School Selection

District Students

School Selection Application phase 2026-27 is now closed.
View 2026-2027 RESULTS & WAITLISTS

Non-District Students

Other Districts, Charter, Parochial, or private school students, all incoming Kindergarten students

School Selection Application phase 2026-27 is closed.
View 2026-2027 RESULTS & WAITLISTS

About

About the School Selection Process

Welcome to the School Selection process.

All students in the Philadelphia School District system are assigned a school, from Kindergarten through 12th grade, based on their home address. We refer to that as the student’s catchment (or more conversationally, neighborhood) school. Students may attend that catchment school, or, the school selection process gives them the opportunity to apply to attend another District school with available space, even if it is not their designated catchment school*.

This majority of students who participate in School Selection are 8th graders looking for high school options.  However, any student in PreK through 11th grade can participate in the School Selection process.

Simple Overview of the Selection Process:

  1. Research your options
    1. Middle & High School Directory is a comprehensive resource
    2. Avela Explore & School Profiles also provides data to help guide and inform
  2. Prepare for the application period
    1. Non-District students must gather their transcripts and assessments; District students have that already organized in the system.
    2. District student should make sure they have their Portal account (which parents can also join)
  3. When application period opens, begin as early as possible. The application is online, and we provide helpful resources to guide you. The best source of help will be your school counselor; schedule time with them if you need help.
    1. You will apply to up to five schools, ranked in your order of preference.
  4. The application period lasts a few weeks. Then there are a few subsequent PHASES
  5.  Eligibility Phase:
    1. Your application will now reflect which of the (up to five) schools you are eligible for.
    2. Then you will be entered into the lottery for those schools
  6. LOTTERY PHASE
    1. You will receive an offer from one of your schools, or in the case of no matches, you will be included in the post-lottery process.

*Note: Because your catchment school is automatically assigned based on your home address, no application is needed to attend. Simply register your child to your catchment school for the 2027–2028 school year, by completing the enrollment process online or in person at your neighborhood catchment school. Please contact your school directly for their in-person hours, or  start your online registration application at any time.

 

School Options

School Options

There are various types of high schools in our District, and each has slightly different admission processes.

Criteria-Based High Schools

Each of these schools has its own set of admissions criteria related to attendance, grades, and standardized test scores. Students citywide may apply to these schools but must meet the criteria to be considered for admission.

View Criteria-Based High Schools

Advanced Placement Courses:

Career & Technical Education 

City-Wide High Schools

These schools accept students from across the city. City-wide schools do not have admission criteria and interested students are selected through an impartial lottery process.

View Citywide High Schools

Advanced Placement Courses:

Career & Technical Education 

Catchment High Schools

These schools have an open admissions policy (no criteria) for students who have attended grade eight in the school’s feeder pattern. The schools that the child attends within a certain feeder patter is based on the family’s home address. Students outside the catchment are still able to apply through the selection process.

View Catchment High Schools

Advanced Placement Courses:

Career & Technical Education: 

Dual Enrollment: 

21st Century Schools:

Performing Arts:

All Catchment Schools:

Virtual School

Philadelphia Virtual Academy (PVA) is the School District of Philadelphia’s free, full-time virtual school for K–12 students. With flexible schedules, personalized learning, and the support of dedicated teachers and staff, PVA helps Philly students succeed—wherever they learn best.

Learn More About PVA

What's New This Year

For 8th grade students at the following schools:

  • George Washington Carver Engineering & Science
  • Girard Arts Music Program (GAMP)
  • Hill-Freedman World Academy
  • Julia R. Masterman
  • Science Leadership Academy (SLA) at Beeber

If their current school is their top choice for 9th grade, they will be guaranteed a spot at that school only if they:

  1. participate in the school selection process by successfully submitting an application
  2. meet the school-specific criteria
  3. include their current school as their first-ranked choice

Other possible scenarios for students who submit an application to their current criteria-based school, assuming they meet the required criteria:

  • If  the current school is ranked #2, and an offer is received and accepted from the #1 school, they will NOT receive an offer at the current school. All lower ranked choices will be automatically declined.
  • If the current school is ranked anything other than #1, but NO OFFERS ARE RECEIVED from a higher ranked school, they will receive an offer from the current school. All lower ranked choices will be automatically declined. The student will remain on the waitlist for any higher ranked choices for which they are eligible.

*UPDATED* Sibling/Twin Preference

Sibling preference is given to students who have a sibling currently enrolled in a catchment or citywide school, when space is available.

  • To be eligible for sibling preference, siblings must have the same parent/guardian, have participated in the school selection process by submitting an application, and have selected the school where a sibling is already enrolled
  • Sibling preference does not apply to criteria-based schools

New this year, sibling preference has been expanded to include siblings/twins that are applying to the same catchment or city-wide school.

  • To be eligible for sibling/twin preference, siblings must have the same parent/guardian, have participated in the school selection process by submitting an application, and have matching selected and ranked schools
  • Sibling/twin preference is not guaranteed and is offered when space is available
  • Sibling/twin preference does not apply to criteria-based schools

*NEW* Career and Technical Education (CTE) Middle School Preference

CTE preference is given to middle school students who attended (7th grade) or currently attends (8th grade) a District middle school CTE program and is applying to a similar 9th grade CTE program for the 2026-2027 school year.

  • For example, students that participated in a 7th or 8th grade plumbing CTE program would receive priority when applying to a 9th grade plumbing CTE program.
  • The list of approved programs can be found here.

Understanding the Algorithm

How Does the Algorithm Work?

In 2024, the School District continued to receive input from students and families regarding improvements to the school selection process. Here’s what changed:

  • On August 5, we launched a more user-friendly school search tool, called Explore, that provides comprehensive information about each school.
  • Each applicant is able to rank their top school/program choices. – This was a critically important update made to our process in the fall of 2024.
    • This new system uses a Nobel Prize-winning algorithm that is designed to generate the best offer based on both an applicant’s eligibility and their preference based on how they ranked their school choices.
    • You can choose to include up to 5 schools/programs on your application. Limiting options will not improve the chances of receiving an offer – in fact, the chances will decrease.
  • Each applicant will receive either one offer or zero offers during the initial response phase. Prior years Before ranking was implemented, applicants could receive up to 5 offers when the lottery ran. This is no longer the case.
    • Offers will be made based on the order in which an applicant ranked their five schools, the applicant’s eligibility, and seats available at the school/program.
  • Applicants will remain on the waitlist only for higher ranked schools to which they did not receive an offer and accept multiple higher offers as they come.
    • For example, if a student ranked five schools and received an offer to their 3rd ranked school, they will remain on the waitlist for their 1st and 2nd ranked schools, but would not be considered at their 4th and 5th ranked schools. If they subsequently receive a waitlist offer for their 2nd choice, they can accept that offer which would automatically decline the original offer at their third choice but allow them to remain on the waitlist for their 1st choice. They could later accept a seat at their first choice, if offered.

More about the Algorithm

Understanding the Deferred Acceptance Algorithm

The School District of Philadelphia’s Find Your Fit school selection process allows students currently in pre-kindergarten through 11th grade to apply to attend any District school, with available space, outside of their neighborhood or catchment area for the following school year. The District understands that the School Selection process is important for families to help find the best fit for their child(ren). After listening to families and hiring Accenture to audit the previous school selection system, the School District of Philadelphia conducted an RFP and contracted with Avela for their School Selection system. This system uses a Nobel Prize winning Deferred Acceptance algorithm, otherwise known as a ranked based lottery.

Our goal in implementing this new system is to better account for student preference, provide more students with an initial offer, facilitate more acceptances in a shorter amount of time, and result in an overall reduction in the time it will take to fill open seats across our schools. As we continue to receive questions about how the Algorithm/lottery works, we are providing this additional information to provide insight and transparency.

Background on the development of the algorithm

  • Deferred Acceptance (DA), also known as the “Gale Shapley Algorithm” or “Stable Marriage Solution,” is a commonly used algorithm, or set of rules, policies, and procedures, for allocating scarce resources – including seats in schools – based on mutual preferences.
  • Avela’s founding team includes some of the award-winning researchers behind the algorithm.
  • Two scholars who studied the algorithm, Lloyd Shapley and Al Roth, won the Nobel Prize for this work in 2012. MIT Professor Parag Pathak won the John Bates Clark Medal in 2018 for advancing the research.
  • Avela is a software company founded out of MIT by Parag Pathak, Josh Angrist, and Greg Bybee. In addition to Parag’s Clark Medal, Josh won the Nobel Prize in 2021 for leveraging this algorithm to measure school performance.

Key Points about the Deferred Acceptance Ranking Algorithm

  • DA is popular for student assignment because it prioritizes family preference and has a number of properties (see below) that make it equitable and efficient.
  • In the algorithm:
    • Each child is assigned a random number, which is used in the event of a tie.
    • Each parent ranks schools for each child.
    • The system goes child-by-child and tries to place each child at their first choice school.
      • If a seat is available and that child is eligible for the school, the child is tentatively placed in that school (hence the name “deferred acceptance”).
      • If no eligible seat is available, the system looks at the admission policy of the school and asks if the new child has a higher priority for the seat. If so, the new child is placed in the seat, and the previous child moves on to their next choice. If not, then the system tries to place the child at their next preferred school.
        • If both students have equal priority for the seat, then the random lottery number is used to break the tie, and the student with the better lottery number is placed in the seat.
    • The system loops through all children until every child is placed, if possible.
  • Eligibility and priority for each school are determined by school and district policies.
    • Eligibility means who is able to attend a school, program, or grade level based on the rules. Examples include age or admission criteria like attendance, grades, test scores, auditions.
    • Priority means, among those who are eligible, who would get the seat if multiple students want it. Examples include zip codes, 8th grade students at the 5 continuation schools.
  • There is no way to “game the system” or have any advantage based on your knowledge of the algorithm or the inputs. This is known as “strategy proof,” and is one of the properties that makes this algorithm so famous. As a result, families should always rank schools according to their true preferences.

Additional Resources

Criteria-Based Eligibility

Eligibility for Criteria-Based Schools

An applicant’s final grades, attendance, and standardized assessment scores (PSSA test scores, or an approved alternative)* will be used in determining eligibility for those applying to criteria-based middle and high schools. Some notes on these criteria: 

All schools will accept the best grades and attendance rates from the previous two school years

  • Grade requirements are for the 3 core subjects: ELA or Reading, Math, and Science
  • Attendance requirements: 95% attendance rate is 9 or fewer unexcused absences. 90% attendance rate is 18 or fewer unexcused absences.
  • Assessment Requirements:
    • For students applying to 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th grades, all schools will accept the best assessment percentiles from the previous two school years
    • For students applying to 5th grade, schools will only use the previous year’s assessment percentiles
    • For students applying to 11th or 12th grade, standardized assessment percentiles will not be reviewed

*Please note: Some schools may also have additional requirements that may include auditions or project submissions.

Approved Standardized Assessments

The standardized assessments used for School Selection are PSSA ELA and PSSA Math.

Philadelphia District and charter school students may not opt out of the PSSA if they plan to apply to criteria-based schools. 

For students applying this Fall (2026) for enrollment for the 2027-28 school year, applicants should submit PSSA assessment results from 2025 and 2026.

To convert a student’s PSSA score to a percentile, use the following charts:

If you DID NOT take the PSSA:

Students who were not enrolled in the Philadelphia District or charter schools during the PSSA testing windows in Spring 2025 or Spring 2026 and/or did not have the opportunity to take the PSSA can submit results from other approved standardized assessments.

The following standardized assessment scores will also be accepted in Fall 2026 for enrollment in 2027-28:

  • TerraNova (TerraNova2, TerraNova3, or TerraNova NEXT; Complete Battery or Survey): Reading and Mathematics national percentiles
  • Educational Records Bureau – Comprehensive Testing Program (ERB-CTP): Reading Comprehension and Mathematics 1&2 national norm group percentiles
  • State standardized assessment for a state other than Pennsylvania: ELA and Math performance levels

Please note that any PA home-schooled or private school student can request to take the PSSA at their local public school, if desired. The PSSAs are administered each year over a two week period in April/May.

For more information, including how to take the TerraNova exam, please see our Approved Standardized Assessment Guide.

If you have additional questions, please use the Contact Us tab and select “Standardized Assessment” for the topic.

Criteria, by School

Criteria by School

Application Process

Application Process

The application window for the 2026-27 year has closed.

The application for the 27-28 school year will open in the fall of 2026. Check back for updates or contact us at schoolselect@philasd.org.

Review Window

Review Window

The Review window for the 2026-27 year has closed.

Appeals Process

Appeals Process

The Appeals Process for Selection 2026/27 has closed.

The appeals process is limited to specific circumstances, over a specific timeframe. Please review the guidelines below carefully.

Appeal Window

The appeal window closed on Monday, December 8th, 2025 at 5:00 pm EST.

Appeal Criteria

Applicants with an ineligible status have an opportunity to appeal that decision only when their ineligible status is as a result of missing or invalid uploads for grades, attendance, and/or standardized assessments.

Decisions that CANNOT be appealed:

  • The student did not meet eligibility criteria, but the parent/guardian believes the student should be eligible based on their overall performance as a student
  • Any decision by the Individualized Review Team because the Individualized Review is, in effect, an appeal
  • The result of an applicant’s audition or project-based presentation
  • An application that was not submitted

Results & Waitlist

Final Eligibility, Results & Waitlist

Final eligibility results were made available Wednesday, January 14th at 5:00 p.m. EST.

What Does this Mean?

In November, the District began informing applicants of their preliminary status, and whether they would be eligible for the lotteries of the schools to which they applied. Throughout December, applicants had the opportunity to submit an appeal or undergo an Individualized Review. Remember, eligibility does not mean or guarantee acceptance, but means students are eligible to be included in the lottery.

Results

Lottery results for applications for the 2026-2027 school year were made available January 23rd at 5 pm.

What You Need To Know:

We encourage you to review this How-To-Guide: Viewing School Selection Lottery Results and Responding to Offers as you review your lottery results. This How-To-Guide is a step-by-step document that explains how to access your lottery results, instructions for accepting or declining your allotted position in the lottery, and other helpful instructions.

What do the results mean: 

Lottery Result Status

Offered – Applicant was eligible for the lottery for the school/program and is offered a placement. If interested in placement, applicant must accept before the deadline to secure a seat.
Ineligible for Lottery – Applicant was not eligible for the lottery for the school/program.
Waitlisted # X Applicant was eligible for the lottery for the school/program and was not selected in the lottery, and did not receive an offer to any higher-ranked choice. They will see the word Waitlisted # X, where their number on the waiting list will be displayed.
Applicants will not be on a waitlist for any choices that are lower ranked than the school/program where they received an offer.
Received higher offer – Applicant was eligible for the lottery for the school/program but received an offer to a higher ranked school/program.
Accepted – Applicant has accepted an offer to this school/program.
Declined – Applicant has declined an offer to this school/program.
Auto-declined: response deadline passed. Applicant did not respond to offer before the offer auto-expired.

If You Have Questions and/or Need Support:

For questions or concerns with the school selection process or offer status: The Office of Student Enrollment and Placement (215-400-4290, schoolselect@philasd.org) is available to support students and families Monday through Friday from 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM.

For technical issues with accessing your application: The Family Tech Hotline (215-400-4444, or FamilyTechSupport@philasd.org) will have extended phone hours from 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM on Friday, January 23, 2025. Regular hours are Monday through Friday from 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM.

Waitlist

The first round of waitlist offers was made available on February 1, 2026, and will continue weekly as space is available until December 2026.

  • Additional waitlist offers will be made every Monday, beginning February 9th, as seats become available. Families will receive a notification via text/email n email when a waitlist offer has been extended.
  • Families will have three days to respond to these waitlist offers before they expire.

Families should check their email and portal regularly for updates.

Use the buttons above to access your account and view your applications and status.

Received an Offer? Here's What You Need To Know

  • Students who received a School Selection offer must accept the offer before 5:00 PM on January 30, 2026. Offers still pending will auto-decline at 5:00 PM on January 30, 2026.
  • Do not click the “Decline” button unless you are certain you do not want to accept that offer. Once you hit the ‘Decline” button, that school option will no longer be available to select, and the decision cannot be undone.
  • Initial waitlist offers will be made on Feruary 1, 2026. Additional waitlist offers will be made each Monday as seats become available.
  • We encourage you to review this How-To Guide: Viewing School Selection Lottery Results and Responding to Offers as you review your lottery results. This How-To-Guide is a step-by-step document that explains how to access your lottery results, instructions for accepting or declining your allotted position in the lottery, and other helpful instructions.

Stepper: Viewing Lottery Results for Applicants

English | Shqip | العربية | 汉语 | Français | ខ្មែរ | Português | Русский | Español | Việt

Individualized Review

Individualized Review

Coming soon

Town Halls & Events

Town Halls & Events

Click below to find details about events you can attend, where you can learn more about the school selection process, ask your questions, and receive hands-on assistance!

Application Assistance Labs

Get hands-on assistance with your student’s application!

New dates coming soon!

School Open Houses

Visit schools in-person, meet the staff and learn more about the school culture.
We highly recommend doing this research during the application phase (or sooner, if possible) rather than waiting until the final week of selection!

Town Halls

Previously recorded Town Hall

Watch to learn about the school selection process, this year’s updates, and how to apply.

Philly School Fair

The 2025 K-12 Philly School Fair was held in September 2025. 

The fair is an opportunity for students and families to interact with the schools and programs available in the city, ask questions, and understand application requirements and deadlines.
It serves as a one-stop-shop for public, charter, and private high schools to display promotional materials, videos, contact information, and post school-led virtual events.

Staff Only: School Selection Virtual Office Hours

Resources

Resources & FAQs

How-to Guides

  • NEW: Viewing Lottery Results and Responding to Offers (current School Selection/2026-27)
    English 

School Selection Family Letter Archive

All general information letters sent to families about this year’s Selection are linked below.

Additional Resources

Common Transcript
View this year’s Common Transcript Form

School Selection Data
Visit our open data page, and select “School Selection” to view past year’s data reports.

Research Schools
Explore Avela

Questions regarding assessments?
Email: Schoolselecttest@philasd.org

Technical Issues and Login Trouble
Email: familytechsupport@philasd.org

Staff Resources

Partnership Dashboard

Explore programs and opportunities available to students across District schools.

Find a Program

High School Directory

High School Directory cover

The Directory provides a comprehensive list of high school experiences across our District, including locations, academic programs, specialty courses, athletics, extracurriculars, and Career and Technical Education (CTE) options.

View the Directory

FAQs

FAQs (updated regularly!)

General Questions

Are you new to the District and want to register your child?

Please visit our website for instructions for new student registration and to complete an Online Registration (OLR). For any additional questions, please visit your neighborhood school which can be found on our website. To see the full list of acceptable documents for registration, please check our Enrollment Guidelines .

My child is currently in a pre-K program, how do I apply?

You should apply as a “non-district” student.

Do I need to apply to my catchment school?

No, applicants should not apply to their catchment school. If a student wishes to attend their catchment school, no action is needed through school selection. You can go directly to the school to enroll.

How do I know if I meet criteria for a school or program?

The information in the “criteria by school” section on this page outlines the criteria needed for each school, for reference.

Is the application offered in other languages for our ELL families?

Yes, it can be translated into the District’s supported languages.

How can I find out what the criteria are for a specific school or program?

The criteria for all schools can be found on this page, in the section called “criteria by school.”

Where can I find more information about the algorithm used in Selection?

This explanation can be found on this page, in the section called “Understanding the Algorithm.”

When are applications due?

Applications must be submitted before the deadline of October 23rd, 2025 at 11:59 pm.

Why are we changing to a ranked selection system?

Our goals in implementing this new system are to:

  • better account for student preference
  • provide more students with an initial offer
  • facilitate more acceptances in a shorter amount of time
  • result in an overall reduction in the time it will take to fill open seats across our schools

Can I apply to a charter school or a private school through School Selection?

No, the School Selection Process allows families to be able to apply to participating School District of Philadelphia schools for the 2026-2027 school year.

Families interested in applying to charter, private or parochial schools are encouraged to contact those schools directly to learn more about their enrollment process.

Application Components

I am applying for kindergarten, do I need to enter grades and attendance?

No. The grades, attendance, and assessment criteria along with the transcript requirement are only for students applying to criteria-based middle and high schools.

Should I be including the Common Transcript Form with my application?

The common transcript form must be used if applying to a criteria-based school and your grades and attendance are not automatically populated in the application because you were not a Phila School District student in the 2023-2024 and/or 2024-2025 years.

I only have grades, attendance, or assessments for one year. Can I submit the one year?

The best grades in the four core subject areas (ELA, math, science, and social studies), the best attendance record for unexcused absences, and the best percentile in ELA and/or math (depending on the school’s requirement) from the 2023-2024 school year and the 2024-2025 school year are used to determine eligibility.

If the academic data (grades, attendance, and assessments) is only available from one of these two previous years, that data will be considered the best academic data and will be used to determine eligibility.

I don't see the school that I want to apply to as an option in the application.

The school may not be listed on the application because they do not have space for students outside of their catchment area. If you want to confirm whether a school is participating in Selection, use the filter option “Grade participating in School Selection” within the District’s Explore tool here: https://philasd.explore.avela.org/.

My child is homeschooled and does not use letter grades. What should I do?

Please contact us at schoolselect@philasd.org for guidance.

What should I do if incorrect grade and/or attendance information displaying for my student within the application?

Families should contact their school directly if they believe that the grade or attendance information that is displaying in the application is inaccurate.

If a student is missing grades or attendance in their application for a year where the student was not enrolled in an SDP school, the student’s former school must complete the common transcript form, and then the family can upload that completed form to their student’s application.

What should I do if my District student’s Education Accommodation screens do not accurately reflect their IEP, 504 or EL status?

If there is Education Accommodation information in the application that is incorrect or missing, families should reach out to their child’s school to update their accommodations in the appropriate system.

It will take up to 48 hours from when the data is updated, to appear in the Enroll system.

My child's school does not use letter grades. Can I upload their report card?

No. Your child’s school must complete the transcript form that is found on our website and in the application.

In doing so, they should use the rubric that is on the form to translate your child’s numerical grades, standards, or academic progress to a letter grade. We developed this rubric for this purpose and will honor the correlation that the school has made for the final grade in each of the core subject areas.

Note: Failure to include the transcript will result in an incomplete application which will be marked ineligible and will not be included in any evaluation processes.

Do my grades, attendance, or test scores matter if I am applying to a catchment or citywide school?

Only criteria-based schools require grades, attendance, and assessment scores.

Post-Application Steps

If a student is accepted into a school through the lottery, do they have to accept the seat at the school by a certain time, or are they automatically placed there once accepted?

Students will need to actively accept their offers after they receive an offer from the initial lottery. If no action is taken, the offer will expire.

If a student is accepted into a school from the waitlist, what should they do?

Students will need to actively accept the offer, after they receive that offer from the waitlist. If no action is taken, the offer will expire. During the waitlist phase, the offer will expire after 3 days.

Related to Facilities Planning

How will the Facilities Master Plan impact School Selection?

The School District intends to keep all existing students enrolled in SDP schools, and to work with students and families to find their best fit option – whether that is their catchment school or an alternative location. Since no schools will be closed or relocated for School Year 26-27, we encourage students to stay and/or begin at the school they are already enrolled at or have been offered a spot to.

Universally, any student who applied to or is enrolled in a school that is not their catchment school has the right to return to their catchment school. For students who participated in school selection for School Year 26-27 we encourage them to accept their offer, and they may remain on waitlists for higher ranked schools.

Since the recommendations have not yet been adopted by the Board of Education, we ask that families wait until the Board votes and the facilities plan is adopted before requesting any changes to their enrollment. For students who have been placed at a school for a specific reason including, but not limited to IEPs, 504s, discipline, or safety, a placement will be made in accordance with existing procedures.

What are my enrollment options if my child's school (catchment school or selected school) is closing?

Any student who applied to or is enrolled in a school that is not their catchment school has the right to return to their catchment school.

If your child’s catchment school is closing, and you are interested in options other than the receiving school that your child is being reassigned to, you and your child are encouraged to participate in the Find Your Fit School Selection Process.

Are the high schools that are merging into catchment schools maintaining their criteria?

Yes, the criteria-based schools that are proposed to merge into catchment schools (Lankenau, Motivation, and Parkway NW) will remain as criteria-based honors programs. Students will still need to meet the criteria for admissions to the program and apply through the Find Your Fit School Selection Process.

Will there be priority at the newly merged programs for students from that catchment area?

Yes, students who are in the catchment area for criteria-based or city-wide programs that are recommended to merge into their catchment high school will be given priority in school selection if they apply and meet the criteria. This priority is in alignment with our commitment to reinvesting in neighborhood high schools as community anchors, so that more students can have access to high-quality programming options and academic resources across neighborhoods.