I would assume (but since we are dealing with CPS, it is a riskier proposition than usual) that the process of identifying kids from low performing schools to go to the SE’s would seek to find those few high performing kids who attend low performing schools.

“since they let in kids that might not fit the (admittedly insane) SE “mold for ”

I responded:
“Well Julia, that is going to change in the four SE chosen to take students from the lowest performing grammar schools. . ”

You replied:.
“8th grade parent – I don’t think that every kid from a low performing grammar school is prone towards violence and gang membership. They might have been exposed to it more – but that doesn’t make them part of it.”

I don’t get your leap of logic or mischaracterization. Certainly the 25 kids from the lower performing schools do not fit the SE mold.

1. LPHS/IB gives the kids an above-grade-level test. It is intended for high school juniors. The Selective Enrollment test is very easy and is pitched at PERHAPS a 6th grade level. Doing well on the LPHS/IB test requires a detailed knowlege of algebra and good writing skills (because an essay is required). Doing well on the SE requires students to be careful and get 100% accurate.

2. The SE rubric is weighed very heavily on grades. One B will cut a kid out of many of the SE schools. A kid seeking admission to a SE high school can score faily low on standardized tests he he/she gets straight As. LHPS/IB, however, does not take a kid out of the running if they get a B at a very challenging school. Especially if they do well on LHPS’s (very difficult) entrance test.

3. The SE schools are forced to admit students by tiers, and now also to admit kids from low performing grade schools. In the case of Jones and Payton, these students will make up a huge portion the incoming classes.

4. LPHS/IB meets with the kids ahead of time to make sure that the kids understand the rigor of the program and are willing to commit to it.

My overall assessment is that the SE process is not really a merit-based process. It is skewed in very large part to meet particular societal goals. LPHS, however, has one goal: to find the smartest kids. And they do a good job with this. The previous poster is right, LPHS IB kids have the best success with college admissions.

That said, my son will not be going to LPHS next year. His dad and I decided that it would be too intense for him.

Selena – I appreciate hearing from a former LPIB student about your experiences. Thanks for sharing.

8th grade parent – I don’t think that every kid from a low performing grammar school is prone towards violence and gang membership. They might have been exposed to it more – but that doesn’t make them part of it.

I remember it being a stressful program while going through it, but I am so incredibly grateful for the experience. I remember my German teacher inviting a U of C philosophy professor to teach us Kantian and Hegelian principles. My classmates went on to Harvard, Stanford, Yale, McGill, Haverford; Michigan-bound, I was one of the “just average” kids.

I’m also othered by the assumption that non-IB students there are big, bad, and dangerous (not by parents here, just what I’ve observed in general). Yes, there were students from the area (i.e. Cabrini Green) and fights after school, rival gang members, etc. but I never felt like helpless prey. I played varsity sports and had healthy interaction with “non-IBers” and they were often more pleasant to be around than my fellow “IBers”. I mean, that is how the real world works, right? You have to go through life working with people who are not as smart and beautiful and rich as you?

Also, nothing I wrote could possibly be fairly characterized as “diss[ing] every other high school program that doesn’t conform to the admittedly insane and limited standards set by the SE selection process.” In fact, I didn’t “diss” anything. What I responded to was another parent’s observations about LP IB. It is, as I said, a rigorous and well-designed program. It also happens to be one that lets in kids it knows aren’t going to make it (which I don’t think is a good idea) and one that is housed in a large urban HS that has more than a few troublemaking kids and some serious drug and safety issues (which I also don’t think is good). I know several kids in the IB program there. They generally like it. And I respect the program. But it has some real problems — and those eliminated it as a choice for my child. That isn’t “dissing” it and it sure isn’t calling it merely OK.

LPIB is its own program but judging from the comments on this website alone, it seems to be considered separate but certainly not equal to the SE’s because it isn’t ONLY IB, there are other non-IB (read dangerous) kids in the school and since they let in kids that might not fit the (admittedly insane) SE mold for whatever reason that is threatening or makes the school (to quote a parent) “merely an o.k. one” – not great.

As an observation, it seems like there is a whole lot of hating going on. Everyone hates the SE school criteria and complains bitterly about how it is patently unfair and doesn’t recognize other types of intelligence and life experiences, etc… but then go on to diss every other high school program that doesn’t conform to the admittedly insane and limited standards set by the SE selection process. You can’t have it both ways!

http://ccsr.uchicago.edu/content/publications.php?pub_id=133

My read on this is that the LP IB program admits a much higher rate than the SE HS, because the interview process and presentation to prospective students and parents makes it clear how very rigorous the program is, so many people turn down the offer even if they are given it.