Coonley Gifted or Hawthorne? (Chicago, Wheaton: magnet schools, assessment, ranked)

[cbsmom]

Hi everyone,
my friend's son got into Coonley gifted as well as Hawthorne Elementary. She's looking for advice on which of these you would choose, and why?

Thank you!

[4122]

Are you talking about Hawthorne Elementary in Elmhurst or Wheaton?

[cbsmom]

Sorry, I should have clarified - these are both Chicago Public Schools.

[Attrill]

Both are solid schools, and either would probably be fine for her. I think she needs to set up tours of both schools and make her decision based on personal preferences.

You should be able to find parents with kids at both schools on the NPN boards.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by cbsmom

Hi everyone,
my friend's son got into Coonley gifted as well as Hawthorne Elementary. She's looking for advice on which of these you would choose, and why?

Thank you!

How hard does she want her kid to be pushed?

Here's the feedback from a neighbor who has one kid who went to a gifted elementary school and is currently at Payton, and another who's currently in a pretty highly ranked magnet elementary school: the one who went to the gifted school and was completely surrounded by hard-chargers grew up not knowing anything else but the high expectations placed upon all students and he basically fell in line with those expectations; whereas the younger kid at the magnet school, not being totally immersed in an atmosphere of high achievement like his brother was, sees kids of varying abilities and degrees of motivation and thus hasn't taken an expectation of high achievement for granted like his older brother did. Does your friend want her child to be immersed in an expectation of high achievement, or does she want the child to become aware at an earlier age that some people are more capable of tackling a challenging curriculum (and life challenges in general) than others?

Something else to consider: does she have other kids? Because if one kid gets into a magnet elementary school, siblings are guaranteed admission to that same school. No such luck with gifted schools. So does she want to put one kid in a gifted school and roll the dice with the others? Or guarantee that they will all be in a school with a challenging curriculum but not necessarily completely surrounded by high-achieving students?

Originally Posted by 4122

Are you talking about Hawthorne Elementary in Elmhurst or Wheaton?

Seeing how this thread is in the Chicago forum, I'm gonna go out on a limb and assume she's talking about the one in Chicago.

[cbsmom]

Excellent advice and questions, thank you!
Attrill - thank you for the NPN link. NPN and CPS obsessed are good resources.

Drover - Thank you for this insight from your friend, that is very interesting and informative! These are good questions to ask, and I will pass them along to her. She does only have one child (and will likely not have any more).

[Drover]

Though it's not a likely scenario for your friend and it would only be an issue way down the line, I should clarify that magnet school sibling preference only applies if one sibling currently attends, not if they went there and moved on.

[chet everett]

I tend to agree with the assessment of Drover's friend -- CPS magnet schools are not uniformly demanding while the emphasis in most of the "gifted" programs is more geared to the atmosphere at Payton.

That said, I don't know one is really better or worse, it really is more about what the parents / kids want...

I do agree that depending on how many kids one has and how they are spaced it is neigh impossible to have a normal life with kids at multiple far apart CPS sites...

If you want to simplify the whole process go private ... ( assuming you have funds )

[cbsmom]

Thanks everyone! Sounds like she is leaning towards Coonley Gifted - it seems to have a very strong program. Though really, both schools seem excellent.