Breaking news: CPS Publishes Early K Guidelines for 2019!

June 27, 2019 irene gottlieb

Yesterday, Wednesday June 26th, CPS presented and approved the Final Draft CPS AP Policy. The presentations, videos, and our advocacy speech to get the job done are here:

Summary:

You have only until July 19, 2019 to apply.
You will have to bring 2 proofs of residency, proof of previous attendance of preschool, your child’s birth certificate, driver’s license, fill out a developmental survey, and pay $50 (fee waivers available), to be considered.
When testing is scheduled, your child will be alone in a room with an evaluator for about 90 minutes during the testing, and will be scored in the 40 minutes after the test. Then, you will get a letter of eligibility same day.
Child will need to score 120 on the IQ test or be in the 91%. This, by the way, is not an indicator of giftedness and shouldn’t even be required for early K.
You will be allowed to test for any SEES remaining seats!
No changes to early 1st grade process.
All other acceleration delayed to 2020.

Videos of the Board Meeting:

Presentation of the final draft of the Accelerated Placement Act by Dr. Alvarado, head of teaching and learning, to the newly appointed CPS Board. 14 minutes.

Board Discusses Accelerated Placement Act and asks questions. 10 scary minutes.

Our presentation in support of the Accelerated Placement Policy. 2 minutes.

Midwest Academy for Gifted Education, MAGE, is a gifted private school for kids who need even more than the accelerated placement act, and who can’t wait. First and foremost, we are a parent and teacher founded, not for profit community for gifted children and their families in the City of Chicago. We advocate, because we know gifted. If we don’t advocate, who will? Did you show up to this meeting to do it and give up your day? We sure did. We sat through the board’s first, break-less, food-less 8 hour board meeting to get this done. Is it perfect? No. Much work to do especially around equity. We will be posting something in the next few weeks about equity. But, in the meantime, this is a huge step for the children of Chicago. The problem is, gifted kids learn 18-21 months OR MORE per 12 months, so we are a ways off from what all of the city’s 10K gifted kids need. We could never admit 10K kids, so we are advocating for the whole city as one tiny micro-school could never fill that need. If school is not a fit, we are here.

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