CPS Accelerated Placement+Illinois GIFTED/AP REPORTING

State Advocacy and Gifted Legislature Info:

A big win for Illinois Gifted families! The GIFTED/AP REPORTING bill that we’ve invited you to support via witness slips passed both Illinois Senate and House and now sits with the Governor. You can follow the bill here.

CPS Advocacy ad Gifted Policy Info:

If you think that your chance to advocate for gifted children is on now on hiatus, think again. A very important window to enter public comment on the CHICAGO PUBLIC SCHOOLS ACCELERATED PLACEMENT ACT closes tomorrow, Monday, May 22nd. There is no progressive policy happening, if anything, it’s a regression.

• This is the link for the current rule:

• This is the link for the amended rule:

• This is the link for public comment, open until some time on Monday, 22 of May.  

• This is the link to our previous coverage and analysis of this policy:

Since we did the analysis and work up, CPS dropped single and whole grade acceleration for grades 3 and 7. We missed the memo on that one.  Now, only grades 4-6 are included, though students still can get early K and early 1st entry;  

The disappointments in this policy are:

• IAR is required and is not objective, alternatives are not included.

• No whole grade or single subject acceleration outside of grades 4-6

• Still no multiple year skips

• No local norms

• No appeals and a limited application window 

• Nothing for kids new to CPS from outside the district, or those wanting to switch schools.

• There is an interesting note about PSAT and SAT and elementary students, which makes no sense since CPS doesn’t administer those and it is hard to find those for elementary students that are not attending gifted private schools.

If you wish to leave public comment about the changes OR, alternatively, lack of changes or considerations, you only have until Monday, May 22nd, 2023. Sign up for our newsletter to not miss out on future notices.

School Advocacy for Gifted Children

On Tuesday, June 11th, we will hold a free seminar about school challenges, school woes, #giftedproblems in school. Gifted Parenting Education Series in partnership with Chicago Gifted Community Center.

Our state has no Gifted IEP. That is, no gifted individualized education program. In our state, we can’t put any accommodation for a child in the plan if the accommodation has to do with above average performance. That doesn’t mean that you do not have room to work with your child’s team at school. If your child has an IEP for any reason, that actually can sometimes hinder advocacy as the focus tends to be on the child’s weaknesses, not their strengths. Again, there is room to work with the school.

Tomorrow we will be holding our first parent education series, and we will cover the roles of everyone on a child’s school team in helping the child meet gifted needs and strategies for successfully getting your child the support they need for their education, in a public or private school, as well as supporting them in a homeschool environment. We will be posting resources here following the presentation based on the questions in the forum.

If your child goes to a public school, and you are interested in acceleration, you need to be prepared to work at the district level if your child’s district does not have the acceleration policy in place to support your child. We will also be discussing this component.

Obviously, if your school has a gifted coordinator, besides your school teacher, this is a great place to start. We will have a gifted coordinator at our panel tomorrow. A school or private psychologist can also help by measuring the academic needs of the child and help support the social and emotional needs of a child.

What is the most important thing in learning how to advocate for your child in a school setting? It is to assume the best about your child’s educational team. It is to assume that the team wants to help. Sometimes, it is important to first understand the school’s financial and skill challenges and to work with the team within those constraints. It is also a very good time to pick a “slow” time of the year for your effort. The first 2 weeks of school is a busy time, for example. Getting it done in the last 2 weeks of summer may be better in some, but not other schools. the second 2 weeks of school is a great time, and by October, the teachers are most likely to listen to you as they feel like they know your child. Now is an excellent time to get a few meetings in to create support for your gifted child for next year.

Gifted 102: Gifted school challenges

Tuesday, June 11, 2019, 6:30 PM to 8:00 PM - Novel Coworking, 405 West Superior Street in Chicago

Judy Wahl, Dr. Jessica Douglass, Irene Gottlieb

Free Gifted Parent Education Series

Midwest Academy for Gifted Education is excited to bring you a free Gifted Parenting Education Series in partnership with Chicago Gifted Community Center.

The format of each event in the series is a 30-minute expert panel presentation on the topic, followed by a 15 minute question period for the panelists and a 30 minute mingle. The idea is to bring together a parent of gifted child, a mental health professional, and a gifted educator, for different perspectives and ideas around solutions. Detailed descriptions and speaker bios are here.

There are 2 workshops in the series below. They are hosted at Novel Coworking - Please note location change for the July 16th seminar, 420 W Huron St., Chicago IL 60642

Gifted 102: Gifted school challenges

Tuesday, June 11, 2019, 6:30 PM to 8:00 PM

Judy Wahl, Dr. Jessica Douglass, Irene Gottlieb

Gifted 202: Anxiety and perfectionism

Tuesday, July 16, 2019, 6:30 PM to 8:00 PM

Leslie Contos LCPC, NCC, CCMHC, Deborah Lee, Irene Gottlieb

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