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.