Newsflash

Spots at Whitney Young's Academic Center, the top ranked middle school in the State of Illinois, have always been difficult to get. This year the average admissions score of an admitted Whitney Young Tier 4 student was 846, while the average score of an admitted Tier 1 student was 796 -- a difference of 50 points.

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At a time when attaining high levels of mathematical fluency has become critical to academic and career success, Illinois is close to the bottom in setting goals for math knowledge. While the Illinois Standards Achievement Test (ISAT) performance of Chicago Public School (CPS) students has climbed dramatically over the past several years, actual math aptitude has stagnated at abysmal levels. Low Illinois elementary school math standards threaten a student's chances for subsequent math achievement -- and can lull parents into complacency by letting them believe that their child has mastered math when their child's actual skill level is low.

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This year average admissions scores at nearly all Selective Enrollment High Schools declined-- and some fell dramatically. Lane Tech, Young, Payton, and Northside saw declines of 12, 10, 8 and 6 points respectively. This decline comes after years of successive and often significant point increases.

This decrease in scores was precipitated by a change in CPS' admissions policy. In November 2010, CPS changed the admissions formula from a 40%/60% Rank/Tier mix to a 30%/70% Rank/Tier mix. Students are admitted in the Rank category if they have the highest scores, regardless of their socio-economic Tier; while students in Tiers are admitted on the basis of their scores in comparison with other students in that Tier. This change effectively increased the percentage of students admitted in each Tier from 15% to 17.5%. While the scores of Tier 3 and Tier 4 students increased or were flat, this was more than offset by an increased number of students from Tiers 1 and 2 with lower admissions scores.

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Breaking news... For the past two years, Lane Tech Principal LoBosco has led an effort to open an Academic Center at her school. Academic Centers are schools within high schools that serve academically advanced 7th and 8th graders. These students not only learn at an accelerated pace, but they are also guaranteed a spot in that high school once they become 9th graders. Whitney Young and Lindblom are currently the only Selective Enrollment High Schools to feature Academic Centers. According the Chicago Sun-Times, the Whitney Young Academic Center is considered the best middle school in the entire State of Illinois. Spots at Whitney Young's Academic Center are extremely difficult to acquire; only about 10% of applicants get one.

Federal officials recently subpoenaed the CPS seeking information on the Selective Enrollment Admissions policy, August 2, 2009

Just one week after the Chicago Public School (CPS) system announced an internal investigation into admissions practices at all application-based Chicago area schools (e.g., selective enrollment, gifted, classical, magnet, etc.), it has been revealed that the federal government is launching its own investigation into admissions practices. The federal probe, at least initially, is limited to the nine Selective Enrollment High Schools.

According to Matthew Greenberg, Partner, SelectivePrep, "The additional federal interest will ensure that Selective Enrollment admissions policies will be thoroughly investigated. It's intriguing that that the federal government is also probing the Chicago Public School admissions policy," he continued. "The existence of any admissions procedures that are not based on merit makes the system less transparent and can lead to unfairness. Efforts by both CPS and the federal government can only strengthen the hand of students who enter the process with strong grades and test scores," concluded Greenberg.

Click here to read the Chicago Tribune article.

CPS is launching an investigation into the District's Selective Enrollment admissions process

Currently students are admitted to one of the nine Selective Enrollment high schools on the basis of their score on a 1,000 point system. Students can receive a potential 300 points for 7^th grade grades, 100 points for 7^th grade attendance, 300 points for 7^th grade ISAT scores, and 300 points for the Selective Enrollment Entrance Exam. CPS has long touted their admissions policy as objective since each component can be easily measured and has claimed that admissions decisions are made solely on the basis of this objective measurement.

According to Matthew Greenberg, Partner, SelectivePrep, "Ensuring that there is fair play is vitally important to these schools' reputations. This investigation can only strengthen the integrity of the system by ensuring that the rules are indeed being followed and will strengthen the hand of students who study hard, perform well, and play by the rules. In short, it's a great idea."

Click here to read the CPS press release.

Jones College Prep continues to consider various architectural and enrollment plans including the addition of up to 300 neighborhood students, which would move total enrollment to 1,200.

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The scores needed to attend one of Chicago's nine Selective Enrollment High Schools rose yet again this year, with the average score of an admitted student increasing by 10 points.