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By Ram Uppuluri
If all goes according to plan, a majority of charter LEAs and DCPS will participate in a "common application" and "common lottery" system for enrolling students in 2014-15 school year.
Under this system, parents will be asked to rank the charter and traditional schools they would like their children to attend in order of preference on an online application. A computer algorithm would then run the lottery, admitting each child to only one school and maximizing the number of students who are matched with one of their top choices.
The online application will be available December 16, 2013, according to the new website, myschooldc.org, which will serve as the central clearinghouse for information about the process. Applications for high schools will be due February 3, 2014, and for early childhood, elementary and middle schools, on March 3, 2014.
Several charter LEAs and FOCUS have participated in discussions, led by Deputy Mayor for Education Abigail Smith’s office, to design the system. If the new system works well, it promises many benefits for both public charter and traditional schools. Among these are: more certainty for schools in their enrollment numbers earlier in the enrollment process; automatic removal of names from waiting lists at schools once a student enrolls in a school that the student ranked as a higher preference; having a central system to ensure transparency of the enrollment process; and having better data on application and enrollment trends across the District.
From the schools’ perspective, there could be downsides as well: in addition to relinquishing total control over their enrollment processes, schools could experience technical glitches in the system that could make it cumbersome. The actual implementation of the new system could also be complex and potentially require schools to invest resources in making sure their admissions staff is familiar with how the system works.
But if the system is run well, it will provide an auditable, accountable, and fair application and lottery mechanism. And because students who receive offers from a school will be removed from waiting lists at other schools the students ranked as lower preferences, waiting lists at all schools across the District will be easier to manage.
FOCUS has strongly advocated that the system be strictly voluntary, as it applies to charter schools - if schools see value in the system, they should be able to decide for themselves whether to join. But a well-run system - one that is fair and verifiable – could offer many advantages to charter schools in the District.