Chicago Public Schools: Really? (Lincoln, Winnetka: house, neighborhoods, elementary schools)

[shannobanano]

I am fantasizing about moving from DC to Chicago. DC is such a horrible, horrible place to live. If you want to start a family, forget about it. Other than one or two K-5 schools, there is not a single school that is considered anything but pathetic. There are two suburbs with good schools and that are within a decent commute to the city; the homes are all near $1 million. To live somewhere with good schools and remotely affordable homes, you'll have a tortuous commute. All around life is bad.

I have always wanted to live in Chicago again near my family and friends. I was browsing www.greatschools.net and was just shocked to see how many Chicago public school are rated very high. I didn't think good public schools existed in big cities. I see that a lot of the "good" high schools are based on admission tests, the college prep schools. Are they really competitive? There were several with very high marks. There was even one with open enrollment for those who live in the area (Lincoln Park HS). I know its a very expensive area. There were even more top-rated elementary schools. This all sounds too good to be true. Is it?

[chet everett]

First Lincoln Park High School -- very odd school. They do selective admissions for a VERY small group of kids that then enroll in their International Baccalaureate program when they are expected to do and generally work at an unbelievably high level. The rest of the school is VERY unimpressive. A smattering a kids from nearby, but mostly kids with some pretty spotty pasts and slim future prospects. Honestly MOST kids from nearby will go to the other selective admissions schools (like Payton & Northside Prep) where the WHOLE school has to meet standards OR their parents will shell out enormous sums to send the kids to private schools.

As to the elementary schools the situation is little different. The CPS has a number of 'paths' into the selective admissions elementary schools and for saavy parents they can generally figure out a way to get their kids into good schools. Sometimes that is because the kids are bright, sometimes it is because the parents have connections... THE other thing that HAS happened relatively recently is there are ENOUGH well educated high income parents in a HANDFUL of "local school attendance" areas that they have basically turned the demographics into something that is pretty similar to a decent suburb AND they remain committed to the public schools. That is the ideal, but the vagaries of how the school changes the rules and responds to pressures real and imaged (from budgets to bossy parents to PR crazed preachers and politicians) leave nothing guaranteed...

Chicago's Lincoln Park has been "gentrified" for decades, and the "lakefront liberals" have been much more integrated in City politics than the extreme racial homogenity that is the rule in the most troubled parts of DC, coupled with the fact that few people plan to live in DC for longer than about 8 years -- Chicago has a better situation.

That said, in many ways "the truth" of greatschools.net is NOT as good as it may appear. The 'yardstick" that Illinois uses for its elementary schools is among the WEAKEST of state designed tests, the "parent input" function of greatschools is easily subverted, staff and students change with depressing randomness.

If you want to be ASSURED of your kids going to a really well performing high school and elementary schools the suburbs are a much safer bet. The value proposition is hard to argue against, and Metra serves basically all the better suburbs with total commute times to the Loop not particularly dissimilar from the desirable City neighborhoods...

[shannobanano]

Originally Posted by chet everett

Honestly MOST kids from nearby will go to the other selective admissions schools (like Payton & Northside Prep) where the WHOLE school has to meet standards OR their parents will shell out enormous sums to send the kids to private schools

Just how selective are we talking? I saw maybe a dozen high schools with high ratings (I never consider the parent ratings). With that many, I would assume there is room for any child who is above average intelligence and a hard worker. I guess i didn't look at the student population numbers. Maybe they are very small schools for geniuses only.

[hsw]

Always interesting that seemingly majority of LincPk/GoldCoast....and even the HydePk slums..."Gulfstream socialists" send their rugrats to private schools....actions speak louder than words

Many families of lesser means typically flee City of Chic and get a house in NewTrier dt, to avoid onerous costs of pvt schools....and commute from Winnetka to Loop is about as fast as any "traditional" bedroom suburb to CBD commutes....only relevant shorter commutes are intra-suburban commutes enjoyed by guys in SiliconValley or LA's Westside or intra-Greenwich...

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by hsw

Many families of lesser means typically flee City of Chic and get a house in NewTrier dt...

Yes, New Trier is known for it's students of "lesser means". This Christmas we should all think of the less fortunate in Winnetka, a town with a measly median home price of $1,174,500. How do they survive in such a slum?

They say sarcasm is hard to read online, but I'm hoping that was sarcasm!

[motob]

You may find some information here for high schools.

CPS Selective Enrollment High Schools

This is for selective high schools, International Baccalaureate has different rules I guess. There are some schools which my friends went to (granted ten or fifteen years ago) which were good but aren't in this list of nine selective enrollment schools, like Von Steuben, Kenwood, and Morgan Park.

[chet everett]

The USNews ranking place two of the "100% selective admissions" CPS schools in the "GOLD" category -- Northside College Preparatory High School: Best High Schools - USNews.com

Payton College Preparatory High School: Best High Schools - USNews.com

The competition to get into those is FIERCE, certainly NOT simply good enough to just be above average intelligence & good work habits. While genius might not be an apt term, it is a safe to say that with a total combined enrollment at both schools of under 2000 kids against 116 high schools with over 112,000 students the "Top 2%" is a pretty high hurdle... Chicago Public Schools : Stats and facts

Such traits as "above average & hard working" would probably be enough for most of the other schools in the "Silver" category, but honestly some of the CPS high schools in that category are miserable in comparison to a suburban high school in the silver range.

[Avengerfire]

Originally Posted by Lookout Kid

Yes, New Trier is known for it's students of "lesser means". This Christmas we should all think of the less fortunate in Winnetka, a town with a measly median home price of $1,174,500. How do they survive in such a slum?

They say sarcasm is hard to read online, but I'm hoping that was sarcasm!

Wow!

[shannobanano]

Originally Posted by chet everett

Such traits as "above average & hard working" would probably be enough for most of the other schools in the "Silver" category, but honestly some of the CPS high schools in that category are miserable in comparison to a suburban high school in the silver range.

Could you give me some examples of high schools in this category?

[chet everett]

I'd rather not list the ones that are atrocious - there only a handful that are more similar to acceptable suburban high school. From the USNews list there are basically three that share at least some characteristics. One of the factors is at least some racial balance. Another is some semblance or normal activities / behavior standards. Granted the actual performance of these schools is ORDERS OF MAGNITUDE below that of Northside and Payton, but still resent acceptable options:
Young Magnet High School: Best High Schools - USNews.com
Lane Technical High School: Best High Schools - USNews.com

Von Steuben Metro Science High School: Best High Schools - USNews.com

The first two are require applications, but simply are not as tough to get into as those in the gold category.

Von Steuben is not a selective admission school, and as such has issues that would be unusual in a suburban high school, but as far CPS goes it is pretty acceptable...