Northside Students Lose Big
February 7, 2012
Northside Students Big Losers, South And West Side Students Big Winners As CPS Revises Its Tier Data
Getting into a top Selective Enrollment High School or Elementary School has just gotten a lot tougher for some students and a lot easier for others. Last week CPS revised the data driving its Tier System for admitting students to Selective Enrollment Schools, replacing the previously used Census 2000 data with Census 2010 data. Seventy percent of all students applying to any selective school are chosen by their Tier Group. Students in higher Tier Groups (e.g., Tier 4 vs. Tier 1) must turn in dramatically higher academic performance to get into the most competitive schools – an average of about 50 points higher — on the 900 point admissions scale.
The “losers” in this latest scheme are students living in areas of the City of Chicago who were moved to a higher Tier Group, and “winners” are students living in areas that were re-classified to a lower Tier. Among the neighborhood “losers” are Rogers Park, Uptown, Edgewater, Logan Square, Wicker Park, Ukrainian Village, and South Loop. Among the neighborhood “winners” are Gresham, Chatham, Morgan Park, Lawndale, Homan Square, West Englewood, Garfield Park, and Austin.
