CPS Accelerated Placement+Illinois GIFTED/AP REPORTING

State Advocacy and Gifted Legislature Info:

A big win for Illinois Gifted families! The GIFTED/AP REPORTING bill that we’ve invited you to support via witness slips passed both Illinois Senate and House and now sits with the Governor. You can follow the bill here.

CPS Advocacy ad Gifted Policy Info:

If you think that your chance to advocate for gifted children is on now on hiatus, think again. A very important window to enter public comment on the CHICAGO PUBLIC SCHOOLS ACCELERATED PLACEMENT ACT closes tomorrow, Monday, May 22nd. There is no progressive policy happening, if anything, it’s a regression.

• This is the link for the current rule:

• This is the link for the amended rule:

• This is the link for public comment, open until some time on Monday, 22 of May.  

• This is the link to our previous coverage and analysis of this policy:

Since we did the analysis and work up, CPS dropped single and whole grade acceleration for grades 3 and 7. We missed the memo on that one.  Now, only grades 4-6 are included, though students still can get early K and early 1st entry;  

The disappointments in this policy are:

• IAR is required and is not objective, alternatives are not included.

• No whole grade or single subject acceleration outside of grades 4-6

• Still no multiple year skips

• No local norms

• No appeals and a limited application window 

• Nothing for kids new to CPS from outside the district, or those wanting to switch schools.

• There is an interesting note about PSAT and SAT and elementary students, which makes no sense since CPS doesn’t administer those and it is hard to find those for elementary students that are not attending gifted private schools.

If you wish to leave public comment about the changes OR, alternatively, lack of changes or considerations, you only have until Monday, May 22nd, 2023. Sign up for our newsletter to not miss out on future notices.

Waitlist Update

MAGE is off to an exciting start to the fall. We decided to start the year off in person. Why?

• while the positivity rate and infection rate were low, with proper precaution, to allow our students to get to know each other and their teachers and build relationships, while we could do so in person, largely outside.

• because surveillance testing (on site AT SCHOOL for teachers and students and their families) and rapid testing became possible. We literally made the decision after it became a possibility to have this be in position.

Our students enjoyed an August in-person start, already had 7 (OUTDOOR) field trips, have bonded with their classmates and teachers, and they are well-settled in. We completed our NWEA testing and goal setting for the fall term. Our students enjoy weekly specials such as lego robotics, yoga, Latin, and Tae Kwon Do. They have 1:1 math and English lessons in addition to ability-based math circle/group work, math team, reading, and writing groups. They really benefit from being with intellectual peers.

If there is a shut down in IL in the next few weeks, we are in a decent position to brave it. Our cohorts at least know how to work together well. But, we are not “secretly planning” on a shut down unless there’s a government mandate. We plan on staying open as long as we can do so safely. We closed before the government mandate last time and could do that again if needed, but we have a large amount of things we did to keep kids safe. We will do the same in our second location for each cohort:

• separate doors and bathrooms

• outdoor classrooms

• airborne remediation (filters, hepa, UV, air flush system)

• visitors must be tested for covid

• compliance with best practices regarding quarantine, symptom checks; school-based periodic asymptomatic case surveillance, masks and cleaning, limiting shared supplies and frequent hand washing, having as many meals outside as weather allows.

The end of October is the time where most students in schools settle into their school year. If you need a new, properly differentiated option that’s striving to be in person, take a look at us. We are not perfect, but we may be your least worst option. And you know what, that’s not that hard to do. By 3rd grade, most parents of highly and profoundly gifted kids find themselves on their second or third school and disillusioned. We are a supportive community of gifted students and their families. It’s a great place to be.

We get a lot of questions about our waitlist. Here are the most common answers, without the obvious questions:

• Your position in line is held by your completed application date.

• We are working on a January start at this time for our second location.

• Space will be limited even with the second location. We are aiming at opening 4 seats in JK, 8 seats in the lower school, 8 seats in the elementary school, and 8 in middle-high school.

• Students can shadow our school now even when there’s no space, to make a decision about January. We allow 1 shadow per week per grade; students and their family need to have a COVID test before they shadow and comply with COVID policy. Students can only shadow after they’ve submitted a complete application including all supporting qualifying documents, the family interview has happened, and these pieces met enrollment criteria.

• We have more than 10 students on the waitlist.

• You would get to meet possible members of your cohort and teachers in the actual location where your class would be held and do a free trial demo class before having to make a decision. In other words, you could shadow now and we will approximate as best as we can the real experience before you sign a contract, which is more than what most schools do.

• We have students in grades K-8 at this time. We have teachers certified all the way through high school and college and can accept high school students just fine.

• What’s our biggest challenge right now: figuring out a legal/safe way of extending our outdoor classroom season; increasing our specials, especially foreign language, at a time where most people are too afraid to come on site; figuring out how to offer camps on school days off without exposing our cohort to outside students while also giving our regular staff time off.

• We have a monthly admissions in person OR virtual coffee on the first Sunday of most months.

FALL PLANS

Chicago Public Schools (CPS) had a Townhall virtual meeting today about their proposed fall hybrid program. Here is the result of a poll about how parents feel about this version of the plan. Where do you sit?

Now, if you have a child in a selective enrollment program or a lotto program, you feel trapped. You were able to witness first hand, how distance learning worked for your child and what they were doing/learning. If that worked for you, great. If you think the district will do more than this spring, you are probably incorrect. So, if you are a concerned parent of a gifted child who needs something different, keep on reading.

Now might be a good time to take a good look at MAGE.

Supplementation during/after school: Kindergarten through High School

If you know that your child will need supplementation, we can do that right. Sign up for our newsletter, to stay on top of our schedule when we announce it for the fall. Our classes are reasonably priced and high quality, and include things like Math Team, Robotics, Esports, and weekly play group, among with other enrichment.

Full day instruction: Kindergarten through High School

Do you have a selective enrollment seat or a lotto seat and are afraid to leave and lose your spot? No problem. Stay in your seat, but choose virtual instruction delivery. However, send your child to us. We will work around their 1-day a week “virtual instruction” schedule if you want, no worries. We will make sure they actually are learning the material and complete your district’s required busy work. We will also help you work out a way to cut out the busy work and teach your student instead if we see that it’s not a fit/not tailored to your child, with direct instruction that goes well beyond the rote.

We are a kindergarten through high school program that has in-person instruction with master teachers, and a tiny cohort. We are a “pod” by design, as it is, before COVID. If we shut down, the classes that you have continue virtually: small ability-grouped, dynamic reading groups and hands-on project, math circle and exploration groups, clubs, specials and electives, teams. We have 1:1 or small-group instruction in core subjects that goes at exactly your child’s pace and meets your child where they are for knowledge and moves well beyond common core. It doesn’t move at some pre-determined average student speed. It moves at your child’s speed. Instead of grades, you get reports on what has been learned. Instead of homework, we use the time wisely during the time your child is with us so that they have time to master their knowledge while they are with us, so that home time can be saved for family bonding, playing with friends, and pursuing personal interests.

• You can also study exclusively online, with a local cohort, though out of state students are also welcome, so you could still enjoy local graduation (gatherings as allowed by the government) science fair, and other local celebrations, or attend in a hybrid model a few times a month or a week.

• Relative safety: we will not enroll students who are, or who have siblings enrolled in a live pod at a public school, because those students share bathrooms, central air, hallways, and entryways with others and because many travel on public transport or bus, and bus routes are frequently shared with other schools. All students will be tested at the start of the school year, and so will their drop off/pick up caregiver. All students at MAGE arrive to school by private vehicle. No, we are unfortunately not yet equitable, and yes, the children that come here are privileged, because we are brand new and we haven’t figured out how to make our program available to every qualified family, only those that can afford our full-time tuition. No, we do not have financial aid, but we may have some limited merit scholarship available to top qualified candidates. Yes, we have plans toward becoming more equitable, but we are 1-2 years out.

• We will hold outdoor classroom instruction daily, if weather permits.

• We have safety measures most schools don’t have, can’t afford, or can’t enforce. Our families understand the importance of following protocols and they can afford to take time off to stay home with a sick child and not send them to school if they are showing COVID symptoms.

• We have an hour of recess daily, and field trips (outdoor ones, meaningful and also providing social emotional time and bonding for students and their families, not just educational enrichment, which is what we did all of last year WITHOUT COVID.)

• We take care of your students social, emotional, and academic needs in a completely individualized way. We provide like peers and like-minded families. Imagine being in a community of other engaged parents and actively working together to make the school amazing for their kids.

• Maybe your HS student can sit and work on their AP classes alone and pace themselves through. But if not, perhaps you need us to keep an eye, while you are at work. Not only that, but they will be with other kids, and top qualified teachers, and we also have an optional college counseling program for gifted kids, that sometimes starts as early as middle school when they reach certain milestones, since these students are ready for the academics of college early and will be eligible for top schools.

We have just had our prospective student free shadow day, and may have another in 2 weeks, depending on the rate of acceptance and the number of open seats that remain after this week. Our next Admissions Coffee is on Saturday, August 2, at 10AM, virtual or in person, your choice. Our application is free, and you can use your SEES letter, PSAT/SAT/ACT/BESTS/COGAT/ or even NWEA MAP to qualify (for now), besides IQ testing. Come find out what we are all about, or drop us a note, or sign up for our newsletter.

Finally, CPS Publishes Whole and Subject Acceleration Applications

The Chicago Public Schools application deadline for Selective Enrollment High Schools and Selective Enrollment Elementary Schools closed on December 13th. However, the application for whole grade and single subject application is finally open, and will stay open until February 7, 2020.

• CPS kept saying they will share the information for the last 6 months and they finally did, HERE.

• The application for early K and early 1st grade is now closed. However, it appears that there will be another window to apply for this over the spring or summer. Great news! Follow us and CPS to not miss it if you need it.

• If you were assessed for early K and early 1st and didn’t make it, you are not allowed to re-apply for reassessment until next year. However, it’s also great news that this is going to be allowed.

• CPS added more info to their early K/1st area of their site.

• Application for single subject (you can apply for 2 subjects, actually! either English or Math or both!) or whole grade acceleration is a paper form and must be turned in by February 7, 2020 to your school. You can’t switch schools and receive acceleration right now in CPS.

• There is no sign of Phase 2 yet, that would allow multiple years of acceleration, or acceleration not within your school building. There is still no acceleration for grades 1-2 or for grades over 7th.

• At our Free Chicago Gifted Resource Fair on January 12, you can learn about Accelerated Placement during a workshop ran by Illinois Association for Gifted Children that made the Accelerated Placement Act a reality in our state.

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Gifted Legal Rights

Recently, a Gifted Legal Rights Workshop was presented by Matt Cohen, top gifted and 2e attorney in Illinois. MAGE was honored to host and co-sponsor this free Parent Education Workshop, a part of our Free Parent Education Series, with the Chicago Gifted Community Center, CGCC. Mr. Cohen went through relevant case law and discussed the recent Accelerated Placement Act. He also described guidance papers that help clarify gifted legal rights that the federal government issued to State Departments of Education with regard to gifted and 2e students. A collection of those guidance papers can be found here. Included is a key idea: it is illegal and is a denial of FAPE, it is against IDEA to deny evaluation for special ed services to students based on their high performance on test scores, good grades, etc.

Some popular questions we had, followed by answers:

-does the accelerated placement act apply to private school: no

-do special ed laws/IEP/504 apply to private schools? Again, no - unless you can prove that they receive Federal funds for anything. State funds do not count, unless you can tie them back to Federal funds directly.

-if my child will be distraught without academic acceleration/enrichment, can I use SPED laws to do anything about it? No. SPED laws are reactive, after there has already been impact on the child. They do not kick in proactively. 

In order to further your child’s rights in school, we recommend the following to stay proactive:

• join our mailing list (for free), join IAGC ($50 to help the association be well resourced to continue to educate and advocate on gifted needs and rights), and CGCC ($25). That way you will not miss important local gifted ed news and useful information, or opportunities to have your voice be heard - if you scroll through our blog you will see plenty of past opportunities and some current ones to be engaged with the local governments to make change. 

• Stay active and involved and assure that your school or district (even if your child is not enrolled in the public school there) has an accelerated placement policy, is reporting data around serving gifted to the state via the school report card. 

The other way, which is reactive, is show evidence of negative impact on the child/necessity, for the child’s emotional and social well being. It is very difficult, if not impossible, to receive an appropriate and equitable education for gifted kids in Illinois because we only talk about appropriate and equitable in the special ed law. In Illinois there is a tie to meeting the minimum grade standards, making modifications to help a child make those minimum standards. It is not possible in our state law to claim that what is appropriate for a child is acceleration of any flavor just based on IQ or achievement scores. In other words, if a child doesn’t learn anything new if they are above grade, no law is broken unless this creates emotional and social consequences for the child with the burden of proof on the family.

In the state accelerated placement law, there is very little to protect gifted children. This needs to be put in. One simple way of doing this could be a small change to the AP act. We are going to be working on this little change next. You won’t want to miss that one - sign up for our newsletter to be the change too.

If you missed the workshop, that went deep into legal and case history, there is another useful workshop ahead for you: during the Chicago Gifted Resource Fair, Illinois Association for Gifted Children (IAGC) will present about accelerated placement. We don’t know the next time we will repeat this workshop, most likely it will be 1-2 years.

Accelerated Placement Act Policy and CPS

The application and registration for the 2020 school year is in full swing in Chicago Public Schools. Almost.

• A reminder that paper applications for early K and early 1st grade close on December 6 2019 for the 2020 school year.

• Everyone applying to selective enrollment schools needs to do so by December 6th as well.

But what’s happening with the new stuff, Whole Grade and Subject Acceleration policy? Well, not much.

• Applications for whole grade acceleration were supposed to open from November 1 until December 6, but this didn't happen. The alarming thing was that the new timeline was different from the January timeline communicated during Parent Forums and board meeting last spring and summer. We were concerned that people would miss the deadline as no one was expecting it in December.

• CPS UPDATED their site on Nov 1 to say that the info will now be available November 15th instead of November 1. On Nov 15, the site wasn't actually updated again.

• As of this post, on November 23nd, the site shows new deadlines, that the application and that "information will be available November 15, 2019 with the deadline of January 24, 2020". At least the deadline for the sign up has been extended to overlap with CPS original commitment, making it less likely that people will miss it. Click to see for yourself. A little embarrassing. We hope they update their page soon. Now would be a good time for you to call and ask CPS for an update.

• Need help with advocacy in CPS or elsewhere? We don't care if it's public or private school and we are happy to help. Check out our December Advocacy free Workshop: Legal rights and and services for gifted and 2e. 

Illinois State Gifted Ed News

Yesterday, the Illinois Department of Education held their budget meeting at the James Thompson Center in Chicago, and today, their board meeting. At the board meeting, we asked for the following things:

• Restore pre-2003 levels of gifted ed funding in the state.

• Dedicate full-time designated staff member at ISBE to oversee gifted education and challenges such as getting the student info report cards actually submitted and the data published, and compliance with the state Accelerated Placement Act, as well as to support professional development.

• The Illinois report card law has been in effect for a few years but the data is not coming in and not being made available. This data is very important as it will highlight the educational options for gifted and talented students in Illinois. Send a guidance reminder to districts about compliance with the new report card requirements as to gifted and talented students in March.

• Fund professional development for teachers working with gifted students as there is none right now, and ask for gifted and talented funding. At a minimum, fund training in differentiation to benefit all students.

YOU can still participate in gifted advocacy in 2 ways on these issues right now:

• attend and present your expierience with gifted education at 12/18/2019 ISBE board of Ed meeting in Springfield .

Submit public comments here toward the state budget hearing, using the points below. When you click the above link, you will want to select the circled option. You can then include whatever total you wish, from the points below.

• $120K Full Time dedicated position at the state level to oversee gifted education including IL Report Card, Dual Enrollment, and Accelerated Placement Act Implementation.

• There are approximately 40,000 gifted students in Illinois schools using population statistics. If we assume that they are in a classroom of 30 students, they will require 1,300 teachers. It would be nice if 10% of those teachers could receive resources from IAGC, the Illinois Gifted Children's Association, for $50.00 per teacher. $65,000 would cover those professional service vouchers which existed prior to the state removing the funding in 2003.

• Gifted and Talented students in the state do not get adequate support or opportunities for learning. Schools use budget concerns as the number one reason to not adequately support the gifted and talented students. But, like all students they deserve equitable learning. We think that this can be achieved with $32,000,000.

• Fund the allowance provisioned by the new state law for the report card to give schools $13 per served gifted student, up to at least $1,000.000.

• Total here is $33,185,000.

For your information, the School Report Card to collect data about gifted children in schools is here.

Don't forget, IAGC has several scholarships for both teachers and students - a great opportunity if you need help to afford a MAGE class.  Applications are due end of the month!

In other state news, mark your calendar for January 15th if you seek to receive Empower Illinois credits toward private school.

CPS Accelerated Placement Act Part 3

CPS unveiled their new policy regarding Accelerated Placement yesterday at the first of 2 Parent Forums, followed by a Q and A and feedback/recommendation session from the audience. CPS stressed that they are going slowly to see how things go, before adding more acceleration components. Even though many may wish for more from CPS, this is a monumental change in the right direction and it is in everyone’s best interest to insure that at least this change passes the board this summer. If you have anything to say about this policy, the best time is NOW. Thursday is the second forum, and this may be it before the board meets to vote on the proposed policy in June.  Two events you need to know about:

CPS Parent Forum: 6PM, Thursday 4/25/2019, Lincoln Park High School, 2001 N. Orchard St.

CGCC Parent Discussion following Forum: 8PM,Thursday 4/25/2019, Gemini, 2075 N. Lincoln Ave., 

MAGE Admissions Coffee: 9AM Saturday 4/27/2019 - another chance to discuss impact of policy on public and non-public gifted education in the city.

Our understanding of the policy summary is below and touches 3 areas:

Early K/1 admissions: 

·       New early K admission for qualified children starting this year for children who turn 5 between September 2 and October 31 of the incoming academic year to start K early if the parents want to. Notifications in June to start process.

·       Children must have completed a year of preschool first (public or private)

·       No change to the current 1st grade admission policy.

·       Testing is a 2-system approach: needs to test in the top 2% IQ and 91% Academics to qualify, in addition to other factors. Student therefore has to be gifted + academically performing.

·       Testing administered by CPS psychologists.

·       Parent developmental survey part of assessment.

·       No early entry to Selective Enrollment Elementary Schools (SEES).

·       Testing is $25 or the fee is waived for qualified low-income families.  

Whole Grade Acceleration

• No acceleration this 2019-2020 school year. Applications for 2020 acceleration open in January 2020.

• Acceleration limited to a 1-year skip. Applicable to neighborhood and magnet programs.

• Only available for grades 3-6. No acceleration after 6.

• No grade acceleration in Selective Enrollment Elementary Schools (SEES)

• Illinois readiness assessment attainment of “exceeds”, Iowa Acceleration Scale used for determining acceleration, presumably with several components such as an IQ test, in addition to other factors: GPA 4.0 in the 4 core subjects for 2 consecutive years (need clarity around transfers), 3 consecutive NWEA MAP tests of 95% or above. 

• Have to be at least 2 years ahead on math AND reading in order to qualify for 1-year skip.

• Can reverse skip at the end of 1 quarter.

• Out of district/homeschooled students first have to be enrolled for a year at grade level that they are coming from before acceleration can take place. 

• A vague clause says that if a school already does any sort of acceleration/grouping, they don’t have to also skip students. This needs to be quantified: if a school does a math accelerated grouping once every 2 weeks for 1 hour, does that mean that no student in that school could be grade skipped?

• $250 fee.

Single Subject Acceleration

·       Acceleration limited to a 1-year skip. Applicable to neighborhood and magnet programs. 

·       Only available for grades 3-7. No single subject acceleration after 7.

·       No grade acceleration in Selective Enrollment Elementary Schools (SEES)

·       Illinois readiness assessment attainment of “exceeds”, Iowa Acceleration Scale used for determining acceleration, presumably with several components such as an IQ test, in addition to other factors: GPA 4.0 in either math or reading for 2 consecutive years (need clarity around transfers), 3 consecutive NWEA MAP tests of 95% or above. 

·       Have to be at least 1 year ahead on math OR reading in order to qualify for a skip in that subject.

·       Not applicable to Social Studies, Science, only math and reading.

·       Can reverse skip at the end of 1 quarter.

·       Out of district/homeschooled students first have to be enrolled for a year at grade level that they are coming from before acceleration can take place. 

·       No acceleration this 2019-2020 school year. Applications for 2020 acceleration open in January 2020.

·       $35 application fee.

The district presented a deck approximately 30 slides long, that explained the law, the current policy and the policy change, the workflow and timeline for the process, and research about some other districts in the state and their practices to meet the act. It is important to keep in mind that gifted ED hasn’t had a facelift in Chicago in ages. While this policy is probably not perfect, it’s still a gain and a win for some of the Chicago’s gifted and talented. It won’t help everyone or impact everyone. Not every gifted child even needs a skip. But it has the potential to help a lot of people and to create a second path to acceleration beyond the SEES program.

For background info about the act and its history with CPS, see our previous news coverage of this - Part 1 - CPS deferral and Part 2 - Forums.  Contact us to be put on our mailing list to not miss our opinions about this policy - Part 4 and other news.

Disclaimer: The above are all an opinion based on individual understanding of the information presented at a public forum from notes taken during the forum. Please contact us if you find any error so that we can make a correction.

Chicago Public Schools (CPS) SEES and SEEHS - Selective Enrollment vs. Gifted - Wave 1 edition

To all the families anxiously expecting their SEES offers today, good luck in “wave 1.”

But what exactly is SEES and what exactly will it do for my child, you might ask? Why do so many people try to get into SEES? How are SEES different from the other schools? Are SEES a gifted education? Does every gifted child even need a selective enrollment program? We will focus on the basics in this entry and we will add more info in future entries, because much is possibly about to change. Please see our previous news entry about important news and key dates this week for CPS gifted families.

First, the basics:

Chicago Public Schools SEES (selective enrollment elementary and middle school programs, grades K-8, including classical: teaches 1 year ahead, RGC - regional gifted center: teaches 1-2 years ahead, and AC - academic center high-school environment starting earlier with grades 7-8 schools) and SEHS (selective enrollment high schools) Selective Enrollment programming is designed to instruct at levels 1-2 years ahead of the rest of CPS as measured by the outcome of city- and state-level testing. To achieve those number outcomes, many SEES (and frankly, non SEES) schools will stop regular instruction to teach and practice to the test.

Next, how does the process work?

The selective enrollment process starts with the application. Parents need to apply for SEES and SEHS by the fall deadline. Parents of children not meeting age criteria need to either fill a form for early entry if they are within a date cut off, or are disqualified if not and are not allowed to test. Parents select target schools in order of priority, receive a test date, take their child to the test, and then wait for offers. Wave 1 offers for the 2019 Academic School Year come out today, April 22, by midnight! If a family didn’t get an offer, but a child did receive a high score, traditionally top 2% for classical programs, over 130 for the RGC, they have a good shot at getting some offer at some SEES school eventually, sometimes by October of the academic school year. This gets a lot more complicated for the academic centers and high schools. Where you live counts - there is a tier system that some love, some hate, and some try to game - to try to make the system more fair. Usually, wave 2 happens about 2 weeks after wave 1.

Each wave comes with a deadline by which to accept or reject an offer, and clear instructions of what to do. After an offer is given, there are about 2 weeks to tour the school and fill out acceptance paperwork. You should get an email from the offered school with tour dates soon after your offer. We will be posting soon about what to look for on a tour). If you reject an offer, you may get a different offer in wave 2. The tricky bit is, you might not get another, or a better one.

What do you mean, wave 2? Let’s say there are only 2 schools A and B, each with 1 seat, and only 2 students, A and B interested in the seats. Let’s say, parent B wants A but received B, parent A vise versa. If both reject their first offer and are the only applicants in the pool, then they are to receive the opposite offer next if there is a seat in both/only available schools. If you include the multitude of variables in the number of students, their scores and preferences, the picture is infinitely more complex. But, you stand a shot to receive an offer all the way through early fall. Some families test only to see if their children would get in, and have no plans to take an offer. They are just trying to get an idea of where their child falls as compared to others. There will be offers rejected at every school. Even if no school that a parent wanted gives them an offer, at the end, CPS may give some families of high scoring students a chance to enroll at some other random gifted program that’s under-enrolled, usually in a newer SEES or in an area that is not geographically convenient for as many.

Can a school principal help you get your child into their SEES school? Absolutely not. There are laws and regulations against that and the test results are on central control. Another basic fact is that there is no sibling preference in SEES programs, like there is in Options.

This week will seal the fate of many of the 8,000 of the City’s gifted children. Check our our previous entry for information and for what to do to be a part of what’s happening.

CPS, Accelerated Placement Act, and a call to action - Part 2

This article is brought to you by MAGE - non-profit, private gifted option in City of Chicago.

Families of gifted students in the Chicago Public School District, and those in nearby areas should be aware of the just announced CPS-run Engagement Forum regarding the Accelerated Placement Act in less than 2 weeks time. Here are some key events around that time:

• CPS sends out their first round of offer letters for the 2019-20 year for selective enrollment and options programs electronically to the CPS application portal on Monday, April 22, 2019.

• CPS Forum Tuesday, April 23, 2019 6:00PM - 7:30PM Colman Office, 4655 S. Dearborn Street.

• CGCC Post-Forum Gifted Parent Meet-up 8:00PM - 9:00PM 2206 S Indiana Ave.

• CPS Forum Thursday, April 25, 2019 6:00PM - 7:30 PM Lincoln Park High School, 2001 North Orchard Street.

• IAGC Policy Meeting, Saturday, May 4, 2019, 10:00AM-12:00PM IMSA

The only information about these forums publicly available currently is here. In 2017, a new law was passed in the State of Illinois that set the framework for the support needed for some gifted students. The law is called the Accelerated Placement Act and you can view the actual full text of the law here. The law was passed with a 1 year grace period, to go into effect on July 1, 2018. The state issued a guidance - a reminder - to districts to remind them of this new law, albeit, an unfunded mandate. Many districts jumped into action, creating policy to comply with the new law. CPS is the largest district in IL and the 3rd largest in the country. Their reaction to the law is a big deal. What did they do?

For context, some key bits of the law from the above link:

“For purposes of this Article, "accelerated placement" means the placement of a child in an educational setting with curriculum that is usually reserved for children who are older or in higher grades than the child. "Accelerated placement" under this Article or other school district-adopted policies shall include, but need not be limited to, the following types of acceleration: early entrance to kindergarten or first grade, accelerating a child in a single subject, and grade acceleration.” (Illinois General Assembly Public Act 100-0421)

The rest of the act goes through important detail around notification of program availability, identification, and wording that could potentially be interpreted as the foundation for a Gifted IEP in the state.

Chicago Public Schools, CPS, in a meeting on August 22, 2018, chose to defer the adoption of this act, and the deferral decision can be read here. Only 3 people came to speak for the immediate adoption of the Accelerated Placement Act in CPS in that August 22nd meeting, which was well covered by Chalkbeat, and you can read about it here. After 3/4 of a year with news from CPS, these new forums are finally scheduled. They come at an auspicious time - CPS Selective Enrollment School results come out for Kindergarten through eighth grade on the 22nd of April, the day before the meeting. Therefore, it is unclear if there will be change, what year the change will take effect, and how it will impact the decisions made for the coming year. It is important to show CPS that you care about gifted education in the city, and that you show up. Unless people step up and show up, CPS might not think this is an important policy to create, continue to defer the adoption of this act. You can read our coverage of the Accelerated Placement Act Part 1 here.

What can you do beyond just these forums? You can go to learn more at CGCC and IAGC, our two local gifted organizations, that periodically have policy-related events. You can even join the IAGC Policy Committee that works with Illinois Board of Education to create new policy for the gifted. That committee’s next quarterly meeting is Saturday, May 4th at IMSA, at 10AM, so mark your calendar.

Not in Chicago? Your district is watching the largest district in the state and the 3rd largest in the country to see what they will do. If you care about gifted education, you should come and participate in those forums because your voice has power to improve gifted education in Chicago and everywhere that will use it as a case example.

Stay tuned for part 3 in a few weeks. We hope that update brings good news for the city’s gifted.

About Midwest Academy for Gifted Education (MAGE): We are a not for profit, private gifted school focused on building community for gifted families in Chicago. If we don’t speak up for the City’s gifted, who will? Our next Admissions Coffee is on April 27th at 9AM and is a chance to connect to other gifted families in the city.

Read Part 1 of our coverage - CPS deferral of meeting the Act.

Read Part 3 of our coverage — CPS unveils new policy supporting the ACT.

Check back for Part 4 - analysis of the policy, coming soon. Contact us to be on our news distribution list. Disclaimer: the above is opinion. Please contact us if you find any errors.

Accelerated Placement Act and the City of Chicago, part 1

On July 1, 2018, a new law, the Accelerated Placement Act (click here for the complete text of the law) went into effect in Illinois. This law is a huge win for Illinois families. However, what will now be different? We will be exploring this issue and posting updates as they become available. Click here for a great article about the change.

For for updated information about CPS and Accelerated Placement act, please read Part 2 - Forums, and Part 3, New Policy Draft. Part 4, policy update and analysis, is coming soon.  Contact us to be put on our mailing list to not miss our analysis of this policy - Part 4 and other news.

Briefly, the law gives the framework to grade skip into K and 1st grade, for example, and then the ability to receive acceleration. We at MAGE hope these changes become available to all Illinois students. In the meantime, we are here, as we believe that there is a long road ahead. Similar laws already exist in other states, and yet private gifted schools also abound in those states - we do not think that any change in Illinois policy will make us obsolete, though we would love it if they did. 

We will start with sharing some information about how you can be a part of the solution here in Illinois. The amazing organization responsible for making the law happen is IAGC - Illinois Association for Gifted Children. If you have a gifted child and you live in Illinois, we would like to encourage you to join IAGC as a member, so that you can be a part of the solution for Illinois children by supporting the organization and by sharing in the dialogue. Every person that joins helps strengthen our state's commitment to gifted interests.  The next policy committee meeting is August 10@10AM @IMSA. Join the conversation!

In the next few weeks, we will be exploring additional topics:

Chicago Public Schools, CPS. What is the timeline for the policy change? Currently, office of OAE, Office of Access and Enrollment which controls the City's public gifted programming and fields the calls about the act, nebulously says that the policy change will be implemented next year. We are waiting on more details. There will be no changes for this year or in time for fall SEES applications for the next academic year as far as we understand at this time. 

What changes will public/charter, private, and parochial schools in Chicago make to comply with the new law? For example, the Archdiocese of Chicago is one of the largest networks outside of the public network. Would be interesting to understand their planned changes. We will be reaching out to the existing schools to find out their plans. Please share information with us and we will be happy to post it, as it becomes available. 

What are the benefits and consequences for any school to be compliant or not compliant with this new law? Is there a cost to implement the new law? What is the long term economic impact of this law on each school?

What policy changes would be relevant in Illinois? In our opinion, it would be helpful if academic differences were recognized as a special need.

-For example, if a student is more than 1-2 standard deviations off in ability to academic performance, many other states have laws with regard to considering that student as having learning differences. In Illinois, such learning differences are not recognized legally. A student is only recognized with a learning difference if they perform to specific measures below average levels of attainment, not as compared to their own potential.

-If a student needs acceleration and the school is not providing it, it would be interesting if they had the ability to transfer to a school that would provide the academic services needed, much in the same way that a student with behavioral issues can tuition out into a specialized program designed to meet their needs. Since giftedness is not recognized as a special need in Illinois, and since academic accommodation is not a part of our IEP in our state, legislative changes to support these sorts of processes might be helpful. Funding around supporting programs and endeavors would also be interesting. 

This article is an opinion article, and has not been peer reviewed or thoroughly researched beyond included links.