Comments on: Post your news here, Part 2

By: Melissa

Melissa — Mon, 10 May 2010 07:55:08 +0000

@Y. Thanks… I did know part of that… that they no longer (though I thought it was fall 2010 forward) offered you slots in more than one of your GEAP choices. But my son is in 2nd Grade, thus when he entered they indeed made offers and then allowed you to ‘choose’. I do know people, for example, that got both Edison and Decatur, etc. Man… having navigated this system was hard enough then… but at least we felt we knew the ‘rules’ lol. Now we have to ‘rel-earn’ them. Just looked at the Tier Maps, and how our little pocked of East Rogers Park is falling into a Tier 3 is BEYOND ME. Big time! Seriously? It’s all apt’s and condo’s!!! And 10yrs ago, it was ALL apts, period! We are just south of Howard, just west of Sheridan! UGH! Ah well… dd will get in where she get’s in or be homeschooled…

Does ANYONE know of any plans to perhaps pull a Nettlehorst at Gale? Or how we can go about making that happen? Now that the Peeps in our ‘pocket’ here are having babies intead of just puppies, I would LOVE to join other parents to provide SOME local school option for our kids. But Gale, with it’s current scores, is not at all a true option. While I recognize my daughter is VERY different than my son (who is truly gifted, was reading at 2, chapter books by 3 on his own, literally reading now at almost 8 at a 10th grade level) and far more social, artistic, outgoing… the fear of having ZERO options terrifies me.

When we did test for DS, we also applied to many lotteries… the ONLY acceptance we got for magnet or otherwise was Peirce. I hated turning it down then, but have heard some not so favorable things since then, like a child being hit by a teacher. Of course, we were not walking away from Decatur… but I fear that ‘luck’ won’t strike twice, I suppose.

Does ANYONE know the answer as to whether Principals in GEAP schools are allowed to ‘select’ a percentage of their students personally? I just happen to see LOTS of sibling acceptances amongst LSC and PTA families. Could be total happenstance. Not sure. Is there ANY sibling prefernce given now, under the new system?

TIA for ANY help trying to re-learn the new process! LOVE this blog!!! NPN was my only respite last time, and they are far less tolerant of ‘gifted’ children, haha! There, it’s like you have the plague if you use the word. Lol!

By: Melissa

Melissa — Mon, 10 May 2010 07:44:24 +0000

@dazedandconfused…

Wow. Skinner West allows parents to ENTER the classroom? Really? Cuz that is like TABOO at Decatur. Honestly…, if that is important to you (and it’s extremely frustrating to me to be DISallowed in my kids school for the most part… unless of course you are part of the PTA elite club, kid you not.. and by that I mean LITERALLY a PTA officer) I would consider sticking it out at Skinner West. Just a tidbit of info… Not that I am displeased with Decatur. We love it and feel very lucky. BUT there is NO creating a neighborhood school when ALL the kids come from all over the city. We DO live relatively close, in ERogers Park… but still. Not the easiest to arrange playdates and after school activities, etc. And the Principal is a piece of work. LOL. BUT the great teachers and Parental Involvement (outside the class that is) and SERIOUS fundraising capabilities are a plus. Think it over… I can answer questions… even though it’s past ‘accept’ dates. Good Luck!

By: Y

Mon, 10 May 2010 05:50:02 +0000

@ Melissa- For the past several years, you only get an offer to one program. Since Decatur was your first choice and your child had a high enough score to be offered a slot in the program, CPS would only offer you that slot. Years ago, CPS used to offer offer students slots in both RGC and Classical programs but that changed when the preference rankings were combined on the application forms.

By: Melissa

Melissa — Mon, 10 May 2010 05:05:30 +0000

CPS Mom, when we took the test in 2006, 165 was the Max Score. Not saying this could not have changed, but as a 99.9th percentile, 165 was ‘capping the test’. There was no higher score, at that point. From what I know, it has not changed. So a 168 is likely not possible. I have never met another Decaur child/parent with higher than 165, either. However, on the Gifted Test, the same score (actually I think it was slightly lower, it’s been a few yrs, but the percentile was still 99.9th) was not enough to get us in! Curious…

~Decatur Mom

By: Melissa

Melissa — Mon, 10 May 2010 04:56:54 +0000

A little late in reply here, but just found your blog. My son attends Decatur Classical, though we tested without the Tier system (ugh, still trying to navigate this new mess… we start testing for our daughter this coming year, as our neighborhood school, Gale, is SO not an option!). I believe, in East Rogers Park, we are Tier 1 or 2… hard to find hard boundaries. Our son did NOT get into Pritzker or Skinner with a score of 165 or 99.9th percentile (which means he capped both tests) on both Gifted and Classical. We did not apply to Edison at that time because of it’s prior local. However, he DID obviously get into Decatur, first round. While Decatur was our first choice, we have always found it odd that he did not ‘get in’ to a Gifted program at all, even with scores identical to those that landed him a ‘first round’ pick for Classical.

Just mentioning this to give a lil info to those above wondering about inconsistencies. They are not new to the Tier system, certainly!

Wishing you all luck… I would give anything for a neighborhood option at this point. One block further South would land us within New Field, which is at least considerable. Gale, not so much.

By: wondering

wondering — Sun, 02 May 2010 23:34:54 +0000

hey guys has anybody heard anything since the second round has begun

By: Information gathering

Information gathering — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 19:37:44 +0000

In case someone is tallying the numbers:

Gifted: 134
Tier 3

No acceptances for K.

By: Mom

Mom — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 18:03:50 +0000

#291 — The minimum score to get in is 115, but your 98th percentile is well above that. The reason your son didn’t get in is because there were too many kids in your tier who scored better. If they turn down their spots, they will go down your tier’s list in order of score until the open spots are filled. There is definitely a chance that a 98th percentile score could get called.

By: SmartBoy

SmartBoy — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 03:33:05 +0000

My son was rejected from both gifted and classical but it looks as if he scored 98th percentile. If spots open in a school like Edison, will they lower the score required to get in?

Also, any prediction how soon the magnet schools will begin sending 2nd chance spots to folks?

By: Grimly Amused

Grimly Amused — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 02:34:24 +0000

@288: If tea partiers protested for better schools, it would be reported that better schools are primarily an obsession of racist white people worried about losing ground to minorities. Best to leave the tea partiers out of it.