Dear School District of Philadelphia Families,

The school selection application deadline for the 2026-2027 school year closes tomorrow, Thursday, October 23, 2025, at 11:59 p.m. This is your final opportunity to submit an application for your child to attend a school outside of your neighborhood or catchment area next school year. Applications will not be accepted, and changes cannot be made to a school selection application after the window closes. All required documents must be uploaded to the application system by tomorrow’s deadline.

Starting November 26 at 5:00 pm, the preliminary eligibility application statuses will reflect one of the following:

• Eligible for Lottery: Program has no eligibility requirements OR student has met the requirements based upon attendance, grades, and assessments.
  • What’s Next? Your student will be included in the lottery for this school and can await lottery results to be released in January or February.
• Ineligible for Lottery: Student is not eligible for the lottery based upon attendance, grades, and assessments AND is not eligible for an Individualized Review.
  • What’s Next? Your student will not be included in the lottery for this school.
• Pending Audition: Program has attendance, grades, and assessment criteria that the student has met, but the program also requires an audition that the student must complete and pass to be eligible for the lottery.
  • What’s Next? An audition is required for your student to be eligible for the lottery.
    • The school will contact you to schedule this audition.
    • Depending on the result, your student will be eligible or ineligible for the lottery.
    • If your student does not participate in their scheduled audition, they will be ineligible for the lottery for that school.
• Pending Project-Based Presentation: Program has attendance, grades, and assessment criteria that the student has met, but the program also requires a project-based presentation that the student must complete and pass to be eligible for the lottery.
  • What’s Next? A project-based presentation is required for your student to be eligible for the lottery.
    • The school will contact you to schedule this presentation.
    • Depending on the result, your student will be eligible or ineligible for the lottery.
    • If your student does not participate in their scheduled project-based presentation, they will be ineligible for the lottery for that school.
• Pending an Individualized Review: Student meets two of the three attendance, grades, and assessment requirements for the program, and has requested that the ineligible area be waived. The student must also have an IEP, 504 plan or receive EL services. The student must have submitted an IEP/504 Plan or Access/Screener Scores, and for IEP students, transition assessments. The student must also not be eligible for any other criteria-based schools/programs. They must be applying to the entry-level grade for a criteria-based school/program.
  • What’s Next? Your student’s application is being reviewed through the Individualized Review Process.
    • That process will determine whether they are eligible OR ineligible to either enter the lottery or participate in an audition or project-based presentation.

Final eligibility for students will be released in January or February 2026. After final eligibility is released, the School Selection Lottery will take place.

Important Reminders:

1. It is critical that you submit an application using the parent portal or your child’s student portal account. Applications created as non-district students may be found ineligible.. If you are having problems accessing your or your child’s student portal account, contact Family Tech Support at 215-400-4444 or familytechsupport@philasd.org.
2. If you do not have a parent portal account and you are starting an application, you must use your child’s student portal to access the school selection application.
3. During the application review phase, there will be times when the application status will not be available in the application system. This feature will be turned off to reduce confusion while eligibility statuses are being updated in the system. The District will inform you of those specific time periods as they are confirmed.

You can find resources and frequently asked questions on the school selection website. For any additional questions, please reach out to us via our two-way communication platform, Let’s Talk, or by clicking the Contact Us tab at the bottom of the school selection website.

Thank you for choosing the School District of Philadelphia for your child’s education. We are committed to partnering with you to prepare them to imagine and realize any future they desire.

Sincerely,

The School District of Philadelphia
Office of Student Enrollment and Placement