Hi Parents & 8th Graders! I hope you all find this website helpful :) Here, you will find information regarding the CPS high school application process. If you still have further questions, please visit the GoCPS website, or you can also send me an email @: cmdowding@cps.edu

CPS high school Updates:

Selective Enrollment High School Exam Dates:

The Selective Enrollment High School exams will be offered on the following dates:

November 14, 2020

November 21, 2020

December 5, 2020

December 19, 2020

After families apply to Selective Enrollment schools, they can schedule their exam. Students who test in November will receive their scores by mid-February. Students who test on all other dates will receive their scores in spring 2021, when the application results are released.

SIS ID Error Message

Generally, when a family receives an error message about the SIS ID, this means that the family is incorrectly answering a question asked when they are trying to perform the Add Student function. If this error message occurs, return to the Sign Up page and start the process again. When asked if the student is new to CPS, they should click NO. When asked if the student is applying to 9th grade, they should click YES. This should get them to the page that asks for the student's Activation Code. Once entered, the student's information will be automatically entered, including the CPS ID number.

Eligibility Data Letters

The Office of Access and Enrollment has now sent Eligibility Data Letters to families; these letters contain each student's NWEA MAP scores and grades, as well as the student's Activation Code (unless they have already been added to an existing GoCPS account). The letters can be found in students' Google drives. When accessing the Google drive for their child, parents can search by student name or student ID to find the file. The file naming convention is: studentID_studentfirstname_studentlastname. We are sending an email today to the parent email on file and the student's CPS email address with directions on how to access these letters.

NWEA MAP Norms

As you know, CPS uses NWEA MAP percentiles to determine students’ eligibility to apply to more than 100 high school programs. To ensure that percentile data provides the most up-to-date information about student achievement, NWEA reviews a group of national scores every three to five years and updates how percentiles are determined.

In July of this year, NWEA released its 2020 norms, which indicate that student achievement declined slightly during test administrations in the last few years. To ensure that our students’ percentiles reflect this new information, CPS updated percentile data in our internal systems for NWEA MAP exams administered in spring, fall, and winter 2019. While students’ RIT scores remain the same, it is possible that students’ percentiles may be higher, due to the fact that achievement is declining overall.

The percentiles displayed in students’ Eligibility Data Letters and on their GoCPS accounts starting October 12th will reflect the 2020 norms. These norms will also be reflected in the scores that you will see on Dashboard and in the student data file.

Winter NWEA MAP

Eighth grade students who meet minimum eligibility requirements (24th percentile in reading and math for general education students, or reading/math combo at the 48th percentile for students with an IEP) can take the winter 2020 NWEA MAP. The highest reading score and the highest math score from all of the NWEA MAP test administrations will be used for the selection process. Information about the timeline and process for the winter 2020 NWEA MAP will be shared with you as soon as it is available.

Additional Materials