I can’t make this event, but I thought it was worth posting because of the CPS presence there. It sounds like it could be highly interesting and informative. It is somewhat specific to this area of the city, but I think could still be worthwhile if you don’t live there:
Come join residents of the North River Commission for this FREE event as we work to “transform neighborhood schools into the centers of our communities.”
The North River Commission and North Park University welcomes Jennifer Cheatham, CPS Chief Instruction Officer, Adam Anderson, Chief of Staff of the CPS Office of Portfolio, and Theodore Zervas, North Park University Education Professor to address policy changes affecting Chicago Public Schools, including: (1) longer school days and curriculum decisions, (2) family and community engagement strategies, (3) high school admissions and the CPS Tier System, and (4) the future of the CPS Office of Portfolio in Albany Park, North Park, and Irving Park.
• WHO: North Park University, CPS School Officials and the Community
• WHAT: Chicago Public School Informational Meeting and Panel Discussion
• WHEN: Tuesday, April 10, 2012 at 7:00PM Central Standard Time
• WHERE: North Park University’s Anderson Chapel – 3225 W. Foster Avenue
• WHY: Inform parents/residents of the upcoming changes to the structure of CPS.
From 7:00PM – 9:00PM CST on Tuesday, April 10th, 2012 the North River Commission and North Park University will partner with Chicago Public Schools and provide a unique opportunity for parents and residents to learn, plan and take action with respect to determining the look and feel of next school year.
According to Julie Putterman, VP of Education at the North River Commission: “The purpose of this meeting is to inform our constituents of the new policy changes that are taking place within the CPS structure so that residents understand the new possibilities that exist for regular neighborhoods to help improve their schools. The entire evening’s dialogue will allow this event to serve as a primer for NRC’s May ‘Education Visioning Session’ when local residents will re-gather to strategize and prioritize an agenda for the North River Commission to pursue in its efforts to transform neighborhood schools into the center of their communities.”
Questions from the neighborhood will be forwarded to members of the panel discussion prior to the start of the discussion. These questions will serve as the product of a month-long canvassing campaign that is currently underway and led by the North River Commission, surveying local civic associations, neighborhood groups, and hundreds of parents as flyers for this event are being distributed to the community.
“The North River Commission, Chicago Public Schools and North Park University expect this to be a fantastic event. It is going to give parents key information that they need in order to make good decisions concerning their child’s education in this time of transition at CPS,” Perry Gunn, North River Commission Executive Director.
_________________________________________________________________
*** IF YOU WANT SPECIFIC QUESTIONS ANSWERED, email Pete Kalenik at pkalenik@northrivercommission.org or call (773) 478-0202 ext. 111, with your thoughts, ideas, and concerns ***
For an understanding of North River Commission’s current Education priorities, please click on the following link: http://northrivercommission.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=79&Itemid=79
* Thank you to North Park University for hosing this event.
* Thank you to Albany Bank & Trust Company N.A. for sponsoring this event
April 9, 2012 at 6:36 pm
Well, this sure is interesting. And you have to hand it to the Jones HS students for putting old JCB on the spot and protesting in favor of their fellow CPS students! You know I have mixed feelings about this – I’d rather see the neighborhood schools “get good” but maybe both those things can happen. We know there are plenty of “best and brighest” kids who scored really well and didn’t get their top choice school. This still aint gonna get them into Northside, but hopefully by offering more seats, there will be less fierce competition at each school.
Brizard: Chicago will open more selective enrollment high schools
April 5, 2012
Chicago schools CEO Jean Claude Brizard said Thursday evening the city will create more selective enrollment high schools.
“Short answer is yes. We have demand,” Brizard said, when students from Jones College Prep High School asked whether the city would expand the number of selective enrollment high schools. Brizard made his comments on WBEZ’s monthly Schools on the Line program.
“The city cannot only have selectives, but at the same time, when you look at 24,000, 25,000, 30,000 people applying for 5,000 seats across the city, clearly there is a need and there is a want and there is a demand for that kind of school,” Brizard said.
This was the first time the schools chief has said publicly the city would create more of the coveted schools.
In late January, Brizard said at a school fair that Chicago was “a bit too obsessed with selective enrollment.” Both he and Mayor Rahm Emanuel have emphasized expansion of other types of schools, including charter schools, International Baccalaureate programs and STEM schools focusing on science, technology, engineering and math.
Brizard said the district was responding to demands from parents to open more selective schools. This year, competition to get into the city’s selective high schools ramped up, with near-perfect scores required for admission to some.
Brizard reiterated his commitment to neighborhood schools as the city’s primary education strategy, saying the city needs a “huge focus” on improving them.
Jones College Prep is one of nine selective enrollment high schools in Chicago. The students who asked Brizard the question said it seems unfair to have so few selective enrollment schools in a district with 400,000 students.
April 6, 2012 at 2:30 pm
A reader sent me this Trib article about full vs half day kindergarten. I thought it could be a good non-confrontational topic to discuss. So far there have been 2 threatened fist fights on the blog in the past month so this seems to be a safe discussion area. Some question I have:
*IF* we go to a 7.5 hour day, what will that mean for Kindergarten in CPS?
Is that too long for 5 year olds?
Should CPS have a one-size fits all plan for half/full day Kindergarten?
Do kids in high performing neighborhoods need 7.5 hours of education when our budget is in such bad shape?
Is it fair to make/ask parents to pay for full day (as has been done in several schools already?)
I met a woman from Lake Forest once who told me that they have half day offered for free, but you can get full day for something like $7,000 year. There didn’t seem to be much dispute about that. It was just “pay if you want more.” Should CPS offer something like that?
As a Kindergarten plug, Chappell which is near my new home (2153 W Foster) is having a tour at 9:30 am this Tuesday April 10th. I’ve heard great things about this under-the-radar school. Not sure if they are still taking out of area kids, but if you are stuck with nothing acceptable, it might be worth a look.
Another question someone asked me – if you are applying to Kindergarten lotteries from out of the city, what Tier do you get placed in? Anyone know?
As for me, my stuff is in my new home where it will probably remain unpacked for a long time until I get a giant burst of energy.
Schools weigh merits, costs of all-day kindergarten
Parents, educators are asking: Is 2.5 hours enough to adequately prepare students for first grade?
By Bonnie Miller Rubin, Chicago Tribune reporterApril 4, 2012
Lisa Olson was relaxing poolside on a family vacation when her cellphone started vibrating incessantly, disrupting the calm.
The frantic calls came from friends and neighbors in Mokena, irate about a February school board decision to roll back all-day kindergarten to a half-day as a way of cutting costs.
“Why would you want to go backward?” asked Olson, a mother of three, including 4-year-old Gavin. “Did anyone really think about how losing that extra time would affect our children?”
Mokena’s Summit Hill School District 161 quickly backed off the decision, but it is hardly the only community to debate the merits of a full day for kindergartners. Districts in Naperville and Wilmette recently grappled with adding hours to their programs, part of a growing movement to strengthen the early years as the foundation for lifelong learning.
Parents and school officials are asking: Is 2.5 hours enough to adequately prepare students for first grade? Or are we pushing kids too hard? And even if the gains are indisputable, does an expanded program make sense when even affluent districts are struggling to contain costs?
Most states require districts to offer at least a half-day program, the nation’s model since the 1930s. Only 12 states mandate providing a full-day program, according to the Education Commission of the States. In Illinois, about 1,650 schools provide full-day programs, 332 offer half days and 338 offer both, according to the Illinois State Board of Education.
Research shows students benefit from the extra hours and that it helps level the playing field for kids from low-income households. In a 2005 Rutgers University study, children enrolled in full-day kindergarten demonstrated “significantly stronger” academic gains than their peers in half-day programs.
Beyond curriculum, the case for the all-day program is made by families who say that getting out of school at 11:30 a.m. is out of sync with their lives. The majority of parents are unavailable to leave their jobs midday to pick up their youngsters, leaving them to either quit work or cobble together expensive and unwieldy child-care arrangements.
Finally, say advocates, the majority of 5-year-olds have already attended preschool, so scaling back time interrupts the continuity for kids accustomed to six-hour days.
“You have to think of building on a continuum,” said Christine Maxwell of the Erikson Institute, a child-development graduate school. “Making a full day the new standard gives children opportunities for more individualized attention … especially when it comes to early language and prereading skills.”
But the cost of hiring more teachers and aides and paying for training and space just doesn’t fit the current fiscal climate, say administrators. Over the past three years, the state’s education budget has been slashed by $650 million.
“It is difficult for educators to argue against increased learning time, but the value of full-day kindergarten must be balanced against other competing school needs,” said Superintendent Steve Griesbach, of Gower School District, which serves Burr Ridge and Willowbrook and does not have a full-day program. “At a time when most schools find there aren’t enough resources to do everything, we must make thoughtful choices about what is best for kids.”
In Mokena — which offers full-day and half-day programs — kindergarten seemed like a logical place to cut costs. The plan proved so contentious that the board voted to close an elementary school instead.
Superintendent Barbara Rains said she “couldn’t discount” that the issue won’t be revisited.
To Olson, any tinkering would be regressive: “This should have been a last resort … not the first,” she said. “Having a full-day kindergarten is one of the selling points for our community … and makes us competitive.”
In two other high-performing communities, Wilmette School District 39 and Naperville School District 203, kindergarten is offered only half-day, and the issue has moved to the forefront.
Wilmette considered adding an extended-day, fee-based enrichment program. “It seemed like a creative solution because it wouldn’t deplete our resources,” said district spokeswoman Holly Goldin. But no one could confirm residents’ demand — especially because the park district offers a similar program — so any expansion was put on a back burner until 2013.
In contrast, officials in Naperville are strongly committed to adding a full-day program. The proposal has met with some resistance, though, because it is intertwined with changing school boundaries to create more space.
Dee Dauber isn’t directly affected, but that hasn’t stopped her from wanting a full-day program. The Naperville resident’s opinions are based on the experiences of her two daughters. The oldest — now in high school — attended a half-day program, while her youngest, a fourth-grader, had a full day.
“I could see the difference in what teachers could accomplish with those extra hours,” Dauber said. “It benefited the kids not only academically, but socially … so when they got to first grade, they were truly ready. It should be an option, if the budget allows.”
The price tag is what Kevin Sawatzky, a father of three in District 203, is worried about, along with the potential disruption, he said.
“Some people don’t like the idea of paying for other people’s child care,” said Sawatzky, whose wife is a stay-at-home mom. “For me, though, the concern is that we’re spending a bunch of money and we’re moving a bunch of kids. I’d like to hear some alternatives.”
But to Maxwell, from the Erickson Institute, the evidence is clear, regardless of the community. To sustain the positive benefits of attending preschool, full-day kindergarten should be offered to all children.
“It means more opportunities to read, ask questions, do more problem-solving … and encourages the kind of open-ended inquiry that often gets shut out in a shortened day,” she said. “Really, it’s about the gift of time.”
April 5, 2012 at 8:17 am
These are LAST YEAR’s cut-off scores so we can compare to this year to see if they’ve risen like the high school cut-offs did. Also will be interesting to see the impact of Lane in the portfolio.
2012-2013 cutoffs are posted here.
Please note that a reader has reported that WYAC will not be doing a second round, per the school AC coordinator. If you want to turn down something else for a shot at 2nd round WYAC, I suggest calling the school to confirm this. Good luck!
http://cpsmagnet.org/Academic%20Center%20Cutoff%20Scores%202012-2013.pdf
Like the High Schools, AC admission is based on 30% rank + the Tiers using a score of 900 points that includes 5th grade grades, 5th grade ISATs, and the AC entry test.
If you post news, include your tier and child’s score.
And good luck!
This was the scoring rubric from last year:
http://cpsmagnet.org/ourpages/auto/2009/10/23/60441640/Scoring%20Rubric%20–%20Academic%20Centers%20and%20International%20Gifted%20Programs%20–%202010-2011.pdf
March 25, 2012 at 7:14 pm
If you post your news, please include Tier, school, and child’s score.
If you applied for Gifted and Classical schools, your child can receive only one offer. If you accept that spot, you will not be offered another spot.
If you turn down the spot your received, you will go back into the pool and have the opportunity to get in one of your higher choices if a spot opens up.
For applications above the entry year, most schools don’t find out that a child is leaving the class (and a spot thus opens up) until after this round and/or closer to the end of the school year (or even into the summer.) So these spots often require waiting a bit longer.
March 25, 2012 at 7:06 pm
Well, wonders will never cease today. I trashed talked them all week in term of the mail date, but CPS says that they started mailing elementary Gifted/Classical and Magnet letters today. I’m trying to find out if this include Academic Centers.
Post your news here, along with your Tier and child’s score so we can figure out the cut-offs, as these are not posed the way the cutoffs are for the Academic Centers and High Schools.
March 23, 2012 at 6:35 pm
The CPSObsessed switchboard is lighting up with the news!
I did NOT see this one coming. I’ve been wanting to do a post on the IB programs lately as I’m not all that familiar with them and the CPS admissions information confused me a little bit. Also, we continuously hear how rigorous these programs are (with a substantial attrition rate.) Thanks to everyone who sent me the info as it was breaking and to HSObsessed for writing the info below. She also says the video is “sweet.” Rahm? Really. I better take a look…
During a lunch time announcement at Curie, Rahm Emanuel announced that CPS will expand its high school IB program from serving 3,500 currently to serving 6,000 to 7,000 students, including five “wall-to-wall” IB high schools, and five new programs within other schools as well, all by “early 2013″. Emanuel said this is the first expansion of IB in Chicago in 15 years. He spoke about how parents are taking their families to the suburbs instead of staying in the city for high school due to the perceived lack of options, and that this will serve that need. He spoke about how the new all-IB high schools will be another option in addition to charters, the STEM programs, and the SE high schools.
Lots of questions remain: They didn’t say where the high schools will be, and it may not be determined yet, because they said they would work with aldermen and principals to see where the need is greatest. Not sure if they will phase out the neighborhood programs and phase in all-IB. Not sure if entry will be all-competitive, or if neighborhood kids have automatic entry but must be in the IB program. Not sure if these 10 initiatives are in addition to or instead of the existing programs.
Hopefully CPS will post documents with details soon.
Video of the news conference is here.
http://www.livestream.com/chicagomayorsoffice/video?clipId=pla_7911f746-17f0-40b4-9a65-1a950605b88f&utm_source=lslibrary&utm_medium=ui-thumb
Sun Times story:
http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/11485529-418/cps-expanding-successful-ib-program.html
New research paper on CPS IB programs. Beware, it’s 72 pages. I am going to try to read it as it came to me, recommended by a CPS IB teacher.
http://ccsr.uchicago.edu/publications/12_CCSR_IB_Final.pdf
March 23, 2012 at 1:43 pm
Thanks to those who posted/sent me this link. Take a look to see if your local elem or high school still needs candidates. We all complain about the high schools and it sounds like there are a few that need community member candidates.
People have said that Shurz appears on this list, but actually has 2 communicaty candidates. Amundsen has a few running, as I have been speaking with them and will post more info on that later.
Being on an LSC can be a rewarding and interesting experience. There are plenty of LSCs who are utterly passive, run mostly by the principal (for better or for worse.) Many of the LSCs need a good strong voice to question things in a constructive way. This is YOUR chance to speak up in a place where you just might make a difference.
I know someone mentioned that it is “just once a month – no big deal.” Keep in mind that members need something like 8 hours of training. That takes time. If your school is going through a principal contract renewal or anything where you may want to survey the school, that takes extra time. A school that is seeking and hiring a new principal may need a much greater time committment to do it right. If you really only want to spend one hour a month, I would defer to someone else in the community who can spend a little more time on it. I feel that most schools need more than just an hour a month.
If you have news on specific schools, candidate recommendations, news on candidate forums, questions, etc. please post below.
We spend a lot of time here complaining (heck, it was whay I started the blog) and the LSC is a chance for many of us to put our money where our mouths are when it comes to “why don’t you work to improve neighborhood schools?” comments.
http://cps.edu/Pages/LSC_Map.aspx
Also, if anybody has pointers on how to move a plethora of assembled Lego creations to a new home, please share. The Lego Death Star is particularly vexing as it took a good 30 hours to assemble….
March 22, 2012 at 10:58 am
http://cps.edu/News/Press_releases/Pages/03_16_2012_PR1.aspx
CPS just announced the calendar for next year. We will start after Labor Day again (for regular schedule) but there are 10 extra school days within the year (I will not be mentioning this to my son.) I’m not sure where that puts us when combined with the longer day but I’m sure we’ll be at the MOST SOMETHING in the country since that is the new motto of Chicago. Looks like Columbus and Pulaski have lost their holidays. Columbus has been getting a bad rap lately and I guess Pulaski has a street.
Both CPS Regular (R) and Early (E) track calendars will see the following changes:
Info from the press release:
- Ten additional days of student attendance for a total of 180 days.
- More full, five-day weeks from 20 to 29 weeks for Track Rand from 22 to 29 weeks for Track E. This provides less interruption to instruction and more consistency in scheduling for parents.
- Reducing holidays from ten to eight, changing Columbus and Pulaski Days from holidays to student attendance days. CPS is encouraging schools to use these days as opportunities to acknowledge the contributions made by Columbus and Pulaski by educating students on their roles in our country’s history.
- Conversion of report card pick-up days to student attendance days. Students will now attend school on these days with schools ending three hours earlier to allow parents the opportunity to meet with teachers and discuss their student’s performance.
Specific changes to the Track E calendar include:
- The school year will begin on Monday, August 13, 2012 and end on Monday, June 17, 2013. Both days are full days of school for students.
- Placement of vacation breaks (intercessions) in the Track E calendar will now fall at the end of academic quarters to minimize interruptions for students during the academic quarter.
- Schools will be closed for the following breaks (intercessions):
- Fall break (intercession): closed from October 15, 2012 to October 26, 2012
- Winter break (intercession): closed from December 17, 2012 to January 4, 2013
- Spring break (intercession): closed from April 1, 2013 to April 5, 2013. This will now be one week shorter than this year.
Specific changes to the Track R calendar include:
- The school year will begin on Tuesday, September 4, 2012 and end on Monday, June 17, 2013. Both days are full school days for students.
- Schools will be closed for the following breaks:
- Winter break: closed from December 24, 2012 to January 4, 2013
- Spring break: closed from April 1, 2013 to April 5, 2013
The new calendar was also developed to more strategically support teachers, and in turn, improve student learning. The five professional days at the front of the year will allow teachers the opportunity to learn and plan for the implementation of the new common core curriculum, as well as its instructional framework. The professional days at the end of each quarter will provide opportunity to review student data and plan for the next quarter. In addition, the increase in full weeks gives teachers a greater opportunity to impact students through their lessons without constant staggered breaks in learning.
March 16, 2012 at 4:57 pm
 How the world outside Chicago thinks about 4 Tiers My apologies, this is a data-heavy one but I love getting new data to dwell over….
**For those who hate data, the gist is that for the Tier spots, Tier 4 kids do not get their “fair share” of spots based on the share of kids who are ELIGIBLE for the spots. However including the Rank and Tier spot, Tier 4 kids get slightly more than their “fair share.” (I put this in quotes as people may disagree on what constitutes the fair share.)**
Selective Prep has issued this piece that discusses some of the conclusions about applicants by Tier. Based on Tier assignments, they conclude that it is hard for Tier 4 kids to get a spot than lower Tier kids. The data shows quite definitively that Tier 4 kids come into the process with higher scores than the lower tier kids do. Draw your own conclusions about nurture and or nature (CPS.) In any case, either you conclude that poor kids are genetically inferior and/or slackers or that they are somehow getting the short end of the stick when it comes to preparing for high school applications.
So based on the % of kids who qualify to take the SE test, i normalized the breakout to include all spots (rank and tier) and the qualified applicants break out as 1/2/3/4 21%/23%/26%/30%. Not actually too bad for those Tier 1-2 kids. Based on all the beefing I’d have thought it would be more skewed.towards. This is awesome math as I don’t think we’ve seen these “qualified numbers” so far. So based on the TIER spots, the Tier 4kids have 30% of the pool gunning for 17.5% of the spots. The “quirk” as SPrep points out.
However comparing this to WBEZ’s overall SE share by tier 20%/20%/26%/35% we see that the shares by qualified Tier applicants fall out pretty closely, with kids in Tier 4 actually having a BETTER shot at an SE spot than any other tier (thanks to the rank spots, not the tier spots which ARE tougher for tier 4 kids to get.)
Press release from SelectPrep below:
Contact:
Matthew Greenberg (312) 409-8411
March 15, 2012
A QUIRK OF THE TIER SYSTEM: MORE APPLICANTS IN HIGHER TIERS |
| Chicago, ILUnder the current admissions system for Chicago’s Selective Enrollment High Schools and Academic Centers, it is much more difficult for a qualified Tier 4 student to land a spot than it is for a qualified Tier 1 student, for one simple reason – there are many more qualified Tier 4 students than Tier 1 students, yet each Tier gets the same allotment of Selective Enrollment and Academic Center seats.CPS has divided the city into four Tiers, with each Tier representing one quarter of the school-age population. CPS currently gives each Tier exactly one quarter of the seats (after the first 30%, based on scores only, have been allotted). But one quarter of the school-age population is not the same as one quarter of the qualified school-age population.
To qualify to take the Selective Enrollment Exam as an 8th grader – and be eligible to apply to a Selective Enrollment High School — a student must score a minimum of stanine 5 (e.g., above 40%) in both Reading and Math on his/her 7th grade standardized test. Since far fewer Tier 1 students reach the 40th percentile than their Tier 4 counterparts, the pool of qualified Tier 1 students is much smaller than the pool from Tier 4. And since both Tiers are allotted the same number of seats, a qualified applicant from Tier 1 faces far less competition than does a qualified Tier 4 student.
An analysis of CPS data reveals that the bottom of the 5th stanine (40th percentile) is virtually the same as the minimum ISAT score selected for “meets or exceeds” standards. According to CPS, approximately 56% of Tier 1 7th graders were at or above the 5th stanine and thus eligible to take the Selective Enrollment Entrance Exam, while approximately 81% of all Tier 4 7th graders were qualified to take the Exam as shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1. Calculating “Qualified School-Age Students” by Tier (Selective Enrollment)
|
Tier 1 |
Tier 2 |
Tier 3 |
Tier 4 |
| % of school-age students in each Tier |
24.5% |
25.3% |
25.0% |
25.1% |
| % of Tier qualified to take the Exam |
56% |
62% |
70% |
81% |
To see how this affects the slots that are allocated across the Tiers, we then eliminated unqualified students from the population – since they cannot be applicants. We find that although 25% of the school-age population is in Tier 4, 30% of all qualified students are in Tier 4. Similarly Tier 1 contains 25% of the school-age population, but 21% of qualified students. If each qualified student were to have an equal chance at a Selective Enrollment slot, then 21% of the slots (70% of the Tier slots multiplied by 30% — the percent of qualified students) should be allocated to Tier 4 students vs. the current 17.5% and only 14.7% (70% of the Tier slots multiplied by 21%) vs. the current 17.5% should be allocated to Tier 1 students. This re-allocation would then provide each qualified applicant with an equal chance. These calculations are shown in Figure 2 below.
Figure 2. Admissions Based on Qualified Applicants (Selective Enrollment)
|
Tier 1 |
Tier 2 |
Tier 3 |
Tier 4 |
| % of qualified school-age students in each Tier |
21% |
23% |
26% |
30% |
| % of slots allocated to each Tier if each qualified student gets an equal chance |
14.7% |
16.1% |
18.2% |
21% |
| current allocation system |
17.5% |
17.5% |
17.5% |
17.5% |
| change in allocation |
-2.8% |
-1.4% |
+.7% |
+3.5% |
Academic Center Admissions
Since it’s harder to qualify to take the Academic Center Admissions Test, the results get more pronounced if one considers the Academic Center admissions process. Only a 6th grader who scores a minimum of 70% on both Reading and Math on his/her 5th grade standardized test can apply to an Academic Center. As shown in Figure 3 below, only 36% of Tier 1 students are qualified to apply to an Academic Center, while 64%of Tier 4 students are qualified.
If each qualified student were to have an equal chance at an Academic Center spot, then 23.8% of the slots (70% of the Tier slots multiplied by 34% — the percent of qualified students) should be allocated to Tier 4 students vs. the current 17.5% and only 12.6% (70% of the Tier slots multiplied by 18%) vs. the current 17.5% should be allocated to Tier 1 students.
Figure 3. “Qualified School-Aged Students” by Tier (Academic Center)
|
Tier 1 |
Tier 2 |
Tier 3 |
Tier 4 |
| % of school-age students who are “qualified” |
36% |
41% |
50% |
64% |
| % of qualified school-age students by Tier |
18% |
22% |
26% |
34% |
| % of slots allocated to each Tier if each qualified student gets an equal chance |
12.6% |
15.4% |
18.2% |
23.8% |
| current allocation system |
17.5% |
17.5% |
17.5% |
17.5% |
| change in allocation |
-4.9% |
-2.1% |
+.7% |
+6.3% |
Behind the Numbers (Academic Center Admissions)
We used the average ISAT performance (translated into a scaled score) provided by CPS for each Tier and assumed that the performance of each Tier’s student population was normally distributed.
The mean math score of all CPS 5th graders is 223, with a standard deviation of 27, so the 70th percentile yields a score of 237. So any 5th grader must get a 237 to take the Academic Center Test. In Tier 1, the 56% ISAT score implies a mean score of 227, meaning that only 36% qualified to take the Academic Center Test. In Tier 4, the ISAT mean score of 81% implies a Tier 4 mean score of 247, which means that 64% are qualified.
Summary
If CPS were to provide each qualified student with an equal chance of getting selected for a Selective Enrollment High School and Academic Center respectively — note that Tier 4 would receive 3.5% more spots in Selective Enrollment High Schools and 6.3% more Academic Center spots. At the same time Tier 1 would receive 2.8% fewer Selective Enrollment and 4.9% fewer Academic Center spots.
Let’s look at an example to see how this may affect a particular school. Suppose that Lane Tech has 1,000 total seats (although there are actually more), this would mean that Tier 4 students would receive 21% of these spaces for a total of 210 slots vs. the current 175, which would provide Tier 4 students with an additional 35 spaces.
To read more, click here.
Background: About the Tier System
Thirty percent of the seats at any of the selective schools are awarded based on a student’s academic performance in comparison with other students citywide. The remaining seventy percent of seats are awarded to students based on their test scores and grades in comparison with other students in their socio-economic Tier, with each Tier receiving 17.5% of the slots.
CPS has grouped each of the City of Chicago’s 874 census tracts into four Tier Groups based on 6 socio-economic factors: median family income, percentage of owner occupied homes, percentage of single family households, adult educational level, percentage of non-English speakers, and school quality. Census tracts deemed to have more favorable socio-economic factors are grouped into higher Tiers and tracts with less favorable ones are grouped into lower Tiers. Any student in the City of Chicago is grouped into a specific Tier based on his/her home address – and how the census tract that this address falls into has been rated by CPS.
About SelectivePrep
SelectivePrep was founded by test prep veterans with over 25 years of test preparation experience – and extensive backgrounds in both classroom teaching and curriculum development. SelectivePrep offers the only classroom program that prepares students for both of the standardized tests needed to gain admission to a Selective Enrollment High School and the Academic Center. SelectivePrep knows what it takes to train and motivate students who are intent upon gaining admission to one of the nine Chicago Selective Enrollment High Schools or one of seven Academic Centers. SelectivePrep’s programs provide a thorough and rigorous review of test content, so students can approach these competitive admissions processes with confidence.
For additional information and registration go to www.selectiveprep.com or call (312) 409-8411. |
March 14, 2012 at 11:20 pm
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