Philadelphia’s school selection process kicks off next month. Here are changes to look out for

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The School District of Philadelphia’s school selection process will kick off in September with some changes for the upcoming academic year.

Starting Sept. 8 at 4 p.m., the “Find Your Fit” process will allow students currently in pre-kindergarten through the 11th grade the chance to attend a school outside their assigned neighborhood, if space is available. Applicants are recommended to search for schools using the Explore search tool.

The window will close Oct. 30 at 11:59 p.m.

Things to know for applications

Three types of schools are available in the selection process: criteria-based schools, citywide schools and neighborhood schools, which the district calls “catchment schools.”

• Criteria-based schools have their own set of admissions criteria related to attendance, grades and standardized test scores. All city students may apply, but must meet the criteria to be considered for admission.
• Citywide schools accept students from across the city, they do not have admission criteria, and students are selected through an impartial lottery process.
• Catchment schools have no criteria for students who have attended eighth grade in the school’s feeder pattern. The schools the child attends within a certain feeder pattern are based on the family’s home address. Students outside the catchment are still able to apply through the selection process.

Applicants must rank their top five schools in order of preference. Offers will be made based on their school preference order, eligibility and the number of seats available in each school, program and grade.

Students outside city boundaries can participate in the school selection process, but city residents are given priority. Nonresident students will also have to pay tuition and won’t be admitted if their enrollment would displace a resident student.

How does the lottery work?

Students will receive admission offers from one of the schools they are eligible for based on their order of preference. Students will be placed on the waitlist for any school ranked higher than the school where they received an offer. Each applicant will receive either one offer or zero offers during the initial response phase.

If a student doesn’t receive any offers, they will be placed on the waitlist for all schools they are eligible for. As applicants accept or decline offers, students could receive offers from one or more schools where they are waitlisted.