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This is a good thing. The longer this waits, the better since more people will realize how ridiculous the move is.
CPS has a lot of problems and the new CEO’s first significant decision a big middle-finger to many CPS families.
I know for a fact that a wealthy family’s child got into a good school by having an address in a lower tier. The tier system is fully of loopholes that trucks can drive through. It only punishes the families without means to cheat or don’t have the stamina to cheat.
If there is bus, it’s not that bad of a commute.
It’s a classic school where your child gets to learn some Latin, which I think is great.
It’s a very good school with excellent faculties and many dedicated parents.
Very little homework assignments. Not sure if it’s a good thing but doesn’t appear to have an ill effects to the graduates moving on to academic center and high school.
Overall a very safe place, kinda like a large daycare.
Agreed. What does it matter anyway. Most schools offer similar instructions. One of my children has completed this process while the other one is on the way. One of them in classical school and the other in a magnum/neighborhood school. There is very little difference I can tell from the programs except the classic school teaches Latin, which doesn’t appear to be very useful.
Right. Getting involved is a good thing. If the school listens to parents’ input, then the school is definitely heading to the right direction.
It doesn’t change the fact that some schools are preferable to many parents who put more weight on the school to manage their children’s education.
There is also not much we can do as individuals to affect the admissions process for SEHS
I wholeheartedly disagree.
I think every parent can and should do something to change this. The tier policy is being changed in the most undemocratic way — by decree of the CPS CEO without consultation of the parents. This is a very big change that received very little attention and it is on purpose.
The mayor’s election is coming up and we can make it an election issue. I will not vote for any mayor candidate who is in favor of this change.
I don’t mean to offend anyone here. By 5 ‘good’ SEHS, I meant 5 ‘higher-ranked” SEHS. The fact that a school is higher-ranked means little if the student doesn’t work hard. A school being higher ranked doesn’t guarantee the quality of education either — a student can go to a great college if the student works hard enough and the school has the right support system.
However, I believe that some students perform better in a competitive environment where they driven by their peers in the pursuit of academic excellence.
Not sure whether your comment was satirical but if you are serious, you should consider how much an impact an individual can have on a high school, which is not much, even if you a filthy rich.
A high school doesn’t become good unless it has resource and a good management. For the sehs we have in Chicago, only 5 of them are good. The others have good facilities but for whatever reasons, don’t attract good students.
In an ideal condition, resources should be evenly distributed to each high school and let them flourish on their own merit. But the current system was set up in a way that only a few of these schools get to be really good. So we must learn to live with the system and try to make the best out of it.
The proposed tier quota makes an already unfair system even more unfair. Those who can afford multiple addresses will take advantage of the tier system while others with less resources will be forced to compete in a much more crowded field.
Only math, English, social studies, and science are counted. I suppose chemistry or biology will be considered science.
A higher level math is still math. There is no bonuses for taking harder classes. AC doesn’t care about sehs exam. It wants your child to stay. Many AC students don’t even take the test.
This probably only works if doesn’t go to another high school after AC. High school has 4 years. The chances the student can really benefit from taking 2/3 extra courses ahead of time are really slim. Taking general education AP courses can really save some money if these courses are accepted in the university the student attends. This I agree. The tuition rate in even public school is high while the tuition in private school is just insane.
Taking AP courses are not good for the students’ growth academically. I think most people do it because (1) other people do it so if you don’t, your children cannot get admitted to good university (2) to save a lot of money. I know students struggle tremendously in the their freshman year in university because they were taking upperclassman’s classes.
For example, I don’t think it is great idea to learn calculus in high school when the students haven’t mastered algebra and geometry. Calculus is such a fundamental math skill that students need time to really understand it and can count on it for their other classes. If we force students to learn difficult subjects before they are ready for them for economic reasons, it is really bad for their self-confidence and learning trajectory when they inevitably do poorly in their college classes, which can be unforgiving and relentlessly difficult.
My two children go to different elementary schools.
It is definitely a challenge logistically though it is kind of fun to have children talking about their very different experiences.
Academic center requires near perfect score but still not the full mark. This is quite important in my opinion. This gives students a target to shoot for. That is, if one scores full mark (150) in the test, the student will be sure of admission to one of the ACs.
Now with this change, it is quite likely that tie breakers will be extensively used for ACs as well. It was almost depressing to think that students who got 900 probably won’t be enough. If I didn’t preach the necessity of obsessive preparation to my son everyday, he won’t be lucky enough to get 99% for all subcategories so he can go to Payton. However, this won’t be enough next year. What will be the tie breaker then?
CPS puts a laughable disclaimer on its website saying that test preparation doesn’t work without a shred of evidence. This is coming from an organization that gives hundreds of millions of contracts to develop curriculum. They can’t even spend a few thousand dollars to study the impact of test preparation. CPS doesn’t even explain how the scores are derived. How do they ensure that with the new quota, the existing tie-breakers is enough.
It is a dilemma really. You moved to a good neighborhood school but ending up in Tier 4, which will have tough competition when it comes to selective high school.
Academic center is a good option but not a must option. My son is in academic center and moving on to another high school in the fall. What I can tell you after going through this experience is that academic center is a like safety net that helps reduce the anxiety for getting into a SEHS. That is pretty much it. I don’t see much more benefit going to an academic center.
In fact, if you go to an academic center, it is all you on your own when it comes time for the high school entrance exam. I know kids in good elementary schools had taken 3 simulation tests in their school to prepare for the high school exam. In comparison, academic centers will completely ignore the fact that there will be a big test coming up. Not only there won’t be any preparation for the test but also there will be a ton of homework that is due every week leading to the test.
So my advise to you is that if you like the school your son is currently in, then work hard to become a straight A student and get the best score he can in the high school test. That is it. Only 7th grades matter when it comes to high school. There is no such a thing as A students or B students. You can push your son to get all As. Just keep pushing and never give up. It is quite achievable.
Alternatively, you can move to a lower tiered area, which will greatly enhance your son’s chance to enter a good SEHS. IMHO, elementary schools matter very little when it comes to the ability to enter a good SEHS. It is mostly individual effort. Schools are quite similar in the why they teach students. Good SEEH may cover other things like arts and languages but I don’t think it matters when it comes to English and Math.
I just checked. The same for us as well.
I think the website developer has written logic so that if you do not change the existing decision, then the ‘next’ button is disabled — there is no reason to submit a new decision when it is the same. If I wrote that website, I probably would have done the same — but yes, it is confusing.
School mint is pretty decent but not great. I wonder how CPS paid for its service.
Are there “feeder” schools that go to Walter Payton for example?
Since admission to SEHS is based on test scores, I don’t think there is such a concept as ‘feeder’ school. Some schools may have higher percentage of children going to SEHS than others but it is hard to tell how big a role the elementary school really has.
I know some elementary schools actively prepare their 8th graders for the admission test, which resulted in better performance. Maybe you should find out these schools. I also know academic centers do not help students prepare the admission test at all.
