More Vying for Chicago’s Top Schools

By Tracy Dell’Angela, Chicago Tribune

Jan. 17–Samuel Mensah won a chance to compete this year for something he always wanted but feared would be unattainable–a shot at one of the coveted 2,700 seats in Chicago Public Schools’ eight elite high schools.

Samuel, 13, is one of about 15,000 8th graders who applied to attend the city’s selective enrollment high schools, a dramatic increase from an average of about 11,000 students in previous years and largely driven by a new state test that boosted the scores of thousands of local middle school students.

The scores don’t necessarily mean students are doing better academically than last year’s applicants. But the surge in applications means it will be harder than ever to get into the college-prep schools, which also attract thousands of students from private and parochial schools.

For many city families, the high schools offer an opportunity for their children to get the same kind of education as their peers in top-funded suburban schools and a chance to attend an elite college. For middle-class families who have fled the public schools, the high schools are a top-notch alternative to expensive private school tuition. This year, 17,000 Chicago Public Schools students were eligible to apply for slots at the selective enrollment high schools because they scored above the 40th percentile on 7th-grade reading and math tests, based on national norms. That’s a 55 percent increase compared with the 11,000 students who qualified in 2005.

Test scores is just one of many factors that determine whether students are offered a spot at these competitive schools. Grade-point averages, attendance, race and special education needs are also considered.

But the applications aren’t considered unless the students meet and exceed national averages on their 7th-grade standardized tests, said Jeffrey Gray, who manages the district’s selective enrollment program. The exact number of applicants will be finalized by Feb. 23, when schools send out acceptance letters. Students have a couple weeks to decide on a school.

Patrice Lawrence, an 8th grader at Harold Washington Elementary on the South Side, said she was thrilled that she tested well enough to apply to her top-choice high schools: Whitney Young Magnet and Brooks College Prep. But she’s still a little nervous about the competition, which she got a glimpse of when she took the selective enrollment placement test over the holiday break.

“There are a lot of great students out there,” said Patrice, 14, an aspiring plastic surgeon.

The competition is fierce for a good reason. Four of the selectives rank among the state’s 10 highest-scoring high schools, based on 11th-grade state tests: Northside College Prep, Whitney Young, Payton College Prep and Jones College Prep.

With more applicants in the mix, the schools also can be more choosy about whom they accept. The bar already is extraordinarily high at the state’s top school, Northside, where the “average” student accepted last year had a 3.9 GPA and scored above 94 percent among national test takers.

Whitney Young drew the most applicants this year, with more than 10,000 students picking the school as one of their top four choices, according to preliminary numbers. The highest number of applicants picked Lane Tech, the largest high school in Illinois, as their first choice.

Still, students who chose Jones and Payton as their preferred schools face the toughest odds this year because the schools are smaller, with more students competing for fewer spots.

Most of these elite schools host diverse populations, with the exception of the three South Side schools, Brooks College Prep, King College Prep and Lindblom Math and Science Academy, which are between 80 to 90 percent African-American.

Gray urges parents and students to be realistic about which school they pick, because the schools prefer applicants who select their campus as first or second choice.

“My concern is getting some parity among schools across the board, instead of students chasing the same spots at the most popular schools,” Gray said. “They need to understand the competition … so they don’t pick the wrong schools.”

The boom in applicants also is expected to improve the fortunes at King and Lindblom, which have struggled to attract enough top-notch students. They are the only two selectives that specialize. Lindblom has a rigorous math and science focus, and King has a career-related curriculum targeting architecture, performing arts and computer technology.

Lackluster academic outcomes and high staff turnover in recent years marred the reputation of King in Kenwood. Fewer than half of the school’s juniors passed state tests in 2005, with only 6 percent of students enrolled in the school’s Advanced Placement courses last year. Last year, King’s admission standards were the lowest among the eight selectives.

King Principal Jeff Wright, who took over last year, said he is encouraged by the surge in applications and believes it will help the school improve academically. More than 2,900 students picked King as an option this year, but more than half listed it as their third or fourth choice.

Lindblom is a tough sell for a different reason: It’s in the heart of the high-crime Englewood neighborhood. Lindblom reopened in 2005, two years after the district closed it for repairs.

“A huge issue for us is people still think we are closed,” said Principal Alan Mather, who left Northside College Prep to run the school. In the first year, the school enrolled only 100 freshmen, and most of them came because Mather recruited students rejected by the other elite schools. He did the same thing last year, and drew 140 students for Lindblom’s second class.

Mather is hoping he can fill 250 spots from among the current crop of applicants, 800 of whom chose Lindblom as their first or second choice.

“More competition to get in is a good thing for us,” Mather said. “We’re getting the word out better than we have before, and I do anticipate it will get tougher and tougher to enter. But we can’t lower our admission standards, because all of our courses are honors and AP.”

King was one of Samuel Mensah’s choices, although his family is pushing for Young or Payton. A South Loop Elementary student who has benefited from his school’s extraordinary improvement in recent years, Samuel said he wants his high school experience to prepare him for a top college.

“I’m a little nervous, but I think I’ve got a good chance at it,” Samuel said.

SELECTION TIMETABLE: Selection process for the Chicago Public Schools’ elite high schools:

–Feb. 23 — Students find out if they’ve been accepted to their chosen high schools.* This is also the date that students who have applied to the district’s military academies and specialized magnet programs are notified of acceptance. These students are selected through a random lottery.

–March 9 — Students must notify the high schools in writing whether they plan to attend. The deadline is March 23 for the academies and magnet high school.

–April 27 — After this date, city students who have not enrolled in a specialty high school are automatically enrolled in their neighborhood high school.

Students also have the option of applying at one of the district’s 18 charter high schools, most of which accept students citywide through lotteries.

*All the elite high schools accept more students than they have spots available, based on the percentage of students who have accepted in past years. Payton College Prep, for example, accepted 267 students for 200 openings last year.

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