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Selective enrollment
The new strategic plan also focuses on providing more support to Black students, those with disabilities, younger children, and English language learners.
The Chicago Board of Education oversees many different types of schools, including magnets, selective enrollment, and charters.
The plan includes several priorities meant to bolster communities with high-needs, including to improve academic achievement for Black students and reduce teacher vacancies.
The district is adjusting bell times and creating transportation hubs in order to provide busing to more students.
Chicago Public Schools has a new formula for funding its schools. Some are seeing boosts, while others will be working with tighter budgets.
The teachers union propelled Johnson to City Hall with an education platform promising more funding and staff at neighborhood schools, housing for homeless students, and free public transit passes.
Proposed legislation would also block the current school board from changing admissions policies at selective enrollment schools.
The plan — which will be finalized this summer — will prioritize improving students’ daily experiences in the classroom, addressing staffing and funding, and collaborating more closely with school communities.
Two bills filed in Springfield would let local school councils decide whether to keep school resource officers and would halt major changes to selective-enrollment schools.
Students were assessed based on test scores, grades, school rankings, and their neighborhood’s socioeconomics in the CPS high school enrollment process.
Chicago’s school board could shift away from school choice. Here are three things to know.
A letter sent to parents said the district would continue to prioritize students with disabilities and homeless students. Both groups are entitled to transportation under federal law.
How much the district will try to change the city’s school choice system will depend on community feedback.
The move puts in motion Mayor Brandon Johnson’s campaign promise to reinvigorate neighborhood schools.
The district is still working to shorten bus rides for more than 100 students with disabilities to comply with state law.
The admissions process has built up a reputation for being stressful on families, but many value the ability to choose a school they see as the best fit for their child.
Eighth graders enrolled at district schools will take the test Oct. 24 or 25. Non-district students must sign up again to take the exam Oct. 28, Oct. 29, or Nov. 5.
District officials cited ongoing technical difficulties with the vendor’s testing platform. It’s not clear when students will be able to take the exam.
The district will reschedule the test for eighth-graders who couldn’t finish.
Message to parents: ‘You don’t have to come back and keep asking.’