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Maybe you have an infant and you are curious about public high schools in Chicago. Maybe you have an older elementary age child and the topic of high school is starting to come up in conversation. Or maybe your baby has morphed into a middle schooler and you suddenly need to figure this high school thing out! Wherever you are coming from, NPN is here to help. In this CPS 301 session, presented by Grace Lee Sawin of Chicago School GPS, you will learn about: - Selective enrollment high schools - Choice programs - How to apply to both - Selection criteria - Managing acceptances, waitlists, and principal discretion You may want to watch CPS 101: Understanding Tiers (available to NPN members only) in preparation for this live session. 
 This event is FREE and exclusive to NPN members only. Join now! Thank you to our media partner: Crain's Chicago Business.

Join NPN as we partner with Grace Lee Sawin of Chicago School GPS for a seminar aimed at parents seeking school search guidance beyond elementary school. This session covers these topics and questions: An overview of Chicago's public and private high school admissions process How do I choose a good school fit for my child? What are the criteria for the various public and private high school programs? Tips on navigating virtual open houses during the pandemic What should I know about the GoCPS application process? Please note this presentation starts around the 5:30 mark as there were a couple of audience members with audio issues in the first few minutes. The video is available to NPN members only. Not a member? Learn about the many member benefits and join now. Member-only video

We’ve just closed the door on that stressful season when high school students-to-be partake in applications. My wife and I have been talking about high schools for our 6th grader for a couple of years, so we empathize. Fortunately, your choices are much better than what you might realize. For families stressing about which school is “right” for their child, likely the anxiety is caused by the selection process to get into the “best” high schools. You might believe there are only a handful of acceptable choices for high schools, requiring astronomically high test scores, and all the rest are less than adequate. But it may be time to adjust your perspective. Our city boasts some of the best schools in the country. These schools, like Walter Payton and Northside, are ranked in the top 1% nationally. If that’s your thing, game on! For those with kids who don’t enjoy high-stakes tests or who want other choices, CPS has 24 high schools ranked in the top quartile of the nation—meaning they are better than 75% of the schools in our country. Of these 24, six have a neighborhood enrollment policy, so if you live in a specific boundary near the school, your child cannot be denied enrollment. Over the past six months, the average price for a 3-bedroom, 2-bath home near these schools ranged from $145,000 to $1.4 million. If you’re willing to accept a school that is merely in the top 50th percentile in the nation you can add 21 more CPS high schools to your list, for a total of 45 to consider. Ten of these additional schools have neighborhood components, starting with an average price of $159,000 for a 3-bedroom 2-bath home. Another ten of these schools give preference to students living in proximity. For example, the Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences, on the far South Side, or Von Steuben on the North Side, are magnet programs requiring students to score in the average range on the NWEA MAP, but students are given additional preference if they live in proximity to the school. So why even consider moving to the suburbs, when you can make a shorter move across town? If you are open to considering options that are merely better than half the schools in the nation, you have an even greater number of choices. If I can’t convince you, I highly recommend the book How to Raise an Adult: Break Free of the Overparenting Trap and Prepare Your Kid for Success by Julie Lythcott-Haims, who describes how pushing kids to only believe they are successful if they get into top schools is causing lots of issues—and worst of all, it will not allow children the space to become who they are. Related content: This CPS resource makes high school search so much easier Want to make your community better? Consider your neighborhood school. CPS academic centers: How a mom counseled her son on whether to accept an offer

Many Chicago parents, myself included, start thinking about high school at the same time we're applying to preschool. This phenomenon isn’t limited to “type A” parents or “helicopter” parents or overachieving parents. We begin thinking about high school so early because our children’s access to education can influence major life decisions such as where we live, and because to new and not-so-new parents, public high schools in Chicago are something of a mystery. [Related: High School Admissions 101 (members-only video)] What are public high schools like in Chicago? Are they all the same or does each school offer different programs? Is there an application process? Is it the same for all schools? These are just a few of the questions I had as a preschool parent. If you have questions like this, too, you'll love this useful resource from Chicago Public Schools that lists every public high school in the city, each school’s programs’ eligibility requirements, selection process and more. CPS organized all of this information into one document, which you can find in the Elementary and High School Guide at go.cps.edu. To go directly to the list of high school programs, eligibility and selection process, click here. CPS hasn't publicized this document, as far as I can tell, so I want to make sure other parents can find it! In this document, one section is organized by the type of admission screening required, such as an audition, an essay, attendance at an information session, and more. The next section lists the schools with IB programs and service leadership (formerly military) programs. The last section lists each high school and gives detailed information about program eligibility requirements and the selection process for each program at each school. Some high schools, such as Lincoln Park High School, have six different programs to which students can be admitted and this document lays out the differences in eligibility and selection for each one. [Related: You have more CPS high school options than you think] This information would have been enlightening for me to come across when my children were younger, when I wanted to know what public high school options were available. Now as a parent of a 5th grader, this information got me up to speed quickly. At this point, I am casting a wide net for my son and this document has it all. When my son is in middle school we’ll use this information to narrow down his high school search, prioritize his choices, and prepare his application. I still have questions about the high school search, but for now, at least, some of them have been answered. Check out NPN's school search tools to make your school search easier! Our School Directory compiles up-to-date stats on every school in the city. And look for upcoming NPN School Choice events such as CPS 101.