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Selective Enrollment Selection Process

When applying to Selective Enrollment Elementary School (SEES) programs on your GoCPS application, your student(s) will be included in the selection process. The selection process is designed to match each student with an open seat in their highest-ranked program.

SEES Programs

The selection process considers a combination of the following:

  1. The applicant’s total points.

  2. The number of available seats for each program.

  3. Tier is only considered for admission to entry level grades. (Most programs' entry year is kindergarten, Academic Centers are 7th grade).

  4. How you’ve ranked programs on your GoCPS application.

How It Works

The entry year for elementary school is generally kindergarten unless otherwise noted. For Academic Centers the entry grade is 7th grade. All program selections happen simultaneously. Selections for each program type run separately, so applicants can possibly receive an offer in each category: Academic Centers, Classical and Regional Gifted Centers combined, and Regional Gifted Centers for English Learners.

  • Admission test scores are converted into points. Academic Centers also use the prior year’s grades
  • Qualifying applicants are placed in line for every program on their GoCPS application and lined up in descending points total.
  • The first 30% of available seats are offered to students with the highest number of points, regardless of assigned tier.
  • The remaining 70% of seats are then equally distributed among the four tiers and all applicants are lined up by point total from highest to lowest in each tier group.
  • When an applicant matches with the highest-ranked program on their GoCPS application, they are taken out of line for all programs ranked lower on their applications.
  • Applicants can get a single best offer in each program type (up to three).
  • Waitlists: If a student receives a selective enrollment offer, they will not be placed on the waitlist for any program within the same selective enrollment program category. If no selective enrollment program offer is received, a student will be placed on waitlists for all of the selective enrollment programs they applied to and for which they qualified.

SEES Programs Tiebreakers

Tie breakers depend on the program. Please see the chart below for the order that each program runs their tiebreakers.

Program Tiebreaker
Academic Centers
  1. Composite score
  2. Non-verbal score
  3. Verbal score
  4. Lottery
Classical (K) Math standard score
RGC (K)
  1. Non-verbal score
  2. Verbal score
  3. Lottery
Classical (1-8)
  1. Math standard score
  2. Reading standard score
  3. Lottery
RGC (1-8)
  1. Non-verbal score
  2. Verbal score
  3. Lottery
EL RGC
  1. Composite score
  2. Lottery

Office of Access & Enrollment (OAE)

773-553-2060

gocps@cps.edu

Chicago Public Schools
42 W. Madison St, 3rd Floor
Chicago, IL 60602