All About Kenwood Academy’s Academic Center

With the Academic Center Entrance Exam coming up this month and next, Test Prep Chicago is featuring some of the top Academic Center options in Chicago for 7th and 8th graders. This week, we’re spotlighting Kenwood Academy’s Academic Center, a program with a long-standing reputation in Chicago Public Schools and a strong option for students ready for accelerated academics in middle school.

Kenwood Academy's Academic Center is a selective enrollment public school located in Chicago’s Hyde Park-Kenwood neighborhood, which serves students in grades 7 and 8. Like with any Academic Center attached to a CPS selective enrollment high school, students who complete their 7th and 8th grade years at the Academic Center are guaranteed a seat at Kenwood Academy High School should they want it, allowing for a smooth transition into ninth grade.

One of the defining features of Kenwood’s Academic Center is that it places middle school students in a high school setting with increased academic expectations. The program is designed to provide accelerated instruction that goes beyond the standard middle school curriculum, helping students develop strong study habits, independence, and readiness for high school coursework. Academic Center students take core classes such as math, science, English language arts, and social studies at an advanced pace compared to traditional middle schools. Kenwood’s Academic Center also stands out for offering students the opportunity to earn high school credit while still in middle school, depending on the course. These credits can count toward high school graduation requirements for students who remain at Kenwood, giving them early exposure to advanced academic pathways. This structure allows motivated students to move into higher-level coursework once they enter high school.

As part of the larger Kenwood Academy community, Academic Center students benefit from being on a campus with a wide range of extracurricular opportunities. Kenwood Academy is known for its strong arts programs, including band, choir, and visual arts, as well as competitive athletic teams that participate in the Chicago Public League. The school also offers numerous student organizations and clubs that support interests in leadership, academics, and creative expression. While participation rules vary by activity, Academic Center students are connected to this broader environment, and are able to participate in a variety of extracurricular activities.

Overall, Kenwood Academy’s Academic Center offers a well-rounded academic experience for students who are ready for greater challenges and responsibilities in middle school. At Test Prep Chicago, we support students preparing for the Academic Center Entrance Exam/Regional Gifted Center Test by offering one-day workshops (click here) and individual tutoring (click here). Our programs focus on building strong test-taking strategies, reinforcing essential tactics and skills necessary to succeed on the exam, offering plenty of test-taking practice, and helping students approach the test with confidence. Interested in learning more about the exam itself? Check out our breakdown here.

An Overview of Kenwood Academy Academic Center

Kenwood Academy Academic Center (also known as Kenwood) is one of seven Academic Centers in Chicago. Kenwood calls Chicago’s Hyde Park-Kenwood neighborhood its home and has been providing rigorous academics to the south side neighborhood for years. Priding itself as one of the first Academic Centers opened in Chicago Public Schools; Kenwood Academy Academic Center begins in the 7th grade and continues into 8th, promising a “nurturing, small school setting” coupled with an intensive curriculum to prepare its future scholars.

Kenwood Academic Center’s curriculum involves a core set of classes that are only taught by Academic Center educators, with each student taking Academic Center Math, Science, Social Science, and Language Arts. Since each subject is taught only by other Academic Center instructors, students are exposed to a more personalized education than in a regular classroom. These instructors also use web-based instructional tools to provide their students with up to date and accessible course information online. Students are not the only ones who benefit from Kenwood Academic Center’s personalized approach; Kenwood also prioritizes parents by including them in frequent feedback and and student updates by phone, email, and parent meetings with the educators and administrators of the Academic Center. 

Kenwood Academic Center is dedicated to making sure that their students reach their fullest potential by not only providing them with a curriculum that challenges them, but by also providing an abundance of outlets for support for the duration of their program. This includes utilizing teachers, mentors, tutors, and school counselors to achieve the most effective organizational skills for the student and providing consultations from past Kenwood Academic Center alumni in order to ease the transition into the Academic Center. Kenwood Academic Center also offers a variety of extracurricular activities for students to choose from. These include clubs and activities such as Debate, Ivy League club, Poetry club, Anime club, and the traditional offerings of art, band, and sports. 

While Kenwood Academic Center does not have its own website, visit Kenwood Academy’s website to find more information for the Academic Center underneath the Academic Center tab: https://www.kenwoodacademy.org/

Ramisha Ejaz, Tutoring Coordinator
ramisha@testprepchicago.com
(312) 848-1266

An Overview of Academic Centers

Do you want to avoid the complexities of the high school selective enrollment process, but still want your student to attend a competitive school? An Academic Center may be for you!

Academic Centers, which are similar to middle schools, are housed in high schools and provide a college preparatory program for seventh and eighth-grade students. If a student is admitted into an Academic Center, he or she is automatically granted admission to that Academic Center’s affiliated high school. A few highly sought-after Academic Centers in Chicago include Brooks, Kenwood, Lane Tech, Lindblom, Morgan Park, Taft, and Whitney Young.

The application process for Academic Centers is almost indistinguishable from the Selective Enrollment process; however, instead of the process beginning in 7th grade, students must begin testing in 5th grade. Much like Selective Enrollment, the Academic Center admission process works on a 900-point scale.

The first third of points available come from a student’s 5th-grade grades in math, English, science, and social studies. Each A grade is the equivalent of 75 points, totaling at 300 points, or 1/3 of the 900 points obtainable. Each B grade results in 50 points, each C grade results in 25 points and no points are awarded for grades of D or F.

The second third of the 900 points come from a student’s NWEA MAP scores. For CPS students, the official score will be taken from their spring NWEA MAP in 5th grade, while non-CPS students will get their official score from their fall NWEA MAP in 6th grade. This test is divided into two sections: math and reading. Each section is worth 150 points, totaling at 300.

The final third of students’ points are taken from their Academic Center Entrance Exam (AC Exam). The AC Exam includes 9 sections, each at 10 minutes long. Unlike other standardized tests like the NWEA MAP, the AC Exam measures critical thinking skills, reasoning, and problem-solving, much like an IQ test. This test is administered in the winter of their 6th-grade year, usually in early February. 

In addition to the 900 points, students will also need to fill out an Academic Center application using the CPS website. On the application, parents will have to declare in which tiered neighborhood the student lives (to find out in what tier your neighborhood is, visit the CPS website). The final score a student needs out of 900 for each school (for example, 850/900 for Lane Tech or 880/900 for Taft) will be determined by their socio-economic tier. These applications are usually open in October and are due in mid-December, but you can find official dates on the CPS website.

Lauren Lynch, Tutoring Coordinator
lauren@testprepchicago.com
(312) 848-1266