Students at under performing public elementary schools will have an opportunity this fall to attend several selective enrollment schools, under a new policy.
Students at under performing public elementary schools will have an opportunity this fall to attend several selective enrollment schools, under a new policy. A total of 100 additional seats have been created for students to attend Whitney M. Young Magnet High School, Walter Payton College Preparatory High School, North Side College Preparatory High School or Jones College Preparatory High School as part of the No Child Left Behind High School Choice Program. Each school will have 25 additional seats made available to accommodate the new freshmen. Chicago Public Schools officials said its goal is to further diversify its selective enrollment high schools –– considered to be among the best public high schools in the city. “This process provides an unprecedented opportunity for excellent students from our lowest-performing schools to learn in our most competitive high schools,” said Ron Huberman, CEO of Chicago Public Schools. “This process honors the intent of the No Child Left Behind legislation and gives meaningful choice to high-performing children at lower-performing schools.” Huberman added that 336 eligible students who attend 87 under performing schools have been identified and the school will notify parents by mail. “These are high-performing students with the capacity to succeed in our selective enrollment schools. Our analysis, however, showed that students in lower-performing schools apply to selective enrollment high schools at a lower rate compared to students at higher-performing schools,” explained Huberman. “As a result, those students were significantly underrepresented in the selective enrollment process.” Eligible students must attend eighth grade at an under performing school identified by CPS and must meet Illinois Standards Achievement Test meets/exceeds percentage guidelines. An eligible student must also have a stanine 7 in both math and reading on the ISAT, or EXPLORE test scores in math and reading at or above 70 percent. Huberman added that all four schools would receive additional resources to be used for such things as hiring additional teachers. Each principal would be authorized to design a program that meets the needs of the individual student. Copyright 2010 Chicago Defender
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