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Chicago Public Schools is extending the application deadline for students who want to go to schools outside their assigned neighborhood option.
GoCPS applications will now be due at 5 p.m. on Dec. 15 instead of Nov. 15. This applies to all eighth grade students who are applying to high school.
The district had extended the deadline earlier this month from Nov. 15 to Nov. 22. But amid concerns over pending charter school closures at the Acero network, the school board urged the district to again extend the deadline. The district also extended the GoCPS deadline in 2022.
Last year, the High School Admissions Test crashed on the day CPS eighth graders were scheduled to take the exam, but the deadline remained in early November. However, high school applicants were given extra time to re-rank their choices.
The HSAT did not have any technical problems this year. CPS students took the exam on Oct. 9. The test will be given to non-CPS students applying to district high schools for the last time on Nov. 23 and 24.
The process for applying to school in CPS has been criticized for being stressful and inequitable. Even so, in Chicago, about half of all public elementary school students go to a school that is not their assigned neighborhood school. At the high school level, about 75% travel to a high school and attend an option that is not their zoned option.
The new CPS five-year strategic plan hopes to shift away from an overemphasis on school choice and increase the number of students attending school in their neighborhood or closer to home.
Becky Vevea is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Chicago. Contact Becky at bvevea@chalkbeat.org.
