SIMPLER APPLICATIONS AT CPS

The Board of Education just made it a little bit easier to apply to high school in Chicago, approving an application with a single deadline for all district- run schools.

But the long- awaited dream of one single application for every secondary school in the city won’t be a reality for at least a few more years because charter schools aren’t yet part of the common application now known as GoCPS.

“GoCPS really seeks that all students have access, and all students are set up for success and the ability to navigate this system,” Chief Education Officer Janice Jackson told the five board members present, who all voted to approve the changes. “Currently we have more than 100 applications to high schools and pro- grams with various deadlines in the district. It is very complicated and hard to navigate this system. There’s definitely an equity issue there.”

Starting this fall with kids in seventh grade, students will rank the selective enrollment schools and any other programs that interest them on an online application with a single deadline. Community organizations are said to have been enlisted to help, but no names have been released so far.

Neither were the names of charter schools that have committed to participating. And that’s the kicker — so far the application is for “all district managed schools and participating charter school programs,” Jackson said.