Hello!
This is the first email I’m sending out about next fall’s high school admissions process. The fall may feel far away but there are things to be thinking about now that will help going forward.
The DOE changed things up a bunch during Covid and beyond but the last 2 seasons things seemed to settle into new normal. 7TH GRADE GRADES MATTER in the admissions process. Specifically math, science, ELA, and social studies for screened and ED OPT (educational option, another admissions method) programs. I’ll be sharing plenty about both along the way.
The new twist is that schools don’t rank students by grades top down, instead there’s a cut off grade that admits kids into a screened or ED OPT group, and within those groups, students are ranked by random numbers assigned by the DOE in the fall. Last season the cut off for screened group 1 was 94. Below is a chart of all the group cut offs. Those numbers are fluid, based on student 7th grade performances so they will change for the upcoming season.
Attendance and state test scores DO NOT count in the admissions process anymore.
Note: there are some screened schools that ask for additional materials and that adds a new twist - I’ll share more about that too.