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Parents and students have complained for years that Philadelphia’s selective school enrollment process is notoriously difficult to navigate and favors those with time, energy, and a familiarity with spreadsheets.
The current setup allows families of students in prekindergarten through 11th grade to choose a school outside their designated neighborhood school. The district uses a mixture of a ranking system, matching algorithm, lottery, and ZIP code preference in an effort to assign students to the school that best fits their needs.
But that’s just for district schools. Most charter schools in the city enroll through a separate application, Apply Philly Charter, with different deadlines than the district’s process and a separate lottery system altogether. About a dozen charter schools don’t participate in either system and instead run their own application process.
So is there an alternative to a system that skeptics fear is making students miss out on opportunities? Some advocates say a universal enrollment system with a single application for Philly’s traditional district, magnet, and charter schools could be a step in the right direction and contribute to a school ecosystem that is less opaque, more attractive to families, and more equitable.
After years of listening to parents’ and students’ pleas for a simpler application process, Stacy Holland of the Philly-based advocacy group Elevate 215 she’s come around to the idea that universal enrollment is worth exploring for charters and the district. Elevate 215 manages the platform for Apply Philly Charter.
“We have too much data and too many requests from parents stating this is too confusing,” said Holland, the group’s executive director. “At some point, we need to just respond to that as a city.”
Holland said she’s talked with Philadelphia district officials about switching to a universal enrollment system and she’s “optimistic” her calls might be gaining traction. But Monique Braxton, a district spokesperson, told Chalkbeat on Wednesday the district is not “actively exploring universal enrollment at this time.”
Supporters point to Denver as a model for what a unified system can look like. Those who helped shape and run Denver’s system say it can remove complexity that ultimately privileges some students over others, and is well-regarded by families of all backgrounds for how easy it is to use.
But Philly has considered — and rejected — a similar idea before. And experts who’ve studied universal enrollment systems across the country say they’re not a cure-all, even when they work well.
Maintaining those systems can also be difficult, as cities like Indianapolis and Newark have demonstrated in recent years.
Tensions between school districts, charter schools can fracture universal enrollment
The details of unified enrollment systems can vary. But generally, they allow families to apply to multiple schools with a single application and then use an algorithm or formula to assign students to the schools those students have ranked highest.
Universal or unified enrollment systems have been in place in many districts since the early 2010s. Research has shown that unified enrollment systems present information more clearly, they’re more accessible, and some studies have shown they can help integrate schools over time, although those effects are small.
Such systems are designed to be good at solving certain problems such as matching students with schools they want to attend and giving schools a better idea of which students will actually enroll when the school year begins, said Jon Valant, director of the Brown Center on Education Policy at the Brookings Institution who has studied universal enrollment.
“It can make life easier for both parents or families and for schools too,” Valant said.
But they’re not designed to deal with other logistical issues, like facilitating transportation. They also don’t solve what Valant said is the biggest challenge for districts and families: scarcity. A centralized system can change the distribution of who gets seats at coveted, high-performing schools, Valant said, but it can’t add seats or guarantee families will get their top choice.
More broadly, districts that use a universal system must work to ensure “that a community trusts this thing and it understands what it’s there for and how to work with it,” he said.
In the 2014-15 school year, the Newark school district adopted a universal enrollment system. A 2018 report found the system was “remarkably successful at improving special education students’ access to high-demand schools,” and that charters started enrolling more of those students.
Jesse Margolis, a coauthor of that 2018 report from MarGrady Research, said he observed the same for district magnet schools. He said from an equity perspective, the unified enrollment system “seems to have been helpful.”
Brian Eschbacher, who helped run the universal enrollment system in the Denver school district and now heads an education consulting firm, said the system’s added language support has helped more families who speak languages other than English participate in the process.
Margolis identified other benefits in Newark. Student rosters at district schools became more stable and reliable, and students were less likely to switch schools during the year, he said.
But recent history shows tensions between charters and traditional public schools have fractured these systems.
When Philadelphia officials and advocates discussed whether to adopt a similar system in 2014, one debate was whether all charters in the city would have to participate.
A fundamental concern for districts can be whether unified enrollment systems disproportionately benefit charters by raising their profile for prospective students. There are also questions about who manages these systems, collects data from them, and enforces their rules.
A few years after Margolis’ report highlighted positive results in Newark, Superintendent Roger León started instituting tighter restrictions for families applying to charters through the Newark Enrolls unified system.
By 2022, seven of Newark’s largest charter school networks pulled out of Newark Enrolls and started their own system: the Newark Common App.
District officials did not respond to Chalkbeat’s requests for an interview about Newark Enrolls.
Meanwhile, Indianapolis Public Schools is considering dropping Enroll Indy due to what it called cost concerns and other issues. But critics, including some charter representatives, say the move will create “confusion and instability” and runs afoul of state law.
What’s been key to Denver’s system, Eschbacher said, is its mandate that charter schools participate. Because it’s so well-liked and all of the other schools are participating, he said, “it’s got this positive halo effect” where everyone wants to be involved.
Contrary to worries that charter schools benefit most, Eschbacher said in cities where enrollment is declining like Philadelphia, a universal enrollment system “gives you a fighting shot” at keeping more families in district schools.
“You should be trying to roll out the red carpet to keep as many of those families as possible by making their experience better,” he said.
Carly Sitrin is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Philadelphia. Contact Carly at csitrin@chalkbeat.org.
