Types of Schools in the CPS System

Chicago is home to a wide variety of public schools that a student can choose from as they enter high school ranging from most selective to least selective.

Selective enrollment high school programs

These schools must be applied to during a student’s first semester of eighth grade and require the student to take an entrance exam, submit their grades from seventh grade, and rank their top choices of specific schools within the city. This process as of 2021 does not require that students submit their NWEA standardized testing scores.

The students will receive a score out of 900 and their admission to their top choice schools is based on the Tier rank of their neighborhood from 1-4. Tiers are determined by the “median income, education level, home-ownership rate, single-parent family rate, rates of english-speaking, and neighborhood school performance.”
There are 11 Selective Enrollment programs in CPS: Hancock, Jones, Lane, Lindblom, King, Northside, Payton, South Shore, Westinghouse, and Whitney Young.

Choice high school programs

Choice high schools can be applied to from anywhere in the city, but are decided upon different criteria than the selective enrollment options and are theoretically less selective. These schools include: Charter, Career and Technical Education, Contract, City Wide, International Baccalaureate (IB), Neighborhood, and Service Leadership Academies

Neighborhood schools

If a student does not attend a choice or selective enrollment school then they are guaranteed a spot in the general education program of their neighborhood school without applying.
Students can include the general education program of their neighborhood high school on their application if they choose to do so while ranking their choices.

Continuing schools

These are schools or programs that serve K-8 in the same building as 9-12. A student who attends a continuing school is guaranteed a seat in those schools alongside a guaranteed seat in their neighborhood high school.