Equity in CPS: Tier System
By Adriana Amador, Angelica Amezquita, Bethany O'Grady, and Cesar E. Palafox
Today in Chicago Public Selective Enrollment High Schools, test scores and grades are not the only factors for getting accepted. Being students at a selective enrollment school, the process is relative to us. Since 2009, CPS has adopted a new system used to create 4 different socioeconomic groups throughout the city. Of all the tiers, Tier 1 is the least wealthy earning an average family income of $58,210 . Whilst Tier 4, is the wealthiest, earning an average family income of $63,552 (Eder). Tier 1 neighborhoods are expected to score 737 to 856 out of 900 while tier 4 scores are 831 to 861. The tier system also takes high school and post high school education into consideration. On average 14.2% of Tier 1 adults have a bachelor's degree or higher, compared to 17% or 18% of adults from the other three tiers. The first 30% of selective enrollment schools are filled by the highest ranking students in the city. After these seat are filled, the remaining 70% are filled evenly by each of the four tiers (Stanciel), so instead of children competing with students across the city, they compete with students most likely to share the same education. This was done to diversify the CPS selective enrollment schools and reduce complaints from lower tier parents. This has caused much uproar throughout the city since many higher tier students feel cheated by the system and lower tier students believe they are being classified as inferior or lazy. What started out as a fair and equal system, has possibly become a method for classifying children as replaceable.
Students throughout Chicago obsess over the Selective Enrollment test, some losing sleep over it. Out of 14,393 applicants, only 4,340 received a letter in the mail guaranteeing a seat in a Selective Enrollment school, but it is a higher probability that a student from a Tier 4 neighborhood will receive a letter stating they were not accepted into a school. It is estimated that only 56% of Tier 1 students qualify to take the Selective Enrollment test, compared to the 81% of Tier 4 neighborhoods, but the seats are still evenly distributed throughout the 4 tiers. Is this truly a fair system?
Sources:
StancielM, Tracy A. "Good and Bad Parents." Hey Jean-Claude Brizard (CPS CEO), I Am the Parent of a SEHS Applicant! N.p., 9 Mar. 2012. Web. 28 Feb. 2014.
Eder, Derek, Forest Gregg, and Juan-Pablo Velez. "Office of Academic Enhancement." CPS Office of Access and Enrollment. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Feb. 2014
"CPS Obsessed." CPS Obsessed. N.p., 14 Mar. 2012. Web. 28 Feb. 2014.
Students throughout Chicago obsess over the Selective Enrollment test, some losing sleep over it. Out of 14,393 applicants, only 4,340 received a letter in the mail guaranteeing a seat in a Selective Enrollment school, but it is a higher probability that a student from a Tier 4 neighborhood will receive a letter stating they were not accepted into a school. It is estimated that only 56% of Tier 1 students qualify to take the Selective Enrollment test, compared to the 81% of Tier 4 neighborhoods, but the seats are still evenly distributed throughout the 4 tiers. Is this truly a fair system?
Sources:
StancielM, Tracy A. "Good and Bad Parents." Hey Jean-Claude Brizard (CPS CEO), I Am the Parent of a SEHS Applicant! N.p., 9 Mar. 2012. Web. 28 Feb. 2014.
Eder, Derek, Forest Gregg, and Juan-Pablo Velez. "Office of Academic Enhancement." CPS Office of Access and Enrollment. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Feb. 2014
"CPS Obsessed." CPS Obsessed. N.p., 14 Mar. 2012. Web. 28 Feb. 2014.