Category: Elementary School

Spring 2019- CPS Elementary Notifications & Links

First round CPS elementary school notifications were released at 5pm on Monday, April 22.

Academic Centers (accelerated 7th/8th grade programs in high schools) have cutoff scores published here: GoCPS AC Cutoff Scores 2019-2020

All other elementary Gifted or Classical School programs do not publish cutoff scores. These offers are “single choice” and you can only receive one offer of SEES (selective enrollment elementary schools).

Magnet, magnet cluster & open enrollment schools are strictly lottery based and will have waitlist numbers published. These are multiple offer programs so you can be offered multiple schools and accept one yet be offered another option later and can change your acceptance then.

GoCPS 2019-2020 Elementary Selection & Notification FAQs

CPS ES Notifications for 2019-2020

CPS Elementary notifications will come out on April 22 via the Go.CPS.edu portal or if you applied on paper, via mail. This includes first round notifications for the 4 magnet preschools, hundreds of elementary open enrollment, magnet, magnet cluster and several selective enrollment schools including Academic Centers. Good luck to all!

Round 1 Offers

APRIL 22, 2019

Round 1 – Offers Posted

MAY 6, 2019

Round 1 – Accept/Decline Deadline

MAY 10, 2019

Round 1 Waitlist Process Opens

48 BUSINESS HOURS AFTER ACCEPTANCE IS OFFERED

Waitlist Accept/Decline Deadline

If families do not receive news of offers or missed the application deadline of December 2018, there is another opportunity to apply via an “End of Year Application” process:

End of Year Application

MAY 22, 2019

Applications Opens

MAY 29, 2019

Applications Closes

First Round CPS 2019-2020 Applications Close 12/14/18!

Don’t miss the 12/14/18 deadline to apply to a wide range of CPS options for Fall 2019.  Paper applications must be RECEIVED by 6pm at CPSOAE (see below) and online applications need to be submitted by 11:59pm via https://cps.schoolmint.net/signup.  Only families who have a CPS Student ID can use the online application.  All others need to use a paper application.

Submit elementary or high school paper applications to the Office of Access and Enrollment, 42 W. Madison St., Garden Level, Chicago, IL 60602. DO NOT SEND YOUR APPLICATION TO THE SCHOOL(S) TO WHICH YOU ARE APPLYING. Applications must be RECEIVED by December 14, 2018 by 6pm. Note that this is a RECEIVED BY date, NOT a postmarked date.
Applications received after December 14, 2018, will not be processed.

Researching schools? Check out the very informative GoCPS Search tool which can quickly show you school locations based on program types (magnet, selective enrollment, IB, military, CTE) or program group (fine & performing arts, STEM, academic centers, etc), sorted by grades or ratings, etc.  Clicking on a school’s name will show a bounty of school data.

Second rounds for any programs that still have space typically begins in April for high school and May for elementary schools.

Good luck on your CPS school search!

CPS 2019-2020 Applications are Now Open!

From now until Dec 14, 2018, you can go to www.go.cps.edu and learn about applying to CPS programs from Preschool to High School.  The applications are open and you can apply to schools and schedule testing or admissions screenings until the December deadline.

Lots of helpful info at the following links:

PreK FAQs

Elementary FAQs

High School FAQs

Remember, you can apply for up to 6 Selective Enrollment (test based) schools but must rank your choices and you will get a single offer.

You can also choose up to 20 non-selective (now called “Choice Programs”) lottery schools but elementary has no ranking and multiple offers while high school you do need to rank and it is single offer.  Good luck!

Note: CPS Tiers also change each year on October 1st, so check your tier by entering your address at https://go.cps.edu/search.  They can go up, down or stay the same each year.

CPS End of Year Citywide Options Program

From go.cps.edu

END-OF-YEAR CITYWIDE 
OPTIONS PROGRAM

Families who are still seeking elementary school options for the 2018-19 school year will have another chance to apply to elementary schools during the End-of-Year Citywide Options Program. This paper application process will feature high-quality magnet, magnet cluster and open enrollment schools, including three new STEM Magnet schools at Claremont, Jungman and W. Brown; as well as one new STEAM Magnet program at Southwest Chicago (Sor Juana). You can still apply during this application period if you have already accepted an elementary school offer or are on any elementary school waitlists.  The End-of-Year application will be available from May 28 – June 1, 2018.

End-of-Year Applications Click HERE.

Spring 2018 CPS Elementary Offers

It’s that time!  Here are some tidbits gleaned from GoCPS Elementary FAQs

GOCPS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL APPLICATION PROCESS FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

FIRST-ROUND RESULTS

1. How will families find out the results of their applications to preschool through eighth grade? Online applicants to the four magnet preschools (Drummond, Inter-American, Mayer and Suder) through eighth grade will receive their first-round results on April 27th via their online GoCPS account. Paper applicants will receive a notification letter sent via U.S. mail to the home address on their application. In addition, paper applicants can view their results on an online GoCPS account that has been opened for them by the Office of Access and Enrollment. All applicants will receive more information on this process the week of April 23rd via email and robocall. Results will be posted on April 27th between 2 p.m. and 11:59 pm.

2. Will the Non-Selective Enrollment letter and the Selective Enrollment letter appear on the same screen online, or will families have to navigate to two different screens to accept or decline a seat? The results on the online account will all be on the same screen, along with a button that allows families to also download and print a hard-copy Non-Selective Enrollment letter and a Selective Enrollment letter. The letters that are mailed to the home address of paper applicants are two separate letters, one for Non-Selective Enrollment programs and one for Selective Enrollment programs.

ACCEPTING AND DECLINING OFFERS

3. How do families accept or decline an offer? Online applicants will accept or decline offers via their online GoCPS account. Paper applicants can accept or decline offers by submitting a paper confirmation form that they will receive with their paper notification letter or via the online GoCPS account that was opened for them. Applicants will have until Friday, May 11th to accept or decline an offer.

4. Can a student accept both a Selective Enrollment offer and a Non-Selective Enrollment offer, and decide which one they want later on? No. Students can only accept one offer.

5. Can students change their mind about accepting or declining an offer if they want to change it before the decision deadline? If a student DECLINES an offer, they cannot go back and change that decision once it is submitted. If a student ACCEPTS an offer and later decides that they want to decline it, they can do so.

6. What time is the deadline to make a decision on May 11th? The deadline to accept or decline offers is 6 pm on Friday, May 11th if the applicant is submitting a paper confirmation form, and 11:59 pm on Friday, May 11th if the applicant is making their decision via their online application account.

7. Will the families receive an email confirmation after they have made their decisions to accept or decline offers? No. Families will see a confirmation page online after they submit their decision. For their records, they should either print this page of save it to PDF.

SELECTIVE ENROLLMENT ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

19. Do Selective Enrollment schools have sibling preference? No.

20. When will students receive Selective Enrollment test scores? Selective Enrollment test scores and total points, if applicable, will be on the students’ notification letter that is released on April 27th.

More awesome FAQs at http://cps.edu/AccessAndEnrollment/Documents/FAQs_Elementary_ApplicationProcess.pdf

CPS 2018-2019 School Calendar

Always an exciting time when CPS releases the next school year calendar.  Here are some of the important dates for the 2018-2019 CPS school year:
First Day of School – 9/4/18, Last Day of School – 6/18/19
Academic Quarters – Q1 – 11/1/18, Q2 – 1/31/19, Q3 – 4/4/19, Q4 – 6/18/19
Parent Teacher Conference Days – 11/14/18 (ES), 11/15/18 (HS), 4/10/19 (ES), 4/11/19 (HS)
Winter Vacation – 12/24/18 – 1/4/19, Spring Vacation – 4/15/19 – 4/19/19
School Improvement Days – 11/2/18, 2/1/19, 4/5/19, 6/19/19
Please note: Veterans Day will be observed on Monday, 11/12/18.
 http://cps.edu/SiteCollectionDocuments/SY18-19Calendar_English.pdf

Filling the Void and Growing the Community

With the retirement of the indispensable and incomparable CPSObsessed blog that helped Chicago families for almost a decade, a sudden panic seized Chicago parents on where they would turn to soothe their obsession of tracking scores, tiers and offers for CPS admissions or learn about changing application processes or hear about new or up and coming schools, etc.  While CPSObsessed was the place to visit for all things CPS, many parents were also weighing private school options or wondering about special need supports and a myriad of other school related topics.

Out of this gaping void came the genesis for ChicagoSchoolOptions. This new website aims to be a crowdsourced destination for the next crop of anxious Chicago parents looking for answers.  It will only be as useful as those who contribute to the site make it, so please feel free to login and post to the School Forum or email us if you would like to help improve the site, be an editor or contributor (this uses a WordPress platform) or have any advice on increasing the user-friendliness.  Currently it is maintained by someone with more passion for the topics than technical savvy about the platform.

We welcome your help to make ChicagoSchoolOptions the “go-to” site for sharing Chicago area school knowledge. From preschool to high school, public and private, general, gifted and special ed, this site is meant to help fellow parents gain a better understanding of all their school related questions.  Contact us if you have anything to share and help us grow our community!

CPS Elem from Fall 2017: Continuing the Discussion from CPSO

CPS Closed their applications for the 2018-2019 Year on Dec. 22, 2017.

For those looking to discuss the 2018-2019 application cycle for CPS Elementary school options, feel free to check out the threads at CPSObsessed- Fall 2017: Applying to Kindergarten/Elementary School and continue your thoughts either in the comments below or on the School Forum pages.

CPS & Private School Admissions

The annual ritual of applying to Chicago schools for the following fall admissions is almost done.  While CPS applications for the 2018-2019 school year closed on Dec. 22, 2017, there are some private schools with applications still open or rolling admissions.   CPS is in the thick of their supplemental admissions process, such as administering NWEA MAP and Selective Enrollment testing, info sessions, and auditions, while private schools may still allow for additional screenings (interviews, playdates, shadow days, etc) into the first few months of 2018.

Good luck to everyone on their school search, and please do visit our School Forum pages to learn or post about various Chicago schools.  This website thrives on parents helping fellow parents, so the more information provided, the better.  Thank you and best wishes for a successful 2018!