92, math 96

RGC -136, offered Decatur and accepted

Entering 2nd grade:

reading 92, math 93

RGC -150, no offers. Hope to get offers by September. Our choices were: 1) Edison 2) Bell 3) Coonley 4) Decatur 5) Beaubien

what do you think fellow experienced mommas, any chance for my second grader?

I’m looking for some insight from more experienced parents.
We received an offer from Beaubien (3rd choice), but wishing to get in a school closer us. With my daughter’s scores below any change she gets an offer from Edison (1st choice) or Bell (2nd choice) late in summer? Decatur is our 4th choice but I don’t think her scores are high enough for a seat even in later rounds.

Grade 1 / Tier 4

reading 98
math 94
gifted 138

From the conversation with IIT call service, I had the impression that 138 was not a super high score given the full score was 150. If anyone already received an offer from Edison/Bell and will accept, can you please kindly post here? If anyone’s score is higher and also waiting for a seat in Edison/Bell, can you let me know? With so few opening seats not dare to gamble. Any information is greatly appreciated.

Anyone applied to RGC for the 7th grade? Would you share your score and offered/not offered? We are hoping for a second round offer at Edison which could result from AC departures.

Question, for those who have gotten offers to selective enrollment programs in later rounds, who calls with the offer is it the school or the office of access and enrollment?

Our child was accepted into Lenart.  We are very thankful for the offer.  Prior to the posting of the results, we were very confident and happy with her going to our neighborhood school (Sutherland).  We visited Sutherland and really liked the feel of the school.  We appreciated the holistic approach to educating.  There was an emphasis on academics, but also on the social emotional development through several specials and after school programs. We are not sure if Lenart will offer that same type of experience.
If there are any Lenart parents who can share their thoughts on Lenart I would appreciate your response.

In case this helps anyone, my son was offered a Kindergarten spot at Edison that we’ve just declined. His score was 137, Tier 3.

Hi! For Academic Centers (7th grade) and RGC – are we all automatically on the wait list for these? I did not receive a waitlist number. Is it still possible we’d get a call in August or September?  842 Tier 4 so, it didn’t go so great… SE exam score went down 10 pts from last year 🙁

Thanks for any info and if anyone can share their experience of a late call & acceptance in Aug or Sept.

Did anyone have your child take the Classical Test for 7th grade?  If so, did you notice your child’s test scores got updated last Friday?  My child’s reading and math scores got flipped. I called OAE but nobody really can explain it to me why.  I left my number so hopefully they will call me back.

Before I noticed the scores got flipped last Friday, I have already called and questioned them about my child’s math score on the day after we received the results.  I was shocked that my child had an awfully low score.  So one of the staffs called me back 2 days later and told me that my child didn’t do well.  While we discussed, she told me that she had my child’s test results in front of her and she said she saw that my child had many incorrect answers that’s why the score was low..I was like oh..ok.. my child might had a bad day that day so we ended our discussion and moved on…    Then all of sudden this score-flipping incident happened… So  I don’t think I can trust whatever that OAE staff said to me about my child’s math test score anymore because evidently my child’s math score is high and now the reading score is awfully LOW. =(   that’s why i called them again on last Friday… So they did return my call Monday.  And guess what, the staff said the scores are correct now.  My child’s reading score should be low and math should be high. She told me my child didn’t do well on the reading part.  I told her that one of her staffs told me that my child didn’t do well on the math score before.  So… how did my child get high 90s now if he had so many answers incorrect?!!   She was like… “okay.. let me investigate it further and get back to you”..  I haven’t heard back from her ever since..   I can’t believe this would happen to us and  I don’t think I can trust the scores anymore.  I suggest each of you call OAE separately and find out what happened.  I think they want to resolve the issue on a case by case basis.  Last year they had a breach of the students private data.. Now this… oh well..  good luck.

@hopingfor2:  Thanks.  it’s crazy… and I don’t  know how we can challenge them if we don’t believe the score is accurate?

I wonder if a lawsuit is the only way to get to them. They should have a retest for all students. I am amazed how they said they have the test in front of them and lied completely. What else are they hiding?

My daughter was offered a spot at Pritzker RGC (rank 3). If we turn it down, is it possible to get offers from schools we ranked 4,5,6 later on? I only ask because I accidentally ranked the SEES schools incorrectly during the application process. I meant to mix up RGC and Classical, but for some reason I ranked RGC 1,2,3 and Classical 4,5,6.

@Confusedandconcerned Please do share your findings.

I think they should repeat the entire testing process. The entire OAE who monitors this testing process should be fired over this. They have made a joke out of the entire process of testing and placement. I feel the kids who have gotten classical offers this year might have gotten in by mistake because they were reading the wrong score. One of my kid got offered skinner north non-entry grade. With this flipped score now, I am not sure if the offer is still valid. I plan to call the inspector general CPS. They are quick to investigate what parents are doing to get their kids in these programs, it is time they now investigate their staff who oversees this process.

My son received an offer at Keller for 1st. Any thoughts on Keller?  Any other 1st Keller parents?

@ClassicalParent. I feel we have all the proof we need to believe that it is wrong graded. They switched the grades behind our back after the offer letters were posted. To me, that document now is nothing but a fraudulent document because they are doing this behind our backs without informing us. When asked they are misrepresenting themselves saying that they are actually looking at the test and then later switching the results. All the signs point that OAE has something to hide. If they had come out publically apologizing that the scores have been switched and that there is no impact, we could have had some trust in this system. The very fact that they want this to go away is all the proof that they indeed have something to hide.

I am hoping to get a sense of whether my child has a chance of admission to Bell’s options program in a later round.  I spoke with OAE, and only one spot was offered in Bell’s first grade in the first round. I would really appreciate information about kids who were admitted in any non-entry grade for several years past (including the grade and RGC score and the round or time during the summer the offer came); or, even just info from parents of Bell Options kids who know how many seats turned over from one year to another in your child’s class. We have to make some choices today! So we would appreciate any information, however anecdotal, to help us decide whether there’s a chance. This would be for first grade, but since first grade is no longer an entry grade at Bell, the turnover and scores for other non-entry grades seem more useful at this point. Also, does any one happen to know of any kindergarten kids that may leave the class, so opening a spot the first grade class? Thank you very much for taking the time to reply!

I have also filed a complaint with the inspector general. I left a VM and emailed them as well.

Does anyone have a trouble to view  results

Turned down a first round offer for our child for Decatur’s fourth grade. Tier 4; scores 99 and 99. Hope this info helps those waiting.

I spoke with OAE and they said that CPS will be releasing a statement this week concerning the score swaps. Two weeks after they discovered it and secretly switched scores, this should be interesting.

@Confusedandconcerned Thank you for the update. Do you believe that this did not affect the offers? Also, were the other numbers correct or they are hiding something there as well. How did you get to this Tony Howard, I would like to speak to this person as well who is more than eager to sign fraudulant documents.

I believe that this will affect the offers.  If two students have the same combined score 197 on the classical test.  Student A had 98 reading and 99 math and Student B had 99 reading and 98 math.   Who will have the offer?  My child is a straight As student and has been receiving high scores (mid 90s) on the NWEA MAP and Classical tests in the past.  How could my child receive low 40s on the Reading test after the scores flipped?  It could be my child was having a bad day…. maybe..or maybe not..  my child was confident and said the test was easy… ????  i don’t know.. it’s so frustrating..

OAE has explained in the past this that when the scores tie, they look at math and then the reading and now they are just saying whatever helps this disaster.

I am not even confident about the RGC score. This is ridiculous that they are keeping quiet and there is nothing we can do. We just accept whatever they throw at us.

When does the second round start? This Friday? Do we get robocalls/emails on Friday, if offered any spots? Second round is just scores or tiers also considered? Thank you whoever can answer my questions. Its my first year in this testing, I am a newbie

I reached out to OAE after reading @confusedandconcerned post about test reversal.  It’s true.  I wrote a letter to the Tribune about how flawed this system is.

I also still don’t understand how CPS can allow future/current students to go into a room one-on-one with a complete stranger for testing.

Received Math 97 Reading 99

Tier 4

Grade 3

No offers.  Hoping for Skinner North.  If anyone can offer hope, we’d appreciate it.

@ Hopesprings

Did the score for your kids flipped?

The reason I am asking is my kid got the score M-99, R-97, Tier 4, Grade 4 ( instead of 3), got offered Skinner North in first round.

Then the score flipped and it is now M-97 and R-99.

So, obviously I am wondering now if your score did not flip then math was low to begin with and probably that is why you did not get an offer in the first round.

We should also find out how many seats were there in Grade 3 and Grade 4 to begin with.

I am more confused now.

<p style=”text-align: left;”>Hi!</p>
has anyone received calls/email for second round? Thanks for any info!

I haven’t received second round offers, when do they start offering? Please share if you know, waiting is so hard.

Just got an offer after turning down Pritzker RGC in Round 1. I guess the second wave/round started. Good luck to all!

I heard offers went out today. Anyone receive an offer from Bell Options, especially for first or third grade? Please post grade and score. Thank you!

No offers for us today:

applying for 2 grade, 150 gifted score, 92/93 math/reading, tier 3

our choices were: 1) Edison 2) Bell 3) Coonley 4) Decatur 5) Coonley 6) Beaubien

Waiting game continues.

Parents – basic question: if we accepted the Choice school (Hawthorn), are we still considered for Classical offer. Still waiting for result from Skinner North, but we accepted Hawthorn already just in case no offer from SN

Applied for 1st grade

Tier: 4

M: 99 / R: 94

RGC: 131

No offers first round, offered Beaubien second round (3rd choice) – had a tour today and was impressed, school is only two miles from my home.

Does anyone have children currently (or in the past) in the gifted program at Beaubien that can offer some insight? Thanks!

Turned down a second round offer at Edison for first grade. Score 140.

Turned down a second round offer at Skinner North for 4th grade (99/99)

Question, where there any weekend dates available for testing? When we signed up there were only weekdays available.

My daughter received a round 2 offer from Skinner North (our #3 choice) for kindergarten.  99 Reading, 83 Math (Tier 4).  We accepted, but now I’m having second thoughts.  I’ve confirmed the bus takes approximately 1 hour each way from South Loop Elementary.  We live in the SL and work in the loop, so SN isn’t convenient for us without the bus. I called CPS today and they said if we go back and decline, she’ll go back into the pool.  Skinner West is the only other classical option on our list (I didn’t select Bronzeville, but now wish I would have done so).   Is this information accurate? Any chance that we could get a late summer offer for Skinner West with her scores?  I know there are only 30 seats v. 6o at SN.  Any thoughts on the smaller SW program?

Our backup option is a local parochial school with an IB program, so I feel like she’ll be fine. But I don’t want her to be bored and regret it.

Check this thread for the FOIA discussion. Last year three students were accepted at Skinner West with scores of 99.7 and 70 during the last round -tiers don’t matter during later rounds.  If you check the 2018 SEES thread on this page someone pulled a comment from CPS obsessed for the exact same scores and had an offer in the summer, I think it may have been in June or August.

Anybody received an offer to Bell Options or Coonley Gifted or Bell  this year? Non-entry level?

We applied to 2nd grade. So anxious.

Sure, you can contact me at [email protected].

We received an offer on Friday, May 31 at 4pm from Beaubien options school by robocall first, followed by e-mail. It was our 5th choice. I still have time to decide by tomorrow, June 4 to accept or decline. I have no acquaintances or friends whose kids go to that school, so I have no idea about Beaubien school. I tried searching in this forum, not much info either about this school. I did receive a very informative mail from Options Coordinator from Beaubien, and based on that mail I am willing to accept the offer, as I did like what was described. I will try to visit the school today.

I don’t really have guts to decline the offer fearing we might not get any other offers by September, on the other hand, I don’t want to miss the chance of getting into our top preference school (Edison) if I were to accept the offer from Beaubien. I am at a loss, and don’t really know what would be the best route, and I am sure whatever I decide I will question my decision for the rest of my life. It doesn’t help that 2-grade is a non-entry year, so available seats are very limited as I understand. Sorry for the long post, I have been thinking about it the whole weekend, lol.

I love our neighborhood school, but I think my son is not challenged enough academically at his current school, as his teacher works mostly with struggling students and he is getting a little bored right now already.

Logistically it works perfectly for us, our middle son got accepted into Decatur which starts at 7.45, and our neighborhood school starts at 8.45, and I was wondering what to do with that 1 hour difference. If we were to accept the Beaubien offer, logistically it would be like puzzle solved as it starts at 7.45 as well, and I would just take both kids to our neighborhood school almost at same time for the school bus. We live in the middle between Decatur and Beaubien.

Boxioa, thanks for the input! I hope you get an offer anytime soon from your preferred schools. By the way, I have a friend whose daughter’s gifted score is 142, applying for the 2nd grade as well, no offers yet. It’s hard for non-entry year applicants. Do post your offers here when u get them, I know there are lots of parents waiting anxiously for any helpful info, just like me))

Best of luck to your daughter!

Hi!

My son is currently In Kindergarten at Disney. We are hoping for a  1st grade spot at Decatur where his sister currently attends (grade 3)

R96/M94     Tier 2

Has anyone heard of any 1st grade offers for Decatur in later rounds? Any info. appreciated

thanks

Did anyone get an email from CPS for SEES supplemental application?

We didn’t get any offers from the school that we applied to and then the email saying

”This is an important message from the Chicago Public Schools Office of Access and Enrollment. According to our records, your child, MY KID’S NAME, received a score on the Selective Enrollment Elementary Schools exam(s) that is eligible for the selection process for at least one of our Selective Enrollment schools. Specific grades at designated schools still have seats available, and we are inviting you to submit a supplemental application for these schools if you are interested in having your child considered for the 2019-2020 school year.”

Based on your child’s score(s), he/she is eligible to be considered for schools in the program(s) below:

BEASLEY, CARNEGIE, KELLER, POE

I don’t have any information on those school so I looked them up on the websites but I’m worried some of the school lacks diversity. Out of those 3 schools Keller seem like a good option to us (despite the 25min commute down to south)

I know our seat isn’t guaranteed but do you think I should apply?

if there’s any Keller parents I would like to hear from you.

We also received the SEES supplemental app. I selected Keller. I wasn’t aware Keller had a K (only 1st – 8th according to cps website). Orginally applied for Bronzeville. With no offer. Test scores M – 94% and R – 50%.

Keller does start at first grade and not Kindergarten.  Keller is an excellent school.  It is also diverse, if that is important to you. I am suprise they have openings.  I wonder which grades have available seats.

If after school care is important to you, unfortunately they do not have it.

Called OAE confirmed K at Keller was an error on the Supplemental Application.

Anybody has any data on Skinner North Non-entry years? What scores received an offer in Skinner North non -entry years? Thanks

Hi! ‘seeking info’ Thank you for responding to my post. I am very happy to hear your daughter got a 1st grade spot at Decatur 🙂 Congrats!!!

I feel encouraged that we may get a call for Decatur Classical if there are any more openings. I will eagerly await your reply to see if you are able to get any more info about possible open seats for 1st grade. Have you been to register?

I’m still unclear about the Tier system at this point in the process. What Tier are you? Thanks again for the info. This forum has been great!

R/96 M/94  Tier 2

Hello!

I just got the supplemental application yesterday. Has anyone received any second round waitlist offers? Just trying to gauge where the process might be at.

My daughter went through testing last year, but the schedule seems so different this year for my son.

Last year, supplemental app went out in mid-May and my daughter received a waitlist offer a month later in June.

Looking at Bell for Kindergarten

130, Tier 4

We just received an offer from Skinner North for 2nd grade. Gladly accepted it.

We received an offer from Hawthorne earlier, and now there will be an open spot for Hawthorne 2nd grade.

For those still waiting, we just turned down an offer to Skinner North for kindergarten.  Good luck everyone!

my son was 4 years and 5 months on the day of testing in december. he was with the examiner for 49 minutes (from the time he left to when i saw him coming out).

how does the time spent impact the final outcome? can anyone please share their experience?

good luck everyone…