Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Regions Chicagoland

Lsc, the offers went out towards the end of March, and a second round of letters has gone out too. We are top of the wait list for one school but it looks like we'll be moving out of state over the summer now anyway...

Hi kikiandkyle
I was wondering is it possible to apply to Chicago Public schools while you live in suburbs? I am eager to explore that option so that way if my son gets into a CPS magnet school I could decide to move.
I thought you need a Chicago address to even apply. I am new to this area. Currently my son goes to district 103 school.

Would someone know about a good gifted program in public school in suburbs? Looking to move so trying to explore options.

Hi. Look up district 203 in Naperville. They have some good options in their gifted program. Napverville district 204 has good options for 6th grade & up - particularly if you are looking for a music program.

Just an FYI though, a good percentage of people in Naperville have their kids enrolled in Private school supplement & private tutoring on top of public school. In kindergarten - 2nd grades the gifted and "advanced" students are mixed because of similiar test scores. That gets ironed out by 3rd grade for the most part.

Caveat: I have not applied to CPS, nor do I have kids currently enrolled. However, I have done a lot of research (including attending open houses at Edison and Bell) into CPS, so might be able to shed some light.


I have been told that you do not need a Chicago address to apply. You do need a Chicago address by the summer before your child would begin the school year. So that would give you about 3ish months between notification and the deadline to move.

Something else to keep in mind is that CPS OAE has told me unequivocally that kids in CPS (including at the gifted schools) are not grade skipped, or accelerated in subjects, ever. I have not confirmed this with anyone else in the system, and I don't know how much pull individual principals might have.

I suspect that the CPS gifted schools are great for the kids who are at the right level of giftedness. However, I agree with Leslie -- given the large class sizes (making it difficult to differentiate within the classroom) and the rigidity of the system, I am concerned about how they do for kids who are HG or PG.

Oh, also, CPS has a strict cut-off date for enrollment. So if you have a kid who has a fall birthday, s/he will be the oldest in his/her class. The only way around this is to enroll your child in a preschool that will allow her/him to be the youngest in his/her class. (Technically a "year ahead" by CPS standards.) Keep him/her there for at least one year of preschool and Kindergarten. Then s/he will be eligible to move into CPS 1st grade directly after Kindergarten.

However. There are only two CPS schools that have a gifted program that starts at 1st grade: Bell and Beaubien. This means if you have more than one child, and only one of them has a fall birthday, they will not be going to the same school. It also means your child will be competing for fewer spaces (though I don't know the number of kids who apply for 1st grade).

I have also heard good things about Science and Arts.

We have also considered moving to District 97 and have spoken with a couple of the principals. I was impressed when one of the principals volunteered (unsolicited) that sometimes they have kids who are in Kindergarten going into 2nd grade classrooms for particular subjects. They also have a gifted program for older kids, but I don't know anything about it.

Hope this is helpful for folks!

You might want to check the credentials of the faculty at any private school you consider. I found a dozen of the teachers at Science and Arts are not listed as having current teaching credentials in IL. For IL you can check by name here: https://sec1.isbe.net/ecs/aspapps/teachersearch.asp

Their "social worker" is also uncertified. You can verify this here with her name: https://www.idfpr.com/LicenseLookUp/LicenseLookup.asp

It is so important not to just take someone else's word. You must research the truth for yourself. They are out there "selling" their school and buyers must beware of what they are really getting.

The edit button seems to be missing. I had a typo above. The SW is unlicensed not uncertified.

Thanks for the insight! I have been in Chicago suburbs for an year. My kid is right now in 3rd grade and is going to go into grade 4 in fall. His MAP score has always been 99% in Math. But I think the current school does not have a separate gifted program. I had heard great things about gifted education programs in the Chicago Public School system but at this point I can try to get him into 5th grade (since Dec 2012 was deadline for school session starting in Fall 2013).I think kids stand a good chance to get in to kindergarten when several students are admitted so his chances to get into grade 5 are pretty slim. Meanwhile could someone suggest a Chicago suburban school system that offers a challenging program? Also if you could suggest any challenging summer program, I would be obliged.

Thanks a million

I'm no expert on teacher credentials but Science and Arts' website says it considers teachers with Illinois or national-level certification.
If that link is to a database exclusive to Illinois it might miss those teachers.

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