About the School Selection Process
The school selection process allows students currently in pre-kindergarten through 11th grade to apply to attend any school for the 2024-2025 school year with available space other than their catchment school. A catchment school is the school that connects to your family’s home address, so you don’t have to apply. See more in the School Options tab.
The District’s school selection process:
- uses a centralized lottery and waitlist system
- applies school-specific grades, attendance and standardized assessment criteria
- makes the online application available in 10 different languages
- opens each fall, and closes each spring – this is the only application window for school selection
- prioritizes the applications of qualified applicants who live in specific zip codes (19140, 19132, 19133, 19134, 19136, 19124, and 19121) that have the lowest representation of students accepting offers over the last four years, at the following criteria-based schools:
- Academy at Palumbo (for admission to 9th grade)
- Carver Engineering & Science at (for admission to 7th and 9th grades)
- Central High School (for admission to 9th grade)
- Masterman (for admission to 5th and 9th grades)
This application process does not include other charter or tuition-based schools like Catholic or Friends Schools.