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I don’t know about WY but Payton had some changes that I don’t like since the change of principal. For example, they changed the start time of classes to 8AM sharp. Given the nightmarish traffic in Chicago, it is terrible to students who live far away from school. Some teachers intentionally punish students who are 30 seconds late.
I think the school is going downhill in the past couple of years and is sliding fast. This goes to show that principal matters a lot.Also never heard of this being confirmed.
It is a stupid idea to remove rank when Tier 4 is already super competitive.
What is enrichment activity anyway? There is nothing in the test that is related to what the perceived enrichment activity is. I know this because my children have been taking these tests since kindergarten. Almost every year. However, when they don’t prepare, they did terribly. That is how we know only test prep matters. Nothing else does. We have not the slightest idea of what the tests are about. There is no way to prepare. Maybe the truly smart children can do well without preparation. I am pretty sure my children are not that kind of smart. They are just like 99% of their peers. They need test prep to do well. Several hundred dollars of test prep instead of getting a new phone is what it takes.
Of course, they do. There are people living in million dollar condos qualifying as tier 3. There are students using their grandma’s addresses so that they are in tier 2. There are people with dozens of properties just pick one in tier 3 as their address. Investigation is tough.
Only prep class makes a difference. You can see that in high school test as well. Not only tiers don’t make a difference but also elementary schools don’t make a difference. Victim mentality is not good for future success. There are many people with much worse conditions do much better. Just think about that.
if she does accept the offer she received at TAFT, is there still a chance she would get an offer from Lane?
My understanding is no. The fact that you listed TAFT as a choice, which was offered, removes your daughter from the waitlist of Lane. In any case, the demand for Lane and Whitney AC is higher than ever. The waitlist probably won’t move much at all. This is quite different from high school entrance where there is still a lot of movement after initial admission.
Yes, tier system has been extremely unfair. I have been saying this all along. There is no tiers in university classes or companies.
There is no social economic barrier between tiers that affects the AC test. The only thing that one needs is to go to the test prep class. It only costs the price of modest iPhone. Almost everyone I see is holding an iPhone and drinking Starbucks. It’s about priority. The inequality created by tiers is just not right.
You can certainly ask your child to work harder. It is a gamble really. I am confident that my child can get into Lane or Whitney in high school test but I still insist on her taking to AC test so that she can join Lane so she is not under tremendous pressure for the high school test. Nothing is every guaranteed. Even if your child is capable, she/he might get a flu before the test. Who knows. My daughter is definitely smarter than my son but she is not as good a test taker and I am much more nervous when she is taking the test. Intelligent and test score are not equivalent.
I think the test prep is critically important for this kind of tests. You really want to spend the money for the test prep and make sure that your child can do the test questions correctly.
Also, I believe that the children’s temperament may affect how they perform in the test. My son got 150 when he took the test 3 years ago but my daughter only got 145 this time even though my daughter is stronger academically. She is just not as good a test taker because she works too fast and too careless.
I heard from my daughter that the 8th graders at Decatur mostly got their first choice. Many went to Payton and North side. That 8th grade class was very small (30 ~ 40) students and I think the school has done an excellent job getting them to where they want to be.
160 on the AC test? I thought the score maxed at 150, which is not a direct score in any case — it is based on a normalized scale.
Go GPS website link in the first post explains it clearly.
In short, the grades make up 300 points and the test is the other 300. The test grade converts to the points using the formula
300 – (150 – test_score) * 3
For example, for tier 4 kids to go to Lane or Whitney, they can lose at most 5 points in test score.
There is also tie breakers using component scores.
