ERIC Number: EJ1466590
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2025-Mar
Pages: 14
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0162-3737
EISSN: EISSN-1935-1062
Available Date: 0000-00-00
Assigning Students to Schools in an Era of Public School Choice: Patterns in Enrollment, Applications, and Offers in Chicago
Lauren Sartain1; Riley Lewers2; Lisa Barrow2
Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, v47 n1 p292-305 2025
Districts with expansive school choice must decide how to match students and schools. Increasingly, districts are centralizing applications on one-stop portals that feature information about schooling options, admission requirements, and a single application and deadline with the hope of increasing transparency and streamlining the enrollment process. After Chicago Public Schools introduced a centralized platform (GoCPS), students were more likely to enroll in high-performing high schools, although this continued as a pre-existing upward trend. Enrollment declined slightly at charter schools and increased at neighborhood schools, mirroring shifts in applications. GoCPS reduced the number of admission offers, likely lessening uncertainty around ninth-grade enrollment. Districts implementing similar systems should consider the availability of seats at high-demand schools and reduce barriers to navigating choice systems.
Descriptors: Student Placement, School Choice, Public Schools, Enrollment, Educational Quality, Urban Education, High Schools, Educational Demand
SAGE Publications. 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Tel: 800-818-7243; Tel: 805-499-9774; Fax: 800-583-2665; e-mail: journals@sagepub.com; Web site: https://sagepub.com
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: High Schools; Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Illinois (Chicago)
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: 1The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; 2Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago

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