The Office of Student Enrollment and Placement supports K-12 children and families in accessing the District’s educational programs and services. Our goal is to ensure equitable access and placement for all students across the K-12 schools.
The School District of Philadelphia has a clear vision; for all children to have access to a great school close to where they live. The mission of the Office of Student Enrollment and Placement is to support K-12 children and families in enrollment, registration, and school placement. Our goal is to ensure equitable access for all students across our K-12 schools.
Registration is for students of all grades (K-12) entering the District for the first time and/or are coming to the District from a different school district.
Registering online is easy but does require a number of steps, and a number of documents you’ll need to provide. Be prepared to spend 15 minutes to a half-hour filling out the form online, plus whatever time you’ll need to collect and prepare the documents we’ll need. If you’re registering in person, please collect the required documents listed in step 2.
Use our online map to find your school, based on your address.
View our Registration Guidelines for specific examples of the documents needed to register.
Download a Parent Stepper in your language to help you with online registration.
English | Albanian | Arabic | Chinese | French | Khmer | Portuguese | Russian | Spanish | Vietnamese
If you’re having trouble completing your online registration, email us at osep@philasd.org
PLEASE NOTE: Students must be 5 years of age on or before September 1st to start Kindergarten. If your student is younger, consider one of the many Pre-K options also open for enrollment!
This process allows students currently in pre-kindergarten through 11th grade to apply to attend any school with available space outside of their neighborhood or catchment area.
If you are finding that your neighborhood school is one of our Charter schools, your school is a “Renaissance Charter School”. You have the option of having your child attend this school, or, having your child reassigned into a District School if the Renaissance Charter school connecting to your home address does not have an available seat for your child.
Renaissance Charter Schools operate like normal neighborhood schools in our District. To enroll your child into one of these schools, families are encouraged to contact the Charter school directly.
If, however, you need help finding a different school, because the Charter School connecting to your home address does not have available space, we can help. We can get your child registered in a School District of Philadelphia school. Simply access the Renaissance Charter Reassignment Form and let us find the next available school for your child.
Want to learn more about Renaissance Charter Schools? Read more about the Renaissance Charter Initiative.
A Renaissance Charter School is a neighborhood school that is operated as a public charter school and can only enroll students from the neighborhood, also known as a catchment zone.
You may opt out of a Renaissance Charter School. The Office of Student Enrollment and Placement works with families to find a nearby district school with available space in the student’s grade level and with the student’s academic support program (special education, ESOL, behavioral health, etc.), if applicable.
Renaissance Charter Schools have enrollment limits and, sometimes, schools reach this limit before all interested families can enroll their children. If this is the case, The Office of Student Enrollment and Placement will work with your family to find a nearby district school with available space in the student’s grade level and with the student’s academic support program (special education, ESOL, behavioral health, etc.), if applicable. If interested, families can apply and be placed on the school’s waiting list.
The Office of Student Enrollment and Placement is eager to work with families to find a Philadelphia School District school. You will be able to make a request to have your student assigned to school. Before completing this application, please ensure you have the following:
Please be aware that if your student is brand new to Philadelphia, there will be additional paperwork needed to complete registration.
Please click here to begin the request process.
A Current District students who have recently moved have two registration options:
Use our school finder tool HERE
If your concern is specific to your child’s school and staff, we always recommend you reach out to the teachers and principal, first, to try to work together to resolve issues.
Telephone: 215-400-4290
Email: osep@philasd.org
Multi-lingual Hotlines
215-400-8480 – SHQIP
215-400-8481 – عربي
215-400-8482 – 汉语
215-400-8483 – Français
215-400-8484 – ខ្មែរ
215-400-8474 – Português
215-400-8485 – Русский
215-400-8489 – Español
215-400-8486 – Việt