3 CPS Schools Make National List Of Public Schools With Best Academics
By Sophie Lucido Johnson in News on Apr 7, 2016 7:16PM
Chicago doesn't exactly have a reputation for good public education. Between massive budget cuts, pension problems, city-wide teacher strikes and a multimillion dollar spending scandal, CPS barely has legs to stand on. But despite the system's downward spiral, CPS got one victory today: three Chicago public schools earned spots on a 2016 list of High Schools with the Best Academics in America.
Niche, a research company that compiles data and interviews in order to rank schools, released the list. Niche used opinions from more than 300,000 students and parents to compile these rankings, along with graduation rates and scores on the SAT/ACT and Advanced Placement tests.
Making the list this year were Northside College Preparatory Academy, which ranked fifth; Walter Payton College Prep, which ranked 12th; and Young Magnet School, which ranked 33rd. Northside ranked ahead of any public school in New York City or Los Angeles.
While these high rankings might seem like a feather in CPS' cap, one shouldn't ignore the context. Chicago has an essentially two-tiered public school system: the upper tier are selective enrollment high schools, and the lower tier are not.
Northside, Payton, and Young are all selective enrollment, which means they vet applicants before admitting them. Factors in the admission process include grades, test scores, an entrance exam and socio-economic status. Of the 95 district-run high schools in Chicago, 11 have selective enrollment. (The others are Brooks, Hancock, Jones, King, Lane, Lindblom, South Shore, and Westinghouse.) The testing statistics at all three Top 50 schools look great: Business Insider reported that Northside's average SAT score last year was 2040, Payton's was 2070 and Young's was 1900. (The maximum score is 2400, and the national average score is 1500.) The schools also passed AP tests at rates of 94.8 percent, 82 percent and 77.1 percent, respectively.
The overall demographics of the schools, however, differ starkly from the overall population of CPS students. As of last year, 41.1 percent of the Northside's students were from low-income households; Payton had 30.5 percent; and Young had 45 percent. On the whole, CPS reports that 90 percent of its students are from low-income households. The majority of students at the three top-ranked high schools are white and Asian, too, whereas white and Asian students make up just 13 percent of CPS students overall.