General FAQ
Q: Do you offer half-day programs?
A: Not right now, there’s not enough demand. One day!
Q: What’s up with your enrichment programs?
A: Covid made enrollment too unpredictable and too risky to staff. They are on a brief hold. Check back in February 2024.
Q: How come you are not a charter school? I wish my child could go, but I can’t afford it!
A: It is not legal for charters to be selective enrollment in Illinois. We are not likely to get many more charters, as most are currently using a for profit model shrouded in public status by hiring management companies that make a profit, a legislative loophole that is about to get closed with a bill this year. There are other related issues.
We could be a lab school to cover tuition, but the public university focus right now is on closing the achievement gap, so a gifted lab school is not appealing to colleges- we tried. Also, the process is 3-5 years long and our kids are not getting any younger. The U Chicago lab school is not a lab school anymore. They are a private school now. The only state lab school that we know of right now is in Urbana-Champaign.
Q: What is your allergy policy?
A: As parents of children with extensive, rare food allergies, we plan to work with FARE and Rush Pediatric Allergy and Immunology to develop a comprehensive, inclusive, proactive food allergy plan. Our number one priority is safety.
Q: Why no homework? My child likes homework and worksheets. I like it because it allows me to see what they are learning.
A: We use the 7+ hours wisely while students are with us and we make sure the student has a chance to work hard and apply themselves, there is no need for more work after school. There will be work completed in school, with feedback from teacher that has been reviewed with the student, coming home weekly, and lots of different ways in which you will have full visibility of the learning that is happening. For many families, homework is a struggle, and a source of conflict. Some children and parents like homework and look forward to that time to connect. We can help you find other ways in which you can support your student and find other ways to connect that could be more enriching and meaningful. We want our students to pursue their passions, to play, to interact with friends and family, and to have time to relax after school so they can be ready to do it all again the next day. If this is a concern, you can reach out to us and we can discuss options. We want the parents to have as much control as possible because they know their child the best.
Q: I thought all kids evened out by 3rd grade?
A: Absolutely, if a gifted child is not taught past what they can pick up by themselves, the other kids might catch up. Unless a child is extremely lucky and was matched with a teacher that is willing to go beyond what is required for each child by their school and not entirely focused on remediation for the bottom of the class, the other kids might catch up. Many teachers say oh, that kid already knows the material, I don’t have to worry about them. Our average students are 3 or more years ahead of age peers in all subjects. Absolutely, if they are not taught any longer, differentiated to and presented with novel material, the other kids might eventually catch up to the gifted. Just not on our watch. We meet each child where they are and allow them the joy of learning in a nurturing, safe, creative environment. Not pushed. Just given opportunity and teaching relevant for them.
Q: Our family situation results in frequent prolonged non-medical absences from school. What is your policy?
A: We are actor, musician, athlete, and world traveler-friendly (etc.). Our policy for unexcused absences is driven by the State of Illinois Department of Education. If this will be your family’s situation, we simply consider you as a homeschool customer of the school for record keeping instead of a full-time student, because of state law. You will still receive a proper transcript and this doesn’t hurt your child’s chances to get into college.
Q: What tests will the students take and will mine have to participate? How will the tests be used?
A: There are certain tests that are tied to state regulations. If we find any that are required and you do not wish for your child to participate, you can opt out. We will also spend no class instructional time at all prepping for any such test. If you opt out of certain tests, you will be considered a homeschool customer of the school instead of a student, and we show that relationship in our records - that will be the only difference for your child.
There are other types of assessments that we may give, that are optional for full time students, and if testing is a tough area for your student, we can discuss them and have you opt out. We don't offer opt-out forms in our enrollment package because it will be for a minority of students. Our tests may include benchmark testing to help us determine the ballpark for where to start the detailed assessment to inform future instruction. We will also assess to measure overall attainment or progress.
What do these types of tests look like? Well, they are pre and post instruction assessments. The student may sit with a teacher and show the teacher how they would solve a problem. The assessment may be working on a group or individual project or even be a game where the student doesn't know the teacher is even checking their understanding. Not all of this is worksheet based. The student won't see any grade on the assessment, or something like “14/16”. Instead, the teacher may sit with a student and ask them to show them how they were solving a problem, and guide in alternative strategies, helping the student find their way to the solution where there is the right one, and building their stamina and resilience. The student might meet with the teacher to discuss any challenges encountered and strategies that may help next time just as they would for any project. Our student feedback is strength-based.
Q: Do you offer any programs for adults that just realized they are gifted?
A: Tough question. We get heartbreaking letters. NAGC/SENG national orgs are the closest support. Locally, MENSA chapter is pretty active if your 2e doesn’t depress the score below their high processing speed requirement. Yes you can still be gifted and not make MENSA #validation. The closest are our parent education workshops. Once in a while, we have some that address adults. Those are free! Other than that, not right now, our scope is tight due to our start-up status. One day!
Q: Can you help me sort out my 2e child and figure out what services they need?
A: We would love to, but we do not have the bandwidth and we do not have a way to cover costs for such work. One day!
Q: Where can I find more gifted resources?
A: Check our resources page.
Q: My kid is brilliant! Why can't I have free and appropriate education?
A: That term only refers to special needs, not academic differentiation in Illinois. We can’t admit tuition-free students without private pay funds right now, we only have very limited scholarship and fin aid. We are a 5-year-old START UP and everyone expects an enormous amount of resources from us without giving us anything at all, as if we were a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. No one cares about appropriate education for gifted kids except those kids’ parents. All foundational funds right now are directed at the underprivileged who are under performing with some small targeted exceptions. We are not on their radar yet. If you think you can get us in front of some possible funders, please reach out to us. Even if we were 5, 10 years old, we’d still be a start up because no one else does what we do an we are constantly in uncharted territory and are constantly learning. We can’t even get people in the state that we’ve helped with resources or support in their public school district to write a positive review or sign a state gifted ed witness slip to show support to gifted issues. Parents of gifted kids are not the most thankful population and do not give back. They are only in it for themselves for the most part. Everyone wants to get out of the system more than they put in. It doesn’t work that way. If you are not advocating for all the gifted children of Illinois, then don’t be surprised that yours can’t get anything special. Gifted parents need to unite. If you want change, join the IAGC or the CGCC. Change doesn’t happen for itself, and if the gifted population doesn’t speak up for what they need, you best believe no one else will.
Testing Information
* If your child was given another standard test than on our admissions page criteria, please contact our admissions team.
** If submitting test data marked with two asterisks, you will have to submit more than one of the starred categories.
The Academic Attainment and IQ Qualifications will be accepted from any licensed psychologist. For a list of local psychologists that have a strong understanding of the gifted, please click here.
The last test date must be within 3 years of your application submission date.
All CPS students used to receive the NWEA MAP data through annual testing. You may need to request this from your school’s main office if applicable. This test is also available for free for 5th grade and up private school students through CPS, though the schedule options are limited.
Public service announcement: you should know if your child's IQ or even SEES is 145 or higher on Standard IQ tests, or has equivalent achievement of 3+ years ahead of age peers, that Davidson Institute Young Scholars is free and a great source of advocacy and support for your student. PGR is for kids 175+ IQ.
Siblings below the 130 cut-off are admitted as long as they pass our overall screning. We believe that in order to support our gifted learners and their families the best, we need to admit siblings so that familes do not spend all of their family time on school commutes and so that they have time to be involved in the gifted student's community. We believe that gifted differentiated education model is the best for any student. This is our only admissions “loophole”. It is widely believed that siblings are usually within 5% of IQ of each other anyway but not all children test well.
We recommend, but do not require a full Neuropsychology assessment as part of your application initially. The recommendations from such an assessment allow us to have an in-depth conversation about meeting the academic, social and emotional needs of your child. Based on what we see through the admissions cycle, we may require it at some point before being able to accept your child.
If you feel that your child qualifies as gifted but that there are circumstances which make it difficult to convey the gift via the standard criteria, please reach out to admissions to discuss your situation.
If you encounter difficulties with the testing process, please don’t hesitate to contact admissions to discuss options and help finding alternative arrangements with other providers. We generally know wait lists and turn around reporting times at several facilities.
Admissions FAQ
Q: Do you offer Financial Aid?
A: We have limited financial aid with all of it given out by February 1 of the previous year. Students with IQ of 145+ may qualify for additional assistance.
Q: Are there any discounts?
A: There are a few:
Until we are certified by the state, you may be able to take up to $750 of our tuition as a tax deduction. After that, we may become eligible for Empower Illinois.
Siblings: 5% less for both, 7% off cumulative tuition if more than 2 in a family.
If a parent or legal guardian is a full-time teacher/professor at an accredited university in Chicago, or is an active member of the armed services, they receive a further 2% discount over their total.
Full time teachers at the school get free tuition for one child.
Part time teachers at the school get free part time tuition for one child.
Q: Are there any application fees?
A: There is a $50 application fee.
Q: What are the other fees?
A: There is a $1,000 deposit, a $1,000 tech/individual equipment fee or you can provide your own approved devices.
Q: Is lunch included in tuition?
A: Lunch purchase is not required and your child may bring a packed lunch to school. Hot lunch is available for purchase from a 3rd party vendor.
Q: Will there be future tuition increases?
A: We anticipate the tuition schedule to go up only with inflation every year, no more than 1-3%. Our goal is to keep costs as affordable as possible for all enrolled families. We do anticipate that our tuition for new families will increase.
Q: Are there uniforms?
A: There are no uniforms. However, all admitted families will have to respect the dress code as described in the handbook and may have to purchase 1 t-shirt for field trips.
Q: What other costs might there be?
A: From time to time, families will be asked but not required to bring personal items related to physical education such as dance shoes, yoga mats, and so on. There may be additional costs for some field trips. For example, students aged 11 and up will have an optional overnight trip. Backpack, water bottle, lunch/snack, will need to be provided by families for their children. Besides that, basic supplies are included. Before and after care is an additional cost, please see the appropriate FAQ.
Q: Do you offer Before/After Care and Clubs?
A: Yes. Click here for Before/Aftercare and Clubs Costs.
Q: What happens if I have 3 children, and only one has a qualifying score, while the other children are close but not quite over the cut-off?
A: It is really not a one-size-fits-all answer. We aim to support the gifted learner and their family. We feel that it would be a disservice to the learner, family, and community to have siblings attend multiple schools. As we are focused on ability, not age-based groupings, we will attempt to place the siblings in our program, conditionally, to be evaluated after the first term, and will sit down with the family to discuss their feelings about fit and comfort. Since most siblings in a family are within 5% of IQ according to studies (see below), though we will evaluate a sibling at the time of the interviews as well, most likely, the siblings of a child with 130 IQ will still be gifted, and on average, more so than the cut off in most of the other area gifted programs.
The thing to keep in mind is that not all gifted students are academically gifted across all subjects, nor do they all learn at the same speed in all subjects. Plenty of gifted students of the same age will be at different grade levels. Therefore, we group not by age, but by ability. Therefore, a student will be matched academically to be with students that best fit their attained achievement and learning speed, not just their IQ. Our teaches are skilled in differentiation and there is a great amount of individualization in our school.
Our sibling admission policy has been applauded by every gifted mental health professional and teacher we have spoken with. We admit siblings because we want the gifted learner and their family to feel accepted in a single community and not to divide siblings into categories. When families are spending time in the car delivering children to multiple schools, with multiple conflicting school-wide events, then they lose quality time as a family and we lose their participation in our community. Our goal is to provide, long term, a place where a family with gifted learners can send all of their students for their entire primary education because this doesn't exist today. To that end, we will eventually add early education options, and will build out our Middle and High School into regular options.
Sibling IQ in gifted families has been studied and the current evidence is that biological siblings within a family are usually within 5% of IQ of each other. It should also be noted that at 130 IQ our entrance criteria are higher by 5 IQ points than many other gifted schools and many CPS SEES. Many gifted children do not test well or do not cooperate with the testing, especially in the early years.
When it comes to siblings, we will look, as is in the case of all applicants, at all the various areas of their development and at what they will bring to our community as individuals and at how well we can meet their needs as a school, and many other admissions criteria besides just giftedness.
Q: Do you accept 2e (twice exceptional) students? Where do you draw the line? (Also please read Q11)
A: Did you know that there are no 2E schools in Illinois? The Illinois Department of Education School Code does not define or recognize 2E and the state just arrived at a broad version 1.0 definition of 2e in March 2023. Historically, a parent of a twice exceptional child always has had to pick between homeschooling, a therapeutic school, or a mainstream school. We feel that this needs to change, but we are not yet able to admit every 2e child. Nor can we completely walk away. So, we will have to answer in 2 sections here.
For every single child being considered for full-time admission, label or no label, we do a lengthy child observation 1:1 with a teacher and in a social setting, and a parent interview. Our admissions committee includes mental health professionals and educators and thoroughly reviews application materials including report cards, a teacher recommendation, and any applicable health documents. We will not admit any child if we do not feel we can serve them appropriately in our setting. Our setting is not a therapeutic setting. Children are expected to have age-appropriate social and emotional skills, self help skills, and behavior. We will not admit a child that we feel will negatively impact others’ school experience, and if we find that it negatively impacts others after admissions, they may be asked to leave, so please don’t try to “slip in,” it won’t work. Every child is unique and we look at each child not through the lens of a label but with an open mind. Each family will need to sign off on our code of conduct and 2e families have to sign off a more extensive document about expectations.
Every child is a sum of their strengths and weaknesses, and our goal is to teach to those strengths while scaffolding the weaker areas, to allow for global growth. There are certain mild challenges that children may have, that would simply not come into play at our school. An example would be, that we don’t require a uniform, so a child is able to attend while wearing clothing that aggravates them the least. We have no homework, so there wouldn’t be struggles at home to complete it. We provide plenty of breaks for all children, and give children as many choices as possible around their studies. We come up with their plan of study in collaboration with you. We don’t do unnecessary repetition. We don’t do large-group lessons since our maximum student teacher ratio is 8 to 1, causing children to wait for a long time without being engaged. In fact, engagement is our top priority. We don’t require rigid seating arrangements, or limit water or bathroom breaks. We try to hire teachers who have some educational or professional background in the mental health field, because gifted kids are so complex. So, in some ways, we may be a friendlier environment than traditional schools. We have tiny student: teacher ratios, so that teachers can properly differentiate, so the children receive a huge amount of 1:1 time and attention and groups are easy to manage. We focus on having a well-organized, quiet environment and we can provide visual supports, etc, as needed.
A special note about dyslexia and or small motor differences: We are big fans of assistive technology for children with challenges related to the mechanics of reading and writing, and we prefer to focus not on the mechanics but on the comprehension and complexity of their ideas. A child with dyslexia may need a parent to pay for in-school services to work on moving the specific related skills forward using their recommended therapeutic method, for set, tolerable amounts of time, while we find a way for the student to still participate in all other activity at their intellectual, not mechanical capacity. Our strength is to collaborate with each family and their team and to work together to maximize each child’s potential. Beyond small challenges, we are not equipped to admit at this time.
If you have a 2e child (if they are receiving or have received any medical services by a therapist, they might be 2E! If they have anxiety and have never been formally addressed for it, again, they are possibly 2e! If they have a wide discrepancy between academic performance in one or more areas and IQ, they might be 2e!)
Please note that during the application process, if you have any health-related services that your student is receiving or has received in the past 2 years, including but not limited to speech, occupational, vision, etc therapy, or if your student has any sort of a learning plan at school, we must receive the documentation inclusive of the most recent report at the time of your application. We are not a therapeutic school and provide no school-based therapeutic services as part of your tuition. However, we do allow push in from professional, licensed health service providers, and will work with your team or help you build one that is expert in gifted children.
2E students frequently cost more resources than non-2E for the school. This is not always the case, some 2e students don’t create extra work at all. How (different for all kids):
Medication management, filling out rating scales periodically,
Making and maintaining IEP/504 etc.
team meetings with notes.
More accommodations and support required
More emotional and behavioral attention
Generational trauma of the 2E parent
The older the student with 2E, the more work they will be for the school
What does all this mean? It means that we will provide you with an adjusted tuition cost if we feel that your 2E student will cost the school more resources than a neurotypical child. This could be x2 or x3 times the tuition and this offer is not guaranteed. We are a private school and do not have to accept your child. Our student teacher ratios are small for differentiating advanced academics, not for any other needs.
If a professional told you that your child needs to be in a therapeutic school, we are the wrong school. If a professional told you you need a small student teacher ratio for your child’s emotional or behavioral needs, we are the wrong school.
Q: Why don’t you have a 2e program that takes all kids?
This is simply about time and money. First of all, we are new, only 4 years old. Second, something like this is immense in scope. If you have mostly only had exposure to your one 2e child, then you might not be aware of what kinds of things we’ve seen in admissions and what would be required of us if we were to do that. With the utmost compassion, we are hereby telling you that we’d love to do more, but it’s hard to do it and very expensive. We just don’t have the funds. Do you? Help us get there! We are already biting off a lot: we are the only JK-12 130+IQ gifted school in Illinois that can handle highly and profoundly gifted students with direct instruction through university level. We have to start somewhere, BUT that’s only the beginning.
What would it take for us to have a REAL 2e program? Honestly, a $500K donation seed for 2 years in a row and then about 12 months to prepare! It is seriously a monumental project. So, if you have a young child, and the money to help us, we can do it and in time to support your child. We would then have a self-contained therapeutic program within the bigger school. We would have to take teachers who may not have a medical background but can scale academics to the level of a profoundly gifted child, and provide them with one. We would have to train an aide for specialist teachers that may not have that level of training. We would have to take medical professionals without a gifted background and provide them with one. We would need to have a medical director, start with at least 2 FT staff and several part time staff, in the self contained program, and limit it to 4-6 students per group initially. Yes, that means you would have to pay essentially a year’s worth of cost, with people working but no students attending this small program up front. The tuition would be likely at least $75K per year, because each student is likely to consume more than a full-time equivalent of one teacher’s time and because the medical coordination required would take up a lot of time! We would want to do something about equity and have the families that are able to pay to sponsor partially a child that can’t. If a family with a 2E child and means isn’t going to be willing to help another 2e family, especially gifted cubed, who will? No one=current state.
Why would that be worth it?
There is maybe only 1 program like this in the country right now. Sorely needed! Especially for kids with ASD! A child with mild ASD that’s profoundly gifted is going to be rejected by even certain therapeutic schools in Chicago! We want to help! We know how to build it.
Because eventually we are likely to be able to get therapeutic placement partially covered by insurance;
parents wouldn’t have to drive kids to 100s places every month,
instead of getting a sprinkling of interventions, there would be maximum interventions along with maximum academic challenge.
The students would have a community and peers that get them, and you would have a community of parents that get you.
Your child would get to practice social interaction as much as they are able, with other students who would have their own strengths and weaknesses, but the capacity and potential would be at a gifted level.
Predictable, at level/speed of your child’s learning, scaffolded environment, without noise and sensory overload.
Right now, all of our students do not need us to provide therapeutic supports in the classroom and we have 0 therapists on staff because we are NOT a therapeutic school. There may be push-in to school for a couple of students with things like speech, some students may need some visual supports due to mild vision issues, and some students may work with a therapist outside of school on things like anxiety, at about the same level/% that other area non-therapeutic private and public schools have.
However we treat each student as an individual and are diagnostic-blind. We will not automatically reject a student with ASD or ADHD. We will look at all the reports and also meet your student and decide for ourselves. We assess and honestly tell you, as long as you are honest with yourself and with us. Some parents of 2e kids are not, and they don’t share evaluations, or are in denial, and it’s more common than we’d like.
What would this look like, if we were to build it: an onboard staff that can provide school based, daily, if needed, OT, PT, speech, play, vision therapies, social work, psychotherapy, A trained aide to help with non-academic supports as needed; an instructor at all 4 core subjects at academic level, even if it’s university. Specialists in the area of student interest again, at ability level. Academics and therapeutics would be looked at equally as skills and classes, with the idea that to learn, a child needs to be well regulated. So, we would prioritize treatment vs. academics for each child as a team inclusive of therapists/neuropsychologist/developmental pediatrician, the parents, and the school staff. Obviously, there wouldn't be homework, grades, as we already don’t have this in our current program.
We have a list of things that we definitely would struggle with in a school environment that we can provide you with so that you can have an honest look at this and see if you could send your child or not. Many twice exceptionalities are generational, and while those qualities within the confines of your home may be endearing and accepted and not cause any problems, in a school environment, it may not be so simple. Typically, demand avoidance, stamina issues, lack of limits/constant limit seeking, logorrhea, suicidal ideation or gesture or threatening behavior, extreme impulsivity, and mood differences may be impossible for us to manage in a school environment without in-house therapeutic staff. To some families, they don’t even notice this kind of stuff in their home environment.