WHYY24%
Philadelphia’s school selection process kicks off next month. Here are changes to look out for 1%
By Cory Sharber0%
8/5/2026, 4:09:52 PM
BS Summary: This article contains 0 faulty reasoning types, including no named faulty reasoning patterns yet, with no single egregious example has been isolated yet. Analysis detected 0 faulty-reasoning hits from 543 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 0% and a BS Rank of 1% (27,860 of 27,997 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 99.50% of the article peer group.
The School District of Philadelphia’s school selection process will kick off in September with some changes for the upcoming academic year.
Starting Sept. 8 at 4 p.m., the “Find Your Fit” process will allow students currently in pre-kindergarten through the 11th grade the chance to attend a school outside their assigned neighborhood, if space is available.
Applicants are recommended to search for schools using the Explore search tool.
The window will close Oct. 30 at 11:59 p.m.
Updates to the selection process
* Only students’ grades in English, math and science will be considered in the selection process.
Grades in social studies will no longer count.
* Zip code guaranteeing admission is shifting at Masterman, Central, Carver High School of Engineering and Science or Academy at Palumbo.
Students who live in 19132, 19133, 19135, 19138, 19140 or 19141 and meet academic criteria will automatically be enrolled.
More on zip code eligibility can be found on the Find Your Fit school selection website.
* Students who attended a pre-kindergarten program at a district school will get preference for admission to that school’s kindergarten class.
* Students who attended summer career and technical education programs with the district will get preferential admission to technical programs.
* Individualized review has been expanded to allow more qualifying students applying to criteria-based middle and high schools to be considered.
Things to know for applications
Three types of schools are available in the selection process: criteria-based schools, citywide schools and neighborhood schools, which the district calls “catchment schools.”
* Criteria-based schools have their own set of admissions criteria related to attendance, grades and standardized test scores.
All city students may apply, but must meet the criteria to be considered for admission.
* Citywide schools accept students from across the city, they do not have admission criteria, and students are selected through an impartial lottery process.
* Catchment schools have no criteria for students who have attended eighth grade in the school’s feeder pattern.
The schools the child attends within a certain feeder pattern are based on the family’s home address.
Students outside the catchment are still able to apply through the selection process.
Applicants must rank their top five schools in order of preference.
Offers will be made based on their school preference order, eligibility and the number of seats available in each school, program and grade.
Students outside city boundaries can participate in the school selection process, but city residents are given priority.
Nonresident students will also have to pay tuition and won’t be admitted if their enrollment would displace a resident student.
How does the lottery work?
Students will receive admission offers from one of the schools they are eligible for based on their order of preference.
Students will be placed on the waitlist for any school ranked higher than the school where they received an offer.
Each applicant will receive either one offer or zero offers during the initial response phase.
If a student doesn’t receive any offers, they will be placed on the waitlist for all schools they are eligible for.
As applicants accept or decline offers, students could receive offers from one or more schools where they are waitlisted.
Speakers
Loading…
Loading…
Analysis
Hover over highlighted words in the article to view the associated bias or fallacy analysis.