SWW - Letters of Recommendation

[Anonymous]

Wow—this is unbelievable!

Walls admissions is not just a lottery but a sh*tshow.

[Anonymous]

Does anyone know if there was a due date for the recommendations in 2025? My understanding is that this was this first year to have formal due date where the recommender portal closed. In previous years recommendations could come in up until the time of interviews, or honestly even beyond if a school wanted to look at it.

[Anonymous]

Does anyone know if there was a due date for the recommendations in 2025? My understanding is that this was this first year to have formal due date where the recommender portal closed. In previous years recommendations could come in up until the time of interviews, or honestly even beyond if a school wanted to look at it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know if there was a due date for the recommendations in 2025? My understanding is that this was this first year to have formal due date where the recommender portal closed. In previous years recommendations could come in up until the time of interviews, or honestly even beyond if a school wanted to look at it.

There was a due date but I don't remember what it was. My DC followed up on the only outstanding recommendation persistently until it was submitted. All others were submitted well before the deadline.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know if there was a due date for the recommendations in 2025? My understanding is that this was this first year to have formal due date where the recommender portal closed. In previous years recommendations could come in up until the time of interviews, or honestly even beyond if a school wanted to look at it.

Yes, there was a due date last year.

Plus, the process was the same as this year -- need threshold gpa and then good recs to get an interview. Without the recs, they would have had no basis (however fuzzy) on which to come up with an interview list.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know if there was a due date for the recommendations in 2025? My understanding is that this was this first year to have formal due date where the recommender portal closed. In previous years recommendations could come in up until the time of interviews, or honestly even beyond if a school wanted to look at it.

Yes, there was a due date.

2025: February 10th
2024: February 9th
2023: February 8th
2016: February 9th
2014: February 10th

These were all the dates I could find in my email, but obviously around the same time each year and after the applications are due for students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know if there was a due date for the recommendations in 2025? My understanding is that this was this first year to have formal due date where the recommender portal closed. In previous years recommendations could come in up until the time of interviews, or honestly even beyond if a school wanted to look at it.

Yes, there was a due date.

2025: February 10th
2024: February 9th
2023: February 8th
2016: February 9th
2014: February 10th

These were all the dates I could find in my email, but obviously around the same time each year and after the applications are due for students.

Dang. 2014. Thank you for your service, PP.

[Anonymous]

Thanks. Where did you find those dates?! There is no specified recommendation deadline posted anywhere, or even mentioned. The only dates published are the application deadline, the interview dates and the lottery result dates.

[Anonymous]

Deadline for submission of recommendations is generally a week after the application is due, or at least that's been the case since we started using MySchoolDC. It makes sense since there are a lot of applications that are submitted on the deadline.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Yes, there was a due date.

2025: February 10th
2024: February 9th
2023: February 8th
2016: February 9th
2014: February 10th

These were all the dates I could find in my email, but obviously around the same time each year and after the applications are due for students.

Makes sense, but when you (00:13) say you found those dates in your emails, do you recall who those emails were from or when they came?? DCPS? SWW? Banneker?

Basically I'm trying to understand which applicants were sent information about the Feb 9 deadline and by whom. DCPS has acknowledged that it sent an alert email with the recommendation deadline to some applicants but accidentally forgot to send it to others (!). So some families were told Feb 9 was a deadline, but others weren't. And even when DCPS realized they had made this mistake, instead of quickly contacting schools to let them know what had happened and contacting applicants to see if they might need extra days (I think it was after Feb 9 already), they just stayed quiet, said oops, and still penalized applicants for missing a deadline that had never been communicated to them.

In our case, we were never told about the Feb 9 deadline. We submitted Jan 29 and I was checking the application portal regularly and eventually realized one of the recommendations hadn’t come through because of an incomplete email address. Once I caught the issue, I corrected the email and notified everyone. Although this was still over a week before any interviews, it turned out that the recommender portal had already closed.

Meanwhile, a friend's child had also been missing a recommendation - just like us - , but in their case they had received an email from [e-mail] titled “Action Requested by Feb 9,” so she knew when it had to be in and made sure it was addressed by that date.

BTW, SWW's principal told us - incorrectly - that "regular reminders were sent to applicants." I don't know if she thought SWW was doing that or DCPS, but regardless, neither is true.

Anyway, at this point I'm just trying to spread the word about that DCPS email to all the other families they forgot to send it to. Those students were denied equal access to key information and can/should file a complaint with DCPS Office of Integrity.

It's probably too late for any of our kids this year, but for all the families next year and beyond, DCPS needs to be held accountable.


So...Any details you can share about where your Feb 9 deadline communication came from - and how previous years's deadline were communicated - would be really helpful.

On behalf of all applicants, thank you!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:BRING. BACK. TEST. SCORES.
It is well documented that (1) test scores predict success; (2) they are not sullied by subjective teacher personality and school culture nonsense (eg schools that have their shit together ride teachers to produce good and on-time recs); (3) prep is associated with parental income but test scores are one of the most fair predictors of success *including for low-income students* bc a good score from a low resourced env signals success, even if the absolute number is lower than a high score from a kid from a wealthier background.

100%. Test scores and give a bump for kids at T1 schools and for at-risk kids. If that drives parents to send their kids to T1 schools, so much the better.

As a parent who has a 99% percentile kid in a struggling T1 middle school, the teacher recommendations keep me up at night.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:BRING. BACK. TEST. SCORES.
It is well documented that (1) test scores predict success; (2) they are not sullied by subjective teacher personality and school culture nonsense (eg schools that have their shit together ride teachers to produce good and on-time recs); (3) prep is associated with parental income but test scores are one of the most fair predictors of success *including for low-income students* bc a good score from a low resourced env signals success, even if the absolute number is lower than a high score from a kid from a wealthier background.

100%. Test scores and give a bump for kids at T1 schools and for at-risk kids. If that drives parents to send their kids to T1 schools, so much the better.

As a parent who has a 99% percentile kid in a struggling T1 middle school, the teacher recommendations keep me up at night.

May I ask how so?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks. Where did you find those dates?! There is no specified recommendation deadline posted anywhere, or even mentioned. The only dates published are the application deadline, the interview dates and the lottery result dates.

I am a DCPS middle school teacher (and parent). So I looked in my DCPS email.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Yes, there was a due date.

2025: February 10th
2024: February 9th
2023: February 8th
2016: February 9th
2014: February 10th

These were all the dates I could find in my email, but obviously around the same time each year and after the applications are due for students.

Makes sense, but when you (00:13) say you found those dates in your emails, do you recall who those emails were from or when they came?? DCPS? SWW? Banneker?

Basically I'm trying to understand which applicants were sent information about the Feb 9 deadline and by whom. DCPS has acknowledged that it sent an alert email with the recommendation deadline to some applicants but accidentally forgot to send it to others (!). So some families were told Feb 9 was a deadline, but others weren't. And even when DCPS realized they had made this mistake, instead of quickly contacting schools to let them know what had happened and contacting applicants to see if they might need extra days (I think it was after Feb 9 already), they just stayed quiet, said oops, and still penalized applicants for missing a deadline that had never been communicated to them.

In our case, we were never told about the Feb 9 deadline. We submitted Jan 29 and I was checking the application portal regularly and eventually realized one of the recommendations hadn’t come through because of an incomplete email address. Once I caught the issue, I corrected the email and notified everyone. Although this was still over a week before any interviews, it turned out that the recommender portal had already closed.

Meanwhile, a friend's child had also been missing a recommendation - just like us - , but in their case they had received an email from [e-mail] titled “Action Requested by Feb 9,” so she knew when it had to be in and made sure it was addressed by that date.

BTW, SWW's principal told us - incorrectly - that "regular reminders were sent to applicants." I don't know if she thought SWW was doing that or DCPS, but regardless, neither is true.

Anyway, at this point I'm just trying to spread the word about that DCPS email to all the other families they forgot to send it to. Those students were denied equal access to key information and can/should file a complaint with DCPS Office of Integrity.

It's probably too late for any of our kids this year, but for all the families next year and beyond, DCPS needs to be held accountable.


So...Any details you can share about where your Feb 9 deadline communication came from - and how previous years's deadline were communicated - would be really helpful.

On behalf of all applicants, thank you!

Sorry, this is from a DCPS email. When my child applied to high schools (2023) I only see the emails that we got for a teacher completing it. (Both of those were done on February 6th.) I recommended my students to go in and check their portal. I try to make sure all my coworkers know how truly important getting the recommendations in can be for applications.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Yes, there was a due date.

2025: February 10th
2024: February 9th
2023: February 8th
2016: February 9th
2014: February 10th

These were all the dates I could find in my email, but obviously around the same time each year and after the applications are due for students.

Makes sense, but when you (00:13) say you found those dates in your emails, do you recall who those emails were from or when they came?? DCPS? SWW? Banneker?

Basically I'm trying to understand which applicants were sent information about the Feb 9 deadline and by whom. DCPS has acknowledged that it sent an alert email with the recommendation deadline to some applicants but accidentally forgot to send it to others (!). So some families were told Feb 9 was a deadline, but others weren't. And even when DCPS realized they had made this mistake, instead of quickly contacting schools to let them know what had happened and contacting applicants to see if they might need extra days (I think it was after Feb 9 already), they just stayed quiet, said oops, and still penalized applicants for missing a deadline that had never been communicated to them.

In our case, we were never told about the Feb 9 deadline. We submitted Jan 29 and I was checking the application portal regularly and eventually realized one of the recommendations hadn’t come through because of an incomplete email address. Once I caught the issue, I corrected the email and notified everyone. Although this was still over a week before any interviews, it turned out that the recommender portal had already closed.

Meanwhile, a friend's child had also been missing a recommendation - just like us - , but in their case they had received an email from [e-mail] titled “Action Requested by Feb 9,” so she knew when it had to be in and made sure it was addressed by that date.

BTW, SWW's principal told us - incorrectly - that "regular reminders were sent to applicants." I don't know if she thought SWW was doing that or DCPS, but regardless, neither is true.

Anyway, at this point I'm just trying to spread the word about that DCPS email to all the other families they forgot to send it to. Those students were denied equal access to key information and can/should file a complaint with DCPS Office of Integrity.

It's probably too late for any of our kids this year, but for all the families next year and beyond, DCPS needs to be held accountable.


So...Any details you can share about where your Feb 9 deadline communication came from - and how previous years's deadline were communicated - would be really helpful.

On behalf of all applicants, thank you!

Sorry, this is from a DCPS email. When my child applied to high schools (2023) I only see the emails that we got for a teacher completing it. (Both of those were done on February 6th.) I recommended my students to go in and check their portal. I try to make sure all my coworkers know how truly important getting the recommendations in can be for applications.

We got automated emails on January 22nd and January 29th that our application was incomplete as it was missing one or more teacher recs. You could also log into myschooldc and view the status of your application to see whether the letters were submitted, who the emails went to, and when they were due.

This is a copy/paste of one of the emails:

Greetings DCPS Selective HS/Program lottery applicant families,
We hope that this message finds you well. You are receiving this email because you have applied to one or more of the DCPS Selective High Schools or Programs.
As a reminder, the high school lottery application deadline is Monday, February 2, 2026. We are writing to follow up regarding recommendation letters, which are required as part of the application process and are due by Monday, February 9, 2026.
As of January 21, 2026, our records indicate that your student may have one or more missing recommendations. Please note that applications with missing recommendations will receive zero points for that component.
To ensure your application can be fully reviewed by your school(s) of interest, please complete the following steps in your My School DC (MSDC) account. Log into your MSDC account and follow steps below:
Under Submitted Applications, select the fourth image for View/Edit Recommendations.
a. Hover over options to confirm, if unsure which to select.
Once in View Status of Recommendations, you will see the status of your recommendation as shown in the screenshot below: image
Review and confirm that the recommender’s email address is captured accurately.
Check the recommender’s name spelling and the spelling of the email domain.
If your application was submitted more than 24 hours ago, you may send an email reminder to your recommender by selecting Send an Email Reminder.
Please note that you may not send more than one (1) reminder in any given 24-hour period.
Feel free to also graciously remind your recommender about the outstanding request.
Be mindful that your recommender(s) may have a high volume of recommendation letters in their queue at this time, so your understanding and patience is highly appreciated and encouraged.

If you have questions or need assistance, please contact us directly at [e-mail] as soon as possible. Thank you for your continued interest in DC Public Schools.

Best,
The DCPS Enrollment Team