IB versus college prep

[Scott]

I haven't looked into the CPS high schools (my oldest kid is 8!) but isn't Whitney Young a selective enrollment school you have to test to get into? Assuming your son has been accepted, congrats!

Here's the CPS pages for each
Whitney M Young Magnet High School --
http://www.cps.edu/Schools/Pages/school.aspx?id=609755
Lincoln Park High School --
http://www.cps.edu/Schools/Pages/school.aspx?id=609738

Both school are diverse.

In the Scorecard section, Whitney Young looks to be higher in everything? Sometimes significantly so... For instance, in the "Meet/Exceed PSAE State standards" Lincoln Park is very good with 67% compared to the CPS average of 31.5%. But Whitney Young is 96%!

Of course there are other factors to consider such as how convenient it is for your kid to get to school each day (e.g. a 1.5 hour bus ride or 5 min walk), but all else being equal I would go with Whitney Young.

[Jacque]

I haven't looked into the CPS high schools (my oldest kid is 8!) but isn't Whitney Young a selective enrollment school you have to test to get into? Assuming your son has been accepted, congrats!

Here's the CPS pages for each
Whitney M Young Magnet High School --
http://www.cps.edu/Schools/Pages/school.aspx?id=609755
Lincoln Park High School --
http://www.cps.edu/Schools/Pages/school.aspx?id=609738

Both school are diverse.

In the Scorecard section, Whitney Young looks to be higher in everything? Sometimes significantly so... For instance, in the "Meet/Exceed PSAE State standards" Lincoln Park is very good with 67% compared to the CPS average of 31.5%. But Whitney Young is 96%!

Of course there are other factors to consider such as how convenient it is for your kid to get to school each day (e.g. a 1.5 hour bus ride or 5 min walk), but all else being equal I would go with Whitney Young.

My son was already accepted into both schools and he would not be considering lincoln park as a whole, but rather the IB program within Lincoln park. The stats on Lincoln park are for the school as a whole and as such, dilute the results from the ib alone. However, what I am on the fence about, is whether the IB program itself is better than Whitney young or worse.