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Chicago Early Learning applications for the 2023-2024 school year open on 4/11/23 at https://cps.schoolmint.com/login
There is an “Initial Application Period” of about 3 weeks, and then the first round of offers are made in early May. After that, program sites will conduct rolling waitlists or show as “full” or “available” and can work through their waitlists well into the school year.
Helpful application video can be found mid-page here: https://www.cps.edu/ChicagoEarlyLearning/how-to-apply/
In the last year or two, families typically received one of their 5 options but the free 4 year old Universal PreK program was less well known than now.
All 3 year old (mainly community based Chicago sites) and 4 year old (CPS hosted) preschools for Fall 2023 will be applied to via the Chicago Early Learning website in Spring 2023: https://www.cps.edu/ChicagoEarlyLearning
Chicago’s Universal PreK offers FREE preschool for all 4 year olds
06:00PM – 07:30PMLincoln Park High School will host an in-person IB (International Baccalaureate) Information Session on Wednesday, November 30th from 6:00 pm -7:30 PM in the school’s Main Building Auditorium (2001 North Orchard).
This session will provide 8th grade students and their families with information about the benefits of an IB education in general, the advantages of “doing IB” at Lincoln Park, and the many IB subjects, activities, and sports Lincoln Park has available. This event will include an opportunity to speak with students, teachers, and staff and to tour both the Freshman Building and the Main Building.
We ask that you register for the event on the school’s website and that no more than two people accompany the 8th grader.
Please call the IB Office 773.534.8149 if you have any questions.
Email GoCPS directly at [email protected] and they will be able to answer your question (but please post your response here to help others). The test scheduling has been frustrating this cycle because many November kindergarten test dates cancelled and that has impacted other grade testing dates. This forum is helpful to crowdsource what families are hearing.
School discussions also happen at https://www.npnparents.org/forums/forum/4-discussion-forum/ but that one is membership based.
Would love to know why this forum goes down intermittently and if someone is a savvy forum tech person, would be happy to have them help maintain this. It is a wordpress site hosted by GoDaddy and believe me, it randomly goes down and the “permalinks” randomly stop linking sometimes. GoDaddy support took a while to figure out the random permalink situation so they don’t even know why. It’s super frustrating because there is no warning whatsoever. Feel free to email [email protected] if anyone is able to help maintain this site.
The format of the CPS HS Admissions Test is listed here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1EI-WQsT_27xdZc0wAnQtvj1fFZPFKXYE/view
Contact [email protected] to ask about a recording. The seminar is typically presented 2 times a year, once in the spring and once in the fall.
SEES does not have a mid-year test & transfer process but to get more challenge, the first step is to always talk with the teacher to see if more can be done to give your child more rigor. Otherwise the GoCPS application for 2023-2024 is open through Dec 2 and you can certainly have your child apply & test for next year.
For anyone interested, there will be a webinar given by Chicago School GPS and Critical Thinking Child regarding SEES Admissions & Testing for PK-5th grade families on 10/1/22 @ 10am-12:30pm. Lots of the above questions will be answered. Otherwise CPS has this limited info: https://www.cps.edu/gocps/elementary-school/es-explore/#AdmissionsTest
Virtually all Catholic schools use the HSPT and all test at the same time on the first Saturday in December at each school site. Many independent schools use ISEE except for some with more progressive curricula or those that are newer. Check websites of any school your child is possibly interested in to confirm which test (if any) is required.
Tiers are only applicable to the entry year of a program, and the vast majority of SEES RGC & Classical programs enter at Kindergarten, so CPS Tiers are relevant for that year. Two RGC programs start at 1st grade (Keller & Beaubien) so those will have CPS Tiers used for that grade only. Here is a GoCPS handout regarding Tiers: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1J7b3gicXusmPr952m0cZghXCwQhTJo-g/view
NPN stands for the Neighborhood Parent Network, which is a virtual parenting resource with some in person events, including the annual Preschool & Elementary School Fair, this year on 9/24/22 from 9am-1pm. (Free entry with promo code SchoolFree22).
There is also a twice yearly virtual seminar regarding SEES Admissions & Testing that this fall is on 10/1/22 at 10am-12:30pm. RSVP for that HERE.
Clarifying CPS application “Round 1” or “Round 2” vs. waitlist cycles:
CPS opens a “Round 1 Application” yearly in early October to mid-December that allows families to apply (and test if interested in selective enrollment) for all the schools in its system. Notifications for Round 1 Applications comes in late Spring and after a 2 week “tour” period to return a decision to attend or turn down initial offers, the waitlist for Round 1 will open. Families will then have 2 business days to answer any offers they hear from Round 1 schools they are waitlisted for and that cycles through until Jan/Feb of the coming school year.
CPS also runs a “Round 2 Application” at the beginning of summer for any programs that have no more people waiting on waitlists from Round 1 but the school still has unfilled open seats. This “Round 2” application is only for families who completely missed Round 1 and need to choose from schools with unfilled seats or those who did Round 1 but want to add Round 2 schools while they wait for any waitlist offers from the still active Round 1 Application. Families never have to enter into a Round 2 Application if they are simply waiting to hear from their Round 1 waitlists.
Hope this clarifies that Round 1 (i.e. initial) & Round 2 (i.e. late) refer to when applications are open, with Round 2 having only schools that did not fill or have anyone waiting from Round 1. Waitlists can churn through “cycles” so it would avoid confusion to use the terms “waitlist cycles” and “application rounds”. This is from GoCPS: https://go.cps.edu/about-gocps/faq/elementary#asd1051
CPS’s terminology is super confusing. The first application period from October to December each year is called “Round 1”. After the first/initial release of notifications in Spring, the “Round 1 waitlist period” kicks in and there are many waitlist “cycles”, but some people called them “Rounds”, which creates the confusion.
For schools with seats to fill but have exhausted their waitlist from the Oct to Dec Round 1 application, they enter into a “Round 2 Application”. This “Round 2” only contains programs that have no waiting applicants and is open for both those who did Round 1 but find programs they want to “add” from the Round 2 listing, or families who missed Round 1 entirely. This later, “left-over spot” application used to be called the more aptly named “End of Year Citywide Application”, which usually opened in June.
More info at the middle of this page: https://go.cps.edu/elementary-school/selection
