1: What are my School Choices?

For School Year (SY) 2012-2013 registrants: Explore your options now.

For SY 2013-2014 registrants: School Choice Season is Nov. 1 - Jan. 11, 2013

Before families even come to a Family Resource Center to register for BPS, we recommend that you have an idea of what schools you would choose for your children to attend.

1.1 Your School Choices
1.2 Research
1.3 Your List
 

Age Requirements for Boston Public Schools
School Year 2012-2013

1.1 Your School Choices
BPS offers two online tools for families to learn which schools are available to them:

What are my Schools?
By entering your Home Address and the School Year and Grade Level for which you are applying, this online tool provides an authoritative preview of the school choices that will be on your Assignment application form. This list will include all the schools for which you are eligible to apply. Additional information will be provided on each school, such as:

1) Whether or not this school is in your walk zone, thereby giving you a priority should you apply for a seat at that school

2) Whether or not you are eligible for transportation should you apply for a seat at that school

3) The current hours of that school

Using similar information as What are my Schools?, DiscoverBPS.org will also take into account (if applicable) the BPS school your child's sibling currently attends in its display of your school choices. Users can sort their list of school choices by eligibility, transportation, distance from home, and more. This online tool offers more school information and ways to organize school choices by providing a map view, school profiles, walk and drive time estimates, registration statistics from the previous year, and a Favorites function which allows users to create a customized list of preferred schools.

Note: DiscoverBPS.org is still in production mode. If discrepancies exist between the tools, please rely on What are my Schools? and report any errors to our technical team.

1.2 Research
BPS offers families a variety of information on our schools online, in-person, and in-print:

Online
- What are my Schools and DiscoverBPS (see above)
- School listings with contact information and photos
- Kindergarten demand reports give registration statistics from the last cycle

In-person
- School Preview Time includes open houses and tours at every school
- School Showcases bring the schools of each zone together in one introductory event

In-print (available at all Family Resource Centers)
- Introducing the Boston Public Schools, a comprehensive guide to all our schools
- Next Stop: Middle School and Next Stop: High School, information packets on BPS middle schools and high schools that are given to every BPS student completing elementary or middle school

Typical questions you may want to consider about each school choice:

• How close is this school to my home?
• What are the school's hours? Does this school offer before and/or after-school care?
• What will my child experience and learn every day? From year to year?
• What performance measures is this school using? Is this school making progress?

1.3 Your List

We recommend making a list of five or more schools for registration. If you are registering for first grade or above and we cannot assign your student to any of the schools you select, BPS will administratively assign him/her to the school that is closest to your home that has an available seat. S/he will also be placed on the wait lists for the top three schools you ranked.

If you are registering for Kindergarten and we cannot assign your student to any of the schools you select, we will place him/her on the wait lists for your top three school choices. Kindergarten registrants are not administratively assigned unless they will turn six-years-old before the end of the calendar year (Dec. 31). 

Next - Step Two: How, Where and When to Register?