PP, time to do a little googling for yourself. That info is readily available.

When is the lottery?

Which schools start in 5th grade other than Latin and Basis? Do any of the KIPP schools? Do they have big waitlists/demand for 5th? Does EL Haynes have demand for 5th grade? I'm wondering how many schools to apply to given the possible "swap" feature of the new lottery.

Anonymous wrote:How will specialized high schools be handled? For example, School Without Walls has an exam and interview process. When does this occur... before or after the lottery? If I pick Walls as my #1 choice but my child doesn't get in have I blown my lottery for the year?

I suspect that for the specialized high schools it will be again a unified online application, but not a lottery, though all details TBD it seems.

The high school open houses are starting soon. Here's the SWWHS open house info from their website:

Save The Date:
SWW Senior High School
Open House

Wednesday, November 13, 2013
10:00 am – noon
and
6:00 PM – 8:00 PM

George Washington University
Lisner Auditorium
730 21stStreet NW
Washington DC 20037
Foggy Bottom Metro Stop

Anonymous wrote:How will specialized high schools be handled? For example, School Without Walls has an exam and interview process. When does this occur... before or after the lottery? If I pick Walls as my #1 choice but my child doesn't get in have I blown my lottery for the year?

The document was written for the PCSB, so it mostly only includes information on charters, not anything specific for DCPS. I would guess that the application schools will use the lottery only for compiling lists of applicants, not for any sort of ranking or sorting, because they don't run on a lottery system, right?

Anonymous wrote:Forgive my ignorance, I'm new here and this is all really confusing. Do I have to put my neighborhood school on the list of schools I'd like my child to attend? Or do I put only schools outside the area we're zoned for? TIA.

You do for Pk3 and Pk4. After that you don't.

Forgive my ignorance, I'm new here and this is all really confusing. Do I have to put my neighborhood school on the list of schools I'd like my child to attend? Or do I put only schools outside the area we're zoned for? TIA.

How will specialized high schools be handled? For example, School Without Walls has an exam and interview process. When does this occur... before or after the lottery? If I pick Walls as my #1 choice but my child doesn't get in have I blown my lottery for the year?

Slightly more information about how the lottery will run is posted here via the PCSB. It's from their board package for the PCSB meeting tonight (10/16/2013).

http://www.livebinders.com/media/get/NjI3MTk0MQ==

Probably the key section below. Looks like it will be run almost exactly how DCPS has been running their lottery. No info on number of spots available to select schools.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
How does the lottery process assign students? How many schools will families be
matched with and can they be waitlisted?

Before the lottery is run, schools will have an opportunity to verify sibling
status for applicants who indicated that they have a sibling who is currently
enrolled at that school. Applicants will then be given a sibling preference as
appropriate.

Each applicant will be given a unique random number. The algorithm will
assign students to their best preferred school using the random lottery
number to break ties when there are more students than seats available.

Each student will be matched with no more than one school and waitlisted at
any schools they ranked higher than their match. For example, if they are
matched to their 4th choice, they will be waitlisted at their 1st, 2nd, and 3rd
choices.

Anonymous wrote:From the myschool.org website: "You do not need to submit an application if your child will remain in his or her current school or attend an in-boundary or feeder-pattern school for K–12. You do, however, need to apply to your in-boundary school for PK3 and PK4." The way it reads, IB preference is still there.

Yes, of course IB preference is still there. Is anyone seriously questioning that point?

From the myschool.org website: "You do not need to submit an application if your child will remain in his or her current school or attend an in-boundary or feeder-pattern school for K–12. You do, however, need to apply to your in-boundary school for PK3 and PK4." The way it reads, IB preference is still there.

Anonymous wrote:I am in no way "in the know," but you could have a lottery that does win-win trades to get people into better choices overall without having the low-income preference and the no guaranteed neighborhood school that are in the SF model. We'll all find out what they are doing soon enough!

If dcps eliminates IB preference, I could see many WotP families leaving DC.

I am in no way "in the know," but you could have a lottery that does win-win trades to get people into better choices overall without having the low-income preference and the no guaranteed neighborhood school that are in the SF model. We'll all find out what they are doing soon enough!

ITA. And another problem with the SF model as described above is neighborhood preference. O way no how charters hold give neighborhood preference.

I wouldn't exactly call myself an insider, but I know enough to be sure that this obsession with the San Francisco lottery is a complete fabrication. Not a red herring, not a dead end, just a lame homage to Salvador Dali: visually interesting and meaningless.