Black and Hispanic students thrive in school model Chicago Teachers Union wants to eliminate

Black and Hispanic students are around six times more likely to be proficient in reading at selective enrollment high schools compared to traditional public schools in Chicago. But the Chicago Teachers Union wants to eliminate these schools that are a lifeline to the city’s minority students.

Selective enrollment high schools are the most effective schools within Chicago Public Schools. Yet they are under attack by the Chicago Teachers Union.

CTU has dishonestly decried a “deep inequity” of selective enrollment schools, some argue minority students are “sorely underrepresented” at CPS’ 11 selective enrollment high schools.

But that’s not the case. A review of CPS’s selective enrollment process demonstrates it ensures a demographically representative enrollment.

What’s more, Black and Hispanic students are around six times more likely to be proficient in reading at selective enrollment high schools compared to traditional public schools in Chicago.

Chicago’s selective enrollment high schools are beacons of academic opportunity for Black and Hispanic students. Yet CTU is fighting against what is working – and against the best interests of the city’s minority students.

Selective enrollment high schools give Black, Hispanic students in Chicago their best opportunity

Black and Hispanic students are thriving academically at Chicago’s selective enrollment high schools by meeting proficiency in reading and math at much higher rates than their peers in other CPS high schools.

On average, Black selective enrollment 11th grade students were six times more likely to read at grade level compared to their peers in other CPS high schools. On average, 46% of Black students were proficient in reading in 2023 at selective enrollment high schools compared to 8% in other CPS high schools.

In math, Black students at selective enrollment high schools were 7 times more likely to be proficient compared to their peers in other CPS high schools, with 38% proficient on average in selective enrollment schools and only 5% proficient in other CPS high schools.

Hispanic students in Chicago’s selective enrollment schools are similarly far outperforming their peers in other CPS high schools. In reading, Hispanic selective enrollment students were six times more likely to be proficient than their peers in other CPS high schools and seven times more likely to be proficient in math.

Selective enrollment high schools are providing Black and Hispanic Chicago high schoolers with the best opportunity for academic success, seeing six times more Black and Hispanic students at grade level standards.

The selective enrollment admissions process ensures a demographically representative enrollment

There are over 17,000 students attending CPS’s selective enrollment high schools, but thousands more apply for admission. Only 30% of the seats are based on academic merit alone. The rest take into account other factors to ensure a demographically representative enrollment.

Here’s how the process starts: Each CPS student is required to take the High School Admissions Test in the fall of their 8th grade school year. The exam is comprised of two sections which students are to complete in one hour: 30 minutes to test reading and 30 minutes to test math.

A student’s percentile score on the HSAT and their grades in 7th grade reading, math, science and social studies are converted to points to assign a “point total” which the student can use to apply to selective enrollment high schools. Student point totals can equal up to 900 points: 450 from their HSAT score and 450 from their 7th grade grades in the core subjects.

Acceptance into a selective enrollment school includes a “tier process” to ensure students from all socioeconomic statuses are represented.

Each census tract in Chicago is assigned a “score” based on five socio-economic characteristics and one education characteristic:

• Median family income
• Percentage of single-parent households
• Percentage of households where English is not the first language
• Percentage of homes occupied by the homeowner
• The level of education attainment from nearby elementary schools
• Achievement scores from nearby elementary schools

The district then ranks these “scores” and divides each census tract into four “tiers” into which every Chicago address falls. Then, 70% of available seats at selective enrollment high schools are evenly distributed to students within each “tier,” ensuring the highest performing students even from the lowest socio-economic status are admitted to selective high schools.

While each of the four socio-economic “tiers” receives 17.5% of the available seats to fill with students in their tier who achieved the highest “point total” between the admissions test and 7th grade performance in core subjects, the first 30% of available seats each year are filled by the students with the highest “point total” from the admissions test and 7th grade performance in core subjects. That means only 30% of the seats are filled based on academic criteria alone.

This is unique to Chicago. According to a Brookings Institute report, while most selective enrollment high schools across the country base their admissions solely on academic criteria, “a notable exception is Chicago, which operates a more inclusive, geographically-based policy.”

This past year, there were nearly 60,000 applications across the 11 selective enrollment schools. Only 4,705 students were offered spots to enroll in one of the selective enrollment high schools.

Despite the representative nature of selective enrollment schools, CTU and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson are among the voices decrying the schools’ “deep inequity.” In a letter to Senate president Don Harmon, D-Oak Park, Johnson asserted Black and Hispanic students are “underrepresented at selective enrollment schools.”

“If we truly believe that education is the equalizer, students from all over the city need a fair chance to attend selective enrollment schools,” Johnson wrote in his letter.

Data from CPS and the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey show enrollment at Chicago’s 11 selective enrollment high schools are more representative of the city’s population than CTU or the mayor admit.

The mayor and CTU leadership have compared selective enrollment high schools’ demographics to those of the CPS school district as a whole. But CPS enrolls a higher percentage of Black and Hispanic students and lower percentage of White students than are represented in the city’s high school aged population.

So, while selective enrollment high schools may seem to underrepresent Black and Hispanic students compared to all high schools in CPS, selective enrollment high schools enrollment is much more representative of a sample of Black and Hispanic students in the city’s racial demographics for those aged 14 to 21 years of age than in compared to the rest of CPS high schools.

Across all high schools in CPS, there is a higher proportion of Black and Hispanic students, and a lower proportion of White students, than are represented in the city’s high school aged population. There are nearly four percentage points more Black students, eight percentage points more Hispanic students and 10 percentage points fewer White students in CPS high schools than in the city.

In Chicago’s selective enrollment high schools, there are just three percentage points fewer Black students than in the city and eight percentage points fewer Hispanic students, with 28% of enrollment Black and 33% Hispanic. Meanwhile, there are just two percentage points more White students enrolled in selective enrollment high schools than represented in the city, with White students making up 22% of selective enrollment high school students.

This data shows enrollment in Chicago’s 11 selective enrollment high schools is more reflective of the city’s population of high school aged youth than CTU or the mayor want the public to believe.

Chicago Teachers Union fights to limit schooling options for families in Chicago

Amidst a year that saw 18 states expand or enact private school scholarship programs, Illinois became the first state to end its private school scholarship program in 2023 at the behest of the CTU and took away scholarships from more than 15,000 low-income students in Illinois and many in Chicago.

Union bosses proved they were more concerned with protecting their monopoly on education than in supporting the needs of Illinois’ students.

Now CTU has turned its attack on families’ choices in the public school system: it wants to kill selective enrollment schools.

CTU has a long history of undermining successful public school choice schools like charter schools. The expired CTU contract already includes a moratorium limiting the number of charter schools and enrollment, but CTU’s demands for the new contract would further limit enrollment at charter schools and continue to deny access to Chicago students and families who want to take advantage of a different public school option than traditional public schools.

Selective enrollment high schools are next on the list.

Members on the Chicago Board of Education, appointed by former-CTU organizer Mayor Brandon Johnson, approved a resolution which would transition CPS away from “privatization and admissions/enrollment policies” that allow students options to enroll in public selective enrollment schools, among others.

CTU leadership called the plan a “step in the right direction” and decried selective enrollment schools’ “deep inequity.” They want to take away the opportunity for parents and students to choose successful selective enrollment public high schools.

Chicago parents ought to have the opportunity to enroll their children in the schools that best fit their needs and will best prepare them for success beyond high school graduation. But CTU has already shown it will do what it must to stifle parent’s choices.

Chicagoans must understand the value Chicago’s selective enrollment schools provide to the city’s students, especially to minority and low-income students most often harmed by the Chicago public school system’s lack of accountability and quality education.

CPS ought to bolster selective enrollment schools which are providing a quality education to students rather than undermine them at the behest of CTU leadership.

Instead of kowtowing to CTU leadership’s influence and removing academic opportunities from low-income and minority students, Chicago should put a renewed effort into expanding access to quality public schooling options for families and make Chicago a beacon for educational opportunity in Illinois.

It starts with protecting Chicago’s selective enrollment high schools.