WestRogersParkMom - I'd definitely check up on this - but mostly because it sounds confusing. The only thing I'd worry about is the "Taft Academic Center students is the guaranteed placement in the Taft International Baccalaureate Program for eligible students meeting all requirements."

While no one is saying that Taft is the Harvard of CPS, it does have admission requirements and if you completely bombed 7th grade, you might not automatically meet all the requirements.

JenFG - that's the thing about the AC's - you pay your money and you take your chances - and quite frankly it's a little bit about what the school thinks they can get away with. Lane and Whitney are highly desireable schools that lots of kids really want to attend - hence their AC curriculums are based on a six year subscription to their school and they really discourage in any number of ways (so I hear) kids transferring out. When I attended both open houses last year, both of these schools were really adamant that you were NOT signing up for two years at their school but six. Taft doesn't have that kind of pull and there would probably be a minor parental revolt if they tried, so it has a slightly different curricular model (which I actually like better) and they are a little cooler with kids leaving after 8th grade. It's always a crap shoot with this stuff - do you put the child in a school that is more rigorous when...?