Exam Schools Admissions FAQs

Yes, the district will continue to work with an external organization to conduct an independent review of all application phases to ensure accuracy in the implementation of the BPS exam school admissions process.  

Yes, all students who meet the Grade Point Average (GPA) average requirement of a B or higher and are enrolled in grade level curriculum will be considered for admissions, as long as they have also taken the MAP admissions test for exam schools at least once. Students working on a modified curriculum, participating in MCAS Alternate Assessments, or enrolled in SLIFE (Students with Limited or Interrupted Formal Education) are not eligible to participate in the admissions process.

Families with students currently attending a BPS school are not required to complete the Residency Verification process; however, if a family has moved recently, the parent/guardian must update the home address address and contact information at a BPS Welcome Center as soon as possible, as is mandatory per BPS’ residency policy.  Applicants attending private, parochial, Commonwealth charter, METCO program schools, or are being home-schooled are required to confirm their residency in the City of Boston at a BPS Welcome Center. Priority residency verification is between October 15th and November 8th. Students that have registered for the MAP test or have previously completed the MAP with BPS have until 5pm on November 15th to complete their residency verification. No exceptions beyond this date will be considered.

Yes, all exam school applicants are required to sit for the MAP Growth test as part of the application process. Students have the option of taking the test twice and use the higher Reading and Math score for the application.  Applicants are required to sit for the BPS’ administration of the MAP Growth test to be considered for exam school admissions. You can learn more about the MAP Growth admissions test for exam schools on our “How to Apply” page.

BPS grade 8 students currently attending an exam school will be able to participate in the admissions cycle to apply to a different exam school for grade 9. The parent/guardian is required to visit a BPS Welcome Center with their photo identification between January 6 and February 7, 2025 to make new school selections for grade 9. Boston Latin Academy and Boston Latin School do not accept new students entering grades 10-12.

Yes, the O’Bryant School will accept a small number of new students for grade 10, if there are seats available. Boston Latin Academy and Boston Latin School do not accept applications for grade 10.

Current BPS students will submit their ranked preferences in January 2025 through the school choice form, which will be provided electronically and distributed through their schools.

Applicants attending private, parochial, Commonwealth charter, METCO program schools, or are being home-schooled will submit their ranked preferences during the mandatory Residency Verification Process, taking place in BPS Welcome Centers, from Tuesday, October 15 to Friday, November 8.

Parent/guardians of BPS grade 8 students currently attending an exam school applying to a different exam school for grade 9, and current BPS grade 9 students applying to grade 10 at the O’Bryant must visit a BPS Welcome Center with their photo identification between Monday, January 6 and Friday, February 7, 2025 to make school selections for the next school year. 

The district is not able to calculate the student GPA until early March, after the close of the second quarter marking period on January 29, 2025, to determine which students meet the B or higher GPA requirement. Families need to submit their school choice rankings prior to the GPA calculation process to ensure that invitations can go out in April-May.

Yes. Families are encouraged to rank any BPS school on their choice form in the order of their true preference. Note, some of our schools have separate admissions applications that must be completed with the school directly in order to be considered. The schools with separate applications are identified on the school choice form.

The district is able to confirm this information based on the home address documentation provided by the family during the initial registration process or from any documented updates since that time. The additional points will be added automatically to any BPS student’s application that meets this criteria.

This information is collected during the required Residency Verification process at a BPS Welcome Center. Families are able to self disclose if they are experiencing housing instability or homelessness. The district also receives a list of properties in Boston that fall under the public housing criteria.

The district will determine the list of schools based on a five-year average enrollment of 40% or more economically disadvantaged families, as defined by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE). Students that attended those schools during grade 5 (if applying for 7th grade at an exam school) or grade 7 (if applying for 9th grade at an exam school) will receive between two (2) and ten (10) additional points, depending on the student's socioeconomic tier. 

To learn more about how the additional points are calculated for students who attend a school where 40% or more of the students enrolled come from economically disadvantaged families, you can view the Superintendent’s memorandum here. 

Families that are participating in one or more of the following state-administered programs: the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP); the Transitional Assistance for Families with Dependent Children (TAFDC); the Department of Children and Families' (DCF) foster care program; and MassHealth (Medicaid). You can find more about the state’s process at DESE's website.

There are eight BPS schools that did not meet the threshold of 40% or more of economically disadvantaged students enrolled over a 5-year average as stated in the exam school admissions policy. The schools that did not meet the specified criteria are the Dante Alighieri Montessori School, Boston Latin Academy, Boston Latin School, Eliot Innovation School, Kilmer K-8 School, Lyndon K-8 School, Joseph Manning Elementary School, and the Wolfgang Mozart Elementary School. 

Non-BPS schools that meet the criteria of a student population over five years that is made up of 40% or more economically disadvantaged families as defined by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), will be eligible for additional points. Schools are required to follow the same DESE guidelines used by the Boston Public Schools district to determine eligibility, submit an affidavit, and supporting documentation.

Students eligible for the additional points may get a maximum score of 110 or 115.Additional points are not additive. If a student meets the criteria for both 15 points and the 2-10 points, only the highest (15 points) will be applied to their score.

Students participating in advanced coursework do not receive additional points. The GPA will be calculated based on the report card marks as provided by the child’s school.

The approved admissions policy required the district to develop an equitable grading policy where an A+ is treated like an A. This was done in part to account for the fact that many BPS schools do not offer an A+ in their grading, with the overall goal of creating standardized grading practices across all of our schools.

BPS will utilize an 11-point scale (0-11) that correlates to the A-F letter mark system, which will allow us to calculate the GPA. Once the GPA has been calculated on an 11-point scale, it will be scaled to a full 100 points by dividing the GPA by 11 and multiplying by 100. You can view the conversion process in detail on this fact sheet. 

If the student does not qualify to receive an invitation to an exam school, the student will maintain their assignment at the current BPS school, provided that grade is offered in their school. Parents are not required to rank the student’s current BPS school during the school choice process.

If a family ranked the exam schools on the school choice form and the student receives an invitation, the student will be automatically assigned to the exam school to which they have been invited.  Families will not have the option of making a final decision after invitations are released.

Since the 2022-2023 school year, BPS created waitlists for the three exam schools. Students who do not receive an invitation to their top-ranked exam school may be eligible to be placed on a waitlist for any exam school to which they did not get invited.

Ordering of the waitlist will function as a continuation of the exam school invitation policy. Students will be ordered by their composite score and random number within their SES Tier. Waitlists will only be created for the entry grade levels of 7, 9, and 10 and capped at 100 students. There will be separate waitlists created for each school and for each grade level. Waitlists will remain in effect until November 30 and will not roll over from year to year. Please note that BPS does not anticipate movement on the waitlists until after the start of school in  September; however, we will contact waitlist families if seats are available earlier.

The exam schools invitation process does not consider sibling priority due to the admissions criteria required for the application process.

The test score (30%) and the GPA (70%) will be combined to generate the student’s composite score for the exam school admissions process.  Ten or fifteen points will be allotted to students who meet specific criteria (e.g. students experiencing homelessness and students attending schools with 40% or more enrollment of economically disadvantaged students).  You can view the composite score process in detail on this fact sheet. 

The tiers will be updated every winter, pending data availability.

The tier calculation uses 5-year averages from the American Community Survey (ACS). Once the Census Bureau publishes ACS data using the new geographic boundaries, we will be able to calculate the tiers using the new census tract boundaries.

There are five factors used in the tier calculation, and they are weighted equally. The factors are: (1) Percent of persons below poverty; (2) Percent of households occupied by the owner; (3) Percent of families headed by a single parent; (4) Percent of households where limited English is spoken; and (5) Educational attainment.

The admissions policy and tier calculation model will be re-visited every five years.