SUBURBAN SCHOOLS - Better Than CPS Overall So Whats The Deal? (Chicago: how much, house)

[DADASGIRL]

I've got a pal moving here soon, wanting to live close to "good schools". I told her any area outside of the Crook County boundaries should be fine. This in turn caused a debate about Barrington, Winnetka, St Charles vs Gurnee, Wauconda, McHenry etc who was better, blah blah blah. The consensus was that affluent area schools = GREAT & non affluent area schools= BAD..

Overall - suburban schools outshine the majority of CPS schools on numerous levels. And this is in no way a jab at teachers - I'm talking purely resources here. CPS bldgs are old - suburban schools are newer. CPS curriculum can often be subpar - suburban ones incorporate elevated course curriculum. CPS sports depts are limited & prone to cutbacks - suburban schools have more sports programs PLUS the facilities to play/practice them.

So what are we missing - is it just the prestige factor of having kids go to a school in an affluent area? Do people believe their kids are gonna walk into one of these non affluent suburban schools & come out a degenerate plague to society? Graduation rates of Kane, Lake & McHenry counties are good, parents are involved & the student bodies are diverse - so why the notion that non-affluent area schools are somehow not as good? I'm a CPS graduate & know 1st hand the many educational facets lacking when compared to my suburban neighbors. SO I think more folks should thank their lucky stars that they are able to send their child to ANY non CPS school.

Disclaimer: I KNOW that every CPS school isnt bad - but one cant deny that the ratio of good to mediocre schools in far too low for the density & population of the city. I also know that property tax base will determine just how ritzy a school can/will be - but again - low middle class burbs are still churning out educated youths whereas CPS struggles.

[MannheimMadman]

So what's the question? What are CPS schools missing? You ought to read up on one of the many threads on this subject.

At any rate, the consensus is that it's not the school - it's the lack of parental and community support in fostering success. But yeah, the answers lie in the chicago forums.

[chet everett]

Wow where to begin, you really are very poorly informed on many levels. For starters the county has pretty much ZERO influence on the quality of schools, and evidence of this is the fact that the New Trier is in fact entirely within Cook Co.
Similarly Barrington is mostly if not wholly within Cook Co., as are other fine schools that have a long tradition of high performance.
Even if one considers the CPS schools, the results of the selective admissions high schools (like Northside and Payton) place them at the top of the heap statewide.

What really plaques CPS schools is a large degree of dysfunctional bueracracy coupled with appalling levels of parental indifference and more than a bit of old-fashioned broken personel management.

To mostly lesser extents SOME of this negative traits can be found in MANY suburban areas too, and the data suggests that the higher the level of parental income the less this is present / tolerated. Thus the strong suggestion is to research the performance of the schools in the areas that make he most sense for you in terms of commute and other qualities and then choose the best school they can...

[Lookout Kid]

Elgin, Aurora, and Waukegan are all outside of Cook County, and all have terrible public schools. I guess there is a small portion of Elgin within Cook County, but that's besides the point.

[AuDiBelle]

You cannot go by county to evaluate schools. Yes, CPS's are in Cook County, but so are many high performing suburban schools like District 101.

[pvande55]

One factor is parental influence. Many children in the high-performing districts are encouraged by the parents to learn at an early age. But if they are not encouraged, it matters little how much money is dumped, excuse me, invested, in the schools. You will find this throughout the area. As some have pointed out, you don't have to go to the city to find bad school districts.

[Humboldt1]

CPS spends more per pupil than Naperville and CPS sucks while Naperville is one of the best districts. It is not lack of funding but bad parents and bad kids that drag CPS down. Throw in bureaucracy and it gets even worse. Many of CPS teachers are glorified babysitters as parents are not getting the job done at home.

[Interrobang2rd]

It's the community- if an area doesn't care (for various socioeconomic reasons) about its education, if will be subpar. You can't blame the county (Winnetka and Evanston come to mind).

[Crede's Crew]

I know that this is an old post but I'll answer it for those new readers.

I was a CPS student. I went to CPS magnet/college prep school. If you look at all the top 5 high schools in Illinois. 3 out of two our CPS. The question is, will your kids get accepted into those good schools. Also Cook County have many great schools. Towns like Park Ridge, Glenview, Winnetka, Wilmette, Glencoe, Northbrook, and Arlington Heights all have excellent schools. If you can afford these town, then I will stay in Cook. People say that Lake County is better because most towns in Lake are more affordable. You get a bigger house with a bigger yard out in there for the same price a chicken shack in those expensive Cook suburbs. But please name one school in Lake that is better than Northside Prep. Search Illinois High Schools | US News

[chet everett]

You seem like a bright kid so I assume you know that the reason that Chicago has selective admissions schools is due to the historical effort to try to use the "Options For Knowledge" program to desegregate the CPS. The degree to which selective admissions schools are able to educate the most well prepared students AND not have to deal with any students from dysfunctional / uninvolved backgrounds explains the level of academic success. There is room for debate as to success of selective admissions schools in desegregating CPS...

In most high income suburban areas there were never enough children of any minority to have resulted in the kind of racial segregation that was charecterized as "separate and unequal" back when desegration plans were needed.

Data from the most successful schools in CPS shows a wide range of incomes but a fairly consistent focus on building upon early success. There is strong selection process that winnows out kids without sufficient support.



The overall level of success of minority students at some of the better suburban schools lags behind their non- minority peers by varying degrees. The reasons for this have been studied by numerous professors of education as well as sociology researchers and a variety of correlations have been found, few of which are "correctable" in the brief time kids are in high school. The effects of things like success before kindergarten tends to be an excellent predictor of which minority children will be among the top performers in high school and which will not ...

Originally Posted by Crede's Crew

I know that this is an old post but I'll answer it for those new readers.

I was a CPS student. I went to CPS magnet/college prep school. If you look at all the top 5 high school in Illinois. 3 out of two our CPS. The question is, will your kids get accepted into those good schools. Also Cook County have many great schools. Towns like Park Ridge, Glenview, Winnetka, Wilmette, Glencoe, Northbrook, and Arlington Heights all have excellent schools. If you can afford these town, then I will stay in Cook. People say that Lake County is better because most towns in Lake are more affordable. You get a bigger house with a bigger yard out in there for the same price a chicken shack in those expensive Cook suburbs. But please name one school in Lake that is better than Northside Prep. Search Illinois High Schools | US News