2023 Hidden Gems High School Fair

“Hidden Gems” Public & Private Chicago High School Fair

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2023 FROM 1-4PM AT

WOLCOTT COLLEGE PREP ARTS & ATHLETICS CENTER
1950 W. HUBBARD ST, CHICAGO, IL 60622

REGISTER TO ATTEND
View our growing list of 2023 schools and resources HERE 

Knowing how to cast your net wide and increase your options is KEY to a successful Chicago high school search. Join Chicago School GPS as we bring together over 35 participating public, private and boarding high schools & resources, each with unique qualities that you may not have known about prior to coming to our Hidden Gems Fair.  PLUS, you can meet helpful resource vendors and partake in informative breakout sessions that will give you clarity on the high school process.  Join us for an afternoon designed to make your high school journey a successful one!

Program begins at 1pm with high schools showcasing what makes them unique, and breakout sessions begin at 2pm.  Fair ends at 4pm.

Our invaluable breakout sessions offer insights for Middle School Parents and Students on topics such as:

  • Navigating the private & public high school admissions process
  • High School Entrance Exam Insights (includes CPS HSAT, HSPT & ISEE)
  • Private school scholarship opportunities & resources
  • International Baccalaureate Programs Demystified
  • Peer to Peer School Insights

Tours of the hosting school will be available.

Thank You to our 2023 Venue Sponsor:
Thank You to our 2023 Presenting Sponsors:
Thank You to our 2023 Major Sponsors:

A Reality Check on School Rankings

A parent’s school search typically starts by sitting down at the computer and typing in “Best Elementary/High Schools” in your area. The results are populated with hits from sources such as GreatSchools, Niche, Schooldigger or School Sparrow, but what do these results mean, and should parents just add the #1 school to their list while ignoring the other schools closer or more familiar to them? How reliable are the ratings and how should a parent use them?

The fact of the matter is that school ratings and rankings are a very messy, very inexact method to quantify schools. Because they are summarized in a “number” or “grade” or listed in a “ranking order”, parents tend to put undue emphasis on ratings/rankings yet aren’t aware of what is being measured. While test scores are typically the largest component to rankings, “School Fit” is much more than test performance and is ultimately a very personal matter that can even vary within a family from child to child. What truly qualifies as “best” for one family may not be well suited to another. While it is understandable that parents need some metric to start with, the metrics used can be skewed, out of date, or not reflective of the cohort your family will be entering the school with. 

Common misunderstandings of rankings:

  • Ratings typically put the greatest emphasis on test scores, so better resourced families often have higher test scores and those family resources continue to benefit their children throughout their education
  • Ratings/rankings are not set in stone and can change as demographics in a school changes
  • Ratings typically reflect 3rd to 8th grade, so younger families should be wary of looking at metrics that may include a very different demographic than the one their family will be in school with
  • Ratings often lump in all programs within a school, so those with a higher population of students with learning needs may still be a great or even better option for your student but the “rankings” may not reflect the level of supports
  • Schools can and do change and schools in gentrifying areas may have more resources added to the school by the time your family will be attending

Using rankings and ratings to be the first or only metric in choosing a school can also serve to negatively suppress positive changes at a school. Instead, we highly recommend that families tour their local school or those near them as well as talk to families with children their age who may have older siblings at the school. Reaching out to a school’s parent group or attending local school council (LSC) meetings is also a great way to get the “real time” scoop on a school. 

It is somewhat pre-ordaining to use rankings to choose a school because if test scores are a big factor in ratings/rankings, then children who have advantages and resources from birth are certainly going to test better overall and the schools near them will reap the benefits of well resourced students and parents. While new parents may be more swayed by rankings, eventually parents come to realize that academics alone are not a single trait to look for in a school and social emotional factors as well as culture, climate and community are just as impactful yet are hard to capture in objective metrics because they are inherently more subjective. School visits can be invaluable to dispel pre-conceptions or help a family picture themselves in a school, but people gravitate toward or crave the easier route of following rankings.

Parents who blindly follow blanket rankings/ratings may well pass up a school their student could grow and thrive at in favor of one that a 3rd party metric says is 10 spots “above” the other school yet that family needs to drive across town to attend. In the end there may not be any marked difference in outcome for their particular child attending one or the other, but the lifestyle impact is can be much greater at the farther school. One school’s overall scores may be lower because it serves a broader range of backgrounds or has more special needs students, but that doesn’t mean your child’s success can happen only from one and not the other. What your child can achieve and what they score on an exam does NOT have to be the “average” number. Ultimately, the greatest arbiter of student success is parent involvement in their children’s lives beyond one school over another school, public or private, city or suburbs.

Article from https://www.npnparents.org/articles/a-reality-check-on-school-rankings-r410/

2022 Hidden Gems High School Fair


“Hidden Gems” Public & Private Chicago High School Fair

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2022 FROM 1-4PM 
BRITISH INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL OF CHICAGO
161 W. 9TH ST, CHICAGO 60605

Attendee Registration is open! Register HERE
View our growing list of 2022 schools and businesses HERE 

Knowing how to cast your net wide and increase your options is KEY to a successful Chicago high school search. Join Chicago School GPS as we bring together over 35 participating public, private and boarding high schools & resources, each with unique qualities that you may not have known about prior to coming to our Hidden Gems Fair.  PLUS, you can meet helpful resource vendors and partake in informative breakout sessions that will give you clarity on the high school process.  Join us for an afternoon designed to make your high school journey a successful one!

Program begins at 1pm with high schools showcasing what makes them unique, and breakout sessions begin at 1:45pm.  Fair ends at 4pm.

Our invaluable breakout sessions offer insights for Middle School Parents and Students on topics such as:

  • Navigating the private & public high school admissions process
  • High School Entrance Exam Insights (includes CPS HSAT, HSPT & ISEE)
  • Private school scholarship opportunities & resources
  • International Baccalaureate Programs Demystified
  • Executive Functioning Strategies

Tours of the British International School of Chicago will be available.

Thank You to our 2022 Venue Sponsor:
Thank You to our 2022 Presenting Sponsors:
Thank You to our 2022 Major Sponsors:

2022 High School Testing Info for Fall 2023 Admissions

From our friends at TestPrepChicago.com:

Through our CPS and non-CPS school partners, we have learned the test dates for the CPS High School Admissions Test (CPS HSAT). This year, CPS students will take the exam at their school on 10/26. Non-CPS students will take the exam at a CPS testing center, and they will have the option to test on 11/5, 11/6, 11/12 or 11/13. We expect CPS to make a formal announcement about these test dates soon.

CPS HSAT Test Dates

Wednesday, October 26 (For CPS Students)

Saturday, November 5 (For non-CPS Students)
Sunday, November 6 (For non-CPS Students)
Saturday, November 12 (For non-CPS Students)
Sunday, November 13 (For non-CPS Students)

Note: the CPS HSAT will also be used in the admissions process for Double Honors and International Baccalaureate (IB) programs.

The Parochial High School Entrance Exam (HSPT) will be held on the first Saturday in December. The test date is listed below.

HSPT Test Date

Saturday, December 3

There are three testing seasons (fall, winter, spring) for the Independent High School Entrance Exam (ISEE). The months for the three testing seasons are listed below.

ISEE Test Dates

Fall (August – November)
Winter (December – March)
Spring (April – July)

Students are allowed to take the ISEE one time in each season. To see a full list of test dates, times, and locations, please click here and type in the required information.

2021 VIRTUAL Hidden Gems High School Fair 9/26/21 @ 1-4pm

Registration now open for the 2021 VIRTUAL Hidden Gems High School Fair!

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2021 FROM 1-4PM
LIVE Q&A AT VIRTUAL EVENT + PRE-RECORDED CONTENT PRE & POST EVENT

Click here to view 2021 school and business exhibitors

REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN

$15 for the whole family, and fee waivers are available upon request.


Knowing how to cast your net wide and increase your options is KEY to a successful Chicago high school search. Join Chicago School GPS as we bring together over 35 participating schools, each with unique qualities that you may not have known about prior to coming to our Hidden Gems Fair.  PLUS, you can meet helpful resource vendors and partake in informative breakout sessions that will give you clarity on the high school process.  Join us for an afternoon designed to make your high school journey a successful one!

Program begins at 1pm with high schools showcasing what makes them unique, and breakout sessions begin at 2:00pm.  Fair ends at 4pm.

Our invaluable breakout sessions offer insights for Middle School Parents and Students on topics such as:

  • Navigating the private & public high school admissions process
  • High School Entrance Exam Insights (includes SEHS, HSPT & ISEE)
  • Private school scholarship opportunities & resources
  • International Baccalaureate Programs Demystified
  • Executive Functioning Strategies
Thank You to our generous 2021 Presenting Sponsor:

2020 VIRTUAL Hidden Gems High School Fair on 10/25/20 @ 1-4pm

For 6th-8th grade Middle School Families looking to VIRTUALLY meet over 35 Hidden Gems High Schools on Sunday, October 25, 2020 from 1-4pm CT and learn about how to navigate admissions and testing for Chicago area high schools and beyond. (Early bird tickets until 10/11/20 and fee waivers available).

Representatives from public, private and boarding schools will be on hand to chat about their schools and let you know of other admissions events. Register HERE.

Thanks to presenting sponsor, Bennett Day School; Major Sponsors, Daystar Academy, Test Prep Chicago and GEMS World Chicago; and Supporting Sponsor, Wayland Academy.

“Touring” Schools in a Time of Social Distancing

School Notifications for 2020-2021 entry continue to come in despite our unique time of social distancing and quarantining. Rest assured, we will return to a “new normal” and when that time comes, we will need to have a school choice in place. In order to help determine school fit, we are providing a platform to crowdsource information on various schools. If you have any helpful information for prospective families to learn more about a school remotely, please share your experiences, or create a new string if you do not see a particular school below. If you are a family seeking information, please feel free to pose your question under a particular school. In each school’s entry should be a link to the CPS page with more info.

Besides this forum, we encourage everyone to check out the websites or social media streams for each school, along with any parent groups such as “Friends of” groups that typically have contact information.

We are all in this together, and in this time of need, our collective experiences can help others become better informed. Thank you!

Agassiz ElementaryAlcott Elementary
Audubon ElementaryBell Elementary
Blaine ElementaryBurley Elementary
Chappell ElementaryCoonley Elementary
Burr ElementaryBrentano Elementary
Hawthorne ElementaryGoethe Elementary
Disney ElementaryDisney II Elementary
LaSalle ElementaryLaSalle II Elementary
Nettelhorst ElementaryJahn Elementary
McPherson ElementaryRavenswood Elementary
Waters ElementaryOgden Elementary
Lincoln ElementaryMayer Elementary
Drummond MontessoriSuder Montessori
Inter-AmericanJackson Language
STEM MagnetEdison Elementary
Beaubien ElementaryGalileo Elementary
Mitchell ElementaryTalcott Elementary
Bateman ElementaryMurphy Elementary
Amundsen High SchoolChiArts
Disney II HSJones College Prep
Lake View HSLane Tech
Lincoln Park HSLindblom HS
Northside PrepOgden HS
Payton College PrepSenn HS
Von Steuben HSWhitney Young HS
Westinghouse College Prep