The Thing about CPS schools (Chicago, Naperville: low income, how much, houses)

[beverlybrat60643]

The thing about CPS schools: THEY ARE CRAZY.
Honestly, parents should stop trying to deal with them at some point, unless they are a really big proponent of public schooling.... Seriously, what people need to do is find a neighborhood that houses a good neighborhood school. Most are up North, but a few Southside neighborhoods like Beverly, Mt. Greenwood, and Clearing i think have good schools...
My mom wanted to pull my little bro from Clissold (nothing wrong, he just needed a little bit more of a challenge in math) and put him in Keller Regional Gifted Center, which is a little closer to home. With the Regional Gifted Centers (RGCs) and Selective Enrollment High Schools you have to test. But we decided not to go that route because this year 60% of the spots will be determined by socioeconomic tiers. We are in tier 4 (the richest) according to CPS. They go by neighborhoods, so basically the whole far southwest side (beverly, ashburn, mt greenwood, and morgan park) are included in this!!!! Usually the "richest" are excluded from opportunity in favor of low income children...
And the high schools. CRAZY admission proccess, which has been criticized and altered in the last few months. When I tested a few years ago for admission to Whitney Young, Brooks, Jones, and Payton, I scored 904 out of a possible 1000. I was turned down by every school except for my unimpressive safety, Brooks. I now attend private HS.
Put your kids into a good public elementary and then do private high school. This is seriously the best option, because you can save up for private school for nine years, and when the time comes, there wont be a problem...
Of course, this is the option after your child has the opportunity for admission to a good high school stolen.

From my experience good elementary schools are:
There are a LOT. You just either have to go the magnet route and hope to get picked in that super secretive lottery. A lot of good magnet schools are LaSalle Lang. Academy, Disney, Franklin Fine Arts Center, etc.
OR you can go the Gifted Center route and test in if you've got a little genius on your hands. Good schools here are Edison, Bell, Beaubien, Keller, and Lenart
OR you can go the neighborhood route. For examply, I live on borderline Beverly/Mt. Greenwood. Good schools here are Sutherland, Clissold, Cassell, and Mt. Greenwood Elem. There are nice neighborhood schools scattered across the city, but they are usually in middle and upper middle class areas.

From my experience good high schools are:
NOT SO MANY. The selective enrollement schools: Lane, Payton, Young, Northside, and Jones are all really good. Lincoln Park is good on paper and they have a really great IB program, but a friend of mine tells me its sketchy.
Your other option? PRIVATE!!! There's a triumvrate in Chicago: Latin, U of C Lab, and Morgan Park Academy. I don't really know anyone that goes to Parker. hmmm. And if you're catholic, you'll like Marist or St. Ignatius.

[chet everett]

Yep, the reports don't change -- lack of openness about the process makes it all but impossible to have any real shot at getting into a decent school. Pretty sad when you think about it, hundreds if not thousands of families/kids that could be real assets to the CPS efforts at improvement just get frustrated and turn to the private schools / move to the burbs every year rather that deal with craziness...

[surlycue]

Public for elementary, private for high school? You seem to be glossing over the fact that most people do not and will not have 10-20K per year to spend on high school. I put $25 a week into a savings account for my 2 year old daughter and that will barely cover college by the time she gets there. Most people aren't lucky enough to be able to save even $25 a week but you expect them to nonchalantly pay for both a private high school and then a public/private college tuition.

I miss the rose-colored glasses my 17 year old self had.

[Attrill]

Originally Posted by beverlybrat60643

Your other option? PRIVATE!!! There's a triumvrate in Chicago: Latin, U of C Lab, and Morgan Park Academy. I don't really know anyone that goes to Parker. hmmm. And if you're catholic, you'll like Marist or St. Ignatius.

If you can't get into one of the CPS selective enrollment high schools I wouldn't count on getting into those private schools - some of those schools are much more selective than the best CPS high schools.

[Chicagoland60426]

Originally Posted by surlycue

Public for elementary, private for high school? You seem to be glossing over the fact that most people do not and will not have 10-20K per year to spend on high school. I put $25 a week into a savings account for my 2 year old daughter and that will barely cover college by the time she gets there. Most people aren't lucky enough to be able to save even $25 a week but you expect them to nonchalantly pay for both a private high school and then a public/private college tuition.

I miss the rose-colored glasses my 17 year old self had.

Yep like 21% of Chicago residents live in poverty, and a lot of the ones that are not in poverty are living paycheck to paycheck. The vast majority of Chicagoans don't live the Lincoln Park, Lakeview, or Beverly lifestyle. Too many Chicago high schools are unsafe with gangs and other bs. I feel for the good students who have to go to schools like Fenger,Harper, Gage Park H.S. etc.

[beverlybrat60643]

Hey, if you want a quality HS education, going private or moving to the suburbs are the price you have to pay if the kid doesn't get into a top public school.... :/ its sucky. and catholic schoos aren't as bad as MPA or Latin. A lot of catholic schools are in the 7K - 9K range.

[ajolotl]

Is there a single CPS high school that is not selective enrollment and doesn't suck?

Everyone I know falls into three categories:
- they gave up and moved to Naperville or the North Shore
- they stuck it out in the city and send their kids to Lab, Parker, the British School, The Lycee, or one of the Catholic Schools
- they stuck it out in the city and got into one of the selective enrollment schools

The idea of going to a public high school in the city isn't even on the table for consideration.

[MannheimMadman]

Originally Posted by ajolotl

Is there a single CPS high school that is not selective enrollment and doesn't suck?

Everyone I know falls into three categories:
- they gave up and moved to Naperville or the North Shore
- they stuck it out in the city and send their kids to Lab, Parker, the British School, The Lycee, or one of the Catholic Schools
- they stuck it out in the city and got into one of the selective enrollment schools

The idea of going to a public high school in the city isn't even on the table for consideration.

Sweet Lord, those three you mentioned are expensive.

It's amazing how much more HS cost versus K-8 in Catholic education. It's something I'm comitting to do for my kids, though.

[ajolotl]

Originally Posted by MannheimMadman

Sweet Lord, those three you mentioned are expensive.

It's amazing how much more HS cost versus K-8 in Catholic education. It's something I'm comitting to do for my kids, though.

No kidding. I think I pay 40K/year for two kids in Lab. No tax deduction (this was a surprise to me); no break on property taxes. It would make absolutely no sense unless 1) you have a ton of money (I don't) 2) you just cannot stomach a place like Naperville (though it's not my style, I could easily enjoy it enough) or 3) you really like Lab school much better than even the really good suburban public schools.

I'm mostly in category (3), so I'm happy to pay for it and it makes sense for me. If they were equivalent in my view I would have fled to Naperville.

[beverlybrat60643]

If you want to do Latin, Lab, Parker, or MPA, be ready to pay 16K - 25K for high school... The whole problem would be solved if CPS would be more vigilant about it's schools.
I have plenty of friends who went the opposite route though. They attended catholic elementary at St. Cajetan and St. Walter, and then tested into Young and Jones, respectively. But that combo is a little rare.