For Chicago families, Pre-K through high school
Choosing the right CPS school is confusing. Take it step-by-step. With help.
SchoolNav is a guide for families who are choosing and applying to Chicago Public Schools, from Pre-K to selective enrollment high schools. It shows you what matters, what to ignore, and what to do next.
SchoolNav is not affiliated with Chicago Public Schools. You still send your application in GoCPS.
One path, six steps, at your own pace
These are the same six steps you see inside the app. You can start at any step and come back any time. Some tools are part of a paid plan, and the plans page shows which ones.
Get oriented
Start with short guides in plain words. They explain how the points work, what the four CPS tiers mean, which test each selective program uses, and when results came out in past years.
Read the guidesExplore & prepare
Look up any CPS school or browse by neighborhood. Each fact on a school page shows where it came from and the month it was last checked. When something is not known, the page says so.
Browse schoolsCompare and rank
Put the schools you like side by side and weigh them by what matters to your family. For programs that use points, a likelihood band shows less likely, possible, or more likely. It is never a percent, and it is never a promise.
Tour
Bring a list of questions to each school visit. Save your notes on your phone while you walk the halls, and share them with the other adults on your team.
Apply on GoCPS
You apply in GoCPS, not here. SchoolNav keeps the official CPS dates in front of you and sends a calm reminder before a window closes. Your child can also practice for the test, including a timed mock exam in the full published shape.
Decide
When offers come, record what GoCPS shows you. The offer simulator shows what accepting one offer does to the rest of your list, and the waitlist manager lays out what waiting keeps and what it gives up.
Other parents are on this path too, and you can find them
Every school in SchoolNav has its own chat, sorted by topic. Families who are new to a school can meet each other there. So can parents who are looking at the same schools in the same season. You post under a pseudonym, never your real name.
A parent
We are new this fall. Does any family near Western Avenue want to share a carpool in the morning?
Another parent
We are choosing between the same two schools. What did you notice on your tours?
Every school has its own chat
Each school page has a General topic, and any parent can start a new one, such as a carpool or a uniform swap. When a family records an accepted offer at a school, a Newly Accepted / Incoming Families topic opens in that chat. You join a topic to read it, and you can leave at any time.
Big moments get their own room
At moments like offers and waitlists, each school gets a room for the families who are going through it together. Joining is always your choice.
You can find parents at the same point as you
Your public page can show the step you are on, the schools you are looking at, and what you are open to, such as touring together. You can follow another parent or send a private message, and you choose who may message you.
The rules ask everyone to leave out the real names of children, parents, and staff. A report goes to a human moderator, never to the person you reported. Read the community rules
Every page answers four questions
School choice is stressful enough. SchoolNav has no countdown clocks and no “seats left” warnings. Each page tells you these four things, and then your next three actions.
- What matters
- Your ranking order, your tier, your child’s points, and the real deadlines. These are the things that change what happens.
- What to ignore
- Rumors with no date and no source. Parent notes are welcome here, but they are labeled as parent notes and never dressed up as official facts.
- What nobody can know
- CPS does not publish lottery odds or how far a waitlist will move. So SchoolNav does not show odds for a lottery program. It shows how many families applied for each seat instead.
- What not to game
- You cannot trick a lottery. Rank the schools in the order you truly want them. That is the rule that helps your family most.
How SchoolNav handles facts and your family’s details
Each school fact shows its source
Next to a school fact you see who published it, such as CPS or the state, and the month it was last checked. Cutoff scores from past years are labeled as context, not as odds.
SchoolNav is independent
SchoolNav is not part of CPS and does not speak for CPS. GoCPS is the official place to apply and to accept an offer. Paying for a plan does not change what the lottery or the cutoff scores do.
Your child’s details stay with your household
Only the adults you invite can see your household. You choose which of them can see sensitive details such as test scores. You can download your data or delete it from your profile page.
Free guides you can read right now
You do not need an account to read these. Each one is built from official CPS material or from dates in past cycles.
- How the points workSelective Enrollment high schools score students on 640 points this year. Walk through each piece.Read the guide
- CPS tiers, explainedHow your address decides your tier, and why the same score can mean different things in different tiers.Read the guide
- When do GoCPS results come out?What past cycles say about the dates for each kind of program.Read the guide
Start when you are ready
A free account needs only an email. The public facts stay free for every family.