GoCPS Training on the Selections Process for SY 2026-2027

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Link to Session Recording

Spanish Version

For Families Applying to High School

Spring 2026

• Introductions & Agenda
• Overview of the Selections Process
• Navigating the GoCPS Parent Portal
• The Rolling Waitlist
• Resources for Families
• Questions!

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Overview of the Selections Process

High School Programs

How it Works

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If a student wants to attend ANY school outside of their Neighborhood school,

Is the PRIMARY way!

• Students are not restricted to the assigned neighborhood schools or schools near their home.

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• For grades K-9, students must go through the application process before attending any non-neighborhood school or program. Note: Schools manage transfer process outside of GoCPS for grades 10-12.

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• Applications are submitted the year before a child will enroll.

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• If a child will enroll in fall 2026, the application will be submitted in fall of 2025.

Exceptions include: OSD placement for ES, STLS placement, etc…

Selections Process Timelines

February 18, 2026

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SEHS Principal Discretion Application Opens

March 13, 2026

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HS Appeals Window Closes

April 10, 2026

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SEHS PD Results Released

April 10, 2026

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ES Appeals Window Closes

March 30, 2026

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HS Rolling Waitlist Opens

Platform Closed

3/9-3/13

Platform Closed

2/9-2/13

March 13, 2026

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ES Results Released

& ES Appeals Process Opens

April 3, 2026

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ES Offer Acceptance Deadline

High

School

Elementary School

Please Note: The GoCPS Platform will be closed to all School Staff and Guardians for the week prior to HS and ES Results going live.

February 13, 2026

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HS Results Released

& HS Appeals Process Opens

March 6, 2026

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SEHS PD App Closes�& HS Offer Acceptance Deadline

April 27, 2026

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ES Rolling Waitlist Opens

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HOW IT WORKS

Single Best Offer

A student can receive up to…

General Education Program at

Neighborhood School

Continuing Program

(for students attending 8th grade in a HS)

Choice High School Program

Selective Enrollment High School Program

Guaranteed Offers

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How Exactly are Selections Determined?

High School

Selections Process

Video

This video and more are available now on the GoCPS website in both English and Spanish.

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Click Here to View them all now!

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High School GoCPS Results

will be posted at 5PM on

Friday, February 13, 2026

Offer Acceptance Window & Deadline

Results are Released

Offer Acceptance Deadline

3 Week Period

• Accepting any offer automatically declines all other offers.

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• Decisions CAN be changed as many times within this 3 week window

All Initial Results Posted in the GoCPS Online Portal

• Decisions CANNOT be changed after the Offer Acceptance deadline at 5 pm

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• Make sure all decisions are final before the deadline

**Offer Statuses are Final as of the Offer Acceptance Deadline **

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HOW IT WORKS

Receiving Results…

ONLINE APPLICATION

All Results posted to GoCPS online account

What Will Applicants See?

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• Offered programs.

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• Not offered programs.

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• Waitlisted programs and waitlist number.

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When are students automatically waitlisted?

All choice programs regardless of lottery or point based.

CHOICE HIGH SCHOOLS

SELECTIVE ENROLLMENT HIGH SCHOOLS

If NO offer is received, the applicant will be placed on all waitlists*

If an offer to a selective enrollment program is received, the applicant WILL NOT automatically be placed on any waitlists

If an offer is received, an applicant can decline the offer and join a waitlist.

Students are waitlisted for all programs ranked higher than the offer received.

* students will be marked “Admin Declined” if they do not meet minimum program eligibility requirements

SEHS Principal Discretion

How it Works

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SEHS Principal Discretion Full Timeline

Students who qualify, will see the SEHS PD application in their GoCPS portal automatically on 2/18/26 at 10am.

• Can choose only 1 program to apply to
• Must have applied to the SEHS program in the fall
• Must have taken the HSAT in the fall

Selective Enrollment High Schools Only

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SEHS Principal Discretion Basics

• Apply based on the following criteria:
• Unique Skills or Abilities.
• Activities Demonstrating Social Responsibility.
• Extenuating Circumstances.
• Demonstrated Ability to Overcome Hardship.

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• SEHS Principals select up to 5% of their incoming class.

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• Available Now! SEHS Principal Discretion Handbook was added to the GoCPS website on February 6th.

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• Complete the application through the GoCPS online portal and attach the additional supporting materials made up of:
• Personal statement (6000 character limit) to be pasted directly into application portal
• Up to (3) Letter of Recommendation
• Up to (4) pages of additional supporting files

Students CAN accept an initial SEHS or Choice HS offer AND still apply for PD!

Applicants cannot save progress and come back later to the application. They must compile materials outside of the GoCPS portal.

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Applicants will not be able to make changes to their application once submitted.

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Make sure the application is exactly as you want it to be before submitting!

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Navigating the GoCPS Parent Portal

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Log into the GoCPS Parent Portal

from the GoCPS site!

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OR visit:

Click the “Log In” button in the top left corner.

Accessing Info in GoCPS Portal

apply.cps.edu

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Click the arrow to translate the site into the following languages

Click “Login to an Existing Account”. If you do not know this information, please use the password reset on the next screen. Do NOT create a new account.

Questions about logging in? Call the Office of Access and Enrollment at 773-553-2060 or email gocps@cps.edu.

Parent Dashboard

The Parent Dashboard will show which applications were submitted and where an offer is available.

Click “Review Offer” to see the offer!

Student Name

2999999

Example: Application submitted, offer not received

Example: Application not submitted

Scroll down to view the Program Offer

Feb 13

Response Due: March 6, 2026

This is the date that the offer will expire and automatically expire if there is no response.

During the Offer Acceptance period, families can only accept offers. Once the Waitlist period opens, families will be able to accept and decline offers.

Scroll own further to see Waitlisted Programs

These are the Current Waitlists that the applicant is still sitting on.

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Families can check the yellow block to see where they are on the waitlist.

Applicants could be removed from waitlists due to:

• Getting an offer from something ranked higher
• Not qualifying for that selections process.

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Admin Declined means that the system automatically removed this student from the waitlist. Students will have the option to join again once the Rolling Waitlist opens.

Accepting an Offer

Click ‘Accept’ to finish submitting pop-up. See confetti to ensure acceptance is confirmed.

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Parent Dashboard

2999999

STUDENT NAME

The Parent Dashboard will now reflect the accepted offer.

Guaranteed Offer(s) will be available for you to accept until the end of July!*

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Remember, after the Offer Acceptance Deadline, accepting an offer will decline other Choice or Selective offers.

Rolling Waitlist

How it Works

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Rolling Waitlist Basics

• All schools are included on the Rolling Waitlist, and students can add any school that they are eligible to apply for to their application regardless of capacity.
• Only programs with space will make waitlist offers to students.
• Waitlist offers will continue to be made until program capacity is met.

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Rolling Waitlist Changes

Receiving Waitlist Offers:

• All offers will be made by OAE instead of by schools
• Offers will go out twice a week on a set schedule
• Families can receive a single best waitlist offer
• Ranking becomes an important part of the Rolling Waitlist
• Choice: Students will be removed from waitlists ranked lower than the offer they receive
• Selective: Students are automatically removed from all selective waitlists if an offer is received
• Schools should still notify families when offers are extended

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Rolling Waitlist Offers will be made by the Office of Access and Enrollment twice a week

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Schools should notify parents who received an offer!

• Schools will know who received an offer the same time as families.
• Schools should contact families through phone or email to let them know they received an offer and when their offers will expire.
• Families will also receive automatic notifications from our office when the offer is made through an email coming directly from EnrollWise.

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Navigating the GoCPS Parent Portal- Rolling Waitlist

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Things to Remember for Rolling Waitlist

Adding/Removing Programs to the Application

• Students will open their existing applications and add or remove programs.
• Up to 20 choice and 6 selective enrollment
• Students who did not apply in the fall, will create a GoCPS account and add programs.
• There is no cap on how many waitlist offers a student can receive, but they can only accept one at a time.
• Accepting an offer automatically declines any other offers received.

When does the Waitlist Close?

• Selective Enrollment Programs (ES and HS): 20th day of school
• Choice Programs (ES and HS): January 2027

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HOW IT WORKS

Joining the Rolling Waitlist:

Lottery Based Programs

HOW IT WORKS

Joining the Rolling

Waitlist:

Points Based Programs

LOTTERY BASED PROGRAMS

WL #1

WL #6

WL #3

WL #2

WL #7

WL #4

WL #5

Example

WL #1

WL #6

WL #3

WL #2

WL #4

WL #5

875

830

861

873

855

854

Points

Waitlist #

Joins the waitlist with 874 points

Resorted

Applicants can add themselves to the end of the existing waitlist.

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All priorities exist.

Applicants are re-sorted into descending total point order

All Selective Programs

(ES & HS): An applicant will not be able to add themselves to the waitlist if they have received an offer in that category until the offer is declined. Once the offer is declined, they can manually add themselves to the waitlist for another program(s).

Login and Navigate to the Dashboard

Student Name

Click “View” and see the details of this application.

Click here to go back to the map to add new programs to your application.

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See all the programs you had previously applied to and click RE-APPLY if you want to re-add a program to your application.

2999999

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Rolling Waitlist Ranking

Make sure to rank all programs. Students will only receive a single best offer when the waitlist is run.

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For students, this means…

• Choice: Applicants will be removed from waitlists that are ranked lower than the offer received.
• Selective: Applicants will be removed from all waitlists within the same category if an offer is received.

Use the arrows to re-rank

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Waitlist numbers will populate in the yellow bubbles.

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If a Waitlist Offer is received…

1. Applicants can receive up to 1 single best offer in each category.
1. Choice: Removed from all waitlists ranked lower than the offer received.
2. Selective: Removed from all waitlists ranked higher and lower.

• Offers will be available by 10 am on Tuesdays and Fridays.

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• Families will receive a notification from OAE when the offer is sent out.

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• Schools should follow up with a call or email to families.

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• Applicants can log into their GoCPS online portal to Accept the offer. Offers Expire same time every week.

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After Accepting the Offer

Offer Letter Available in the Online GoCPS Portal

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• Students should look out for next steps directly from the school they have accepted.

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• Information on High School Connection will come from the newly accepted high school

Remember… accepting an offer automatically declines any other open or previously accepted offers.

Make sure you see confetti to ensure that your acceptance went through.

Resources for Families

Spring 2026

GoCPS Family Trainings

Elementary School Family Training Sign Up

High School Family Training Sign Up

• Please schedule trainings with your families as needed.
• We are a train-the-trainer model!
• But also feel free to invite families to the sessions OAE conducts.
• Sign up linked below and will also be on the GoCPS Homepage.

Training schedules based on grade applying to available.

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English Sessions in White

Spanish Sessions in Yellow

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Applying to Grades K- 8 Sessions:

• March 3, 2026, 10-11 am
• March 5, 2026, 12-1 pm
• March 6, 2026, 1-2 pm
• March 9, 2026, 2-3 pm
• March 10, 2026, 5-6 pm
• March 11, 2026, 10-11 am
• March 12, 2026, 10-11 am

Applying to 9th Grade Sessions:

• February 5, 2026, 10-11am
• February 5, 2026, 2-3 pm
• February 9, 2026, 11-12 pm
• February 9, 2026, 2-3 pm
• February 10, 2026, 10-11 am
• February 11, 2026, 10-11 am
• February 12, 2026, 5-6 pm

Resources on the GoCPS Website

Resources Available include…

• Series of Animated Videos
• Scoring Rubrics and Point Total Documents
• Guides and Training Recordings
• Preference Maps
• Breakdown of all parts of the application

GoCPS Website Linked Here

Parents/guardians should sign up so they can be involved in and directly informed about their child’s application process. CPS students that are 13 years of age or older should subscribe using a personal email address or their parent/guardian’s email address.

Subscribe at cps.edu/gocps

Common Terms and Appendix

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SEHS

Selective Enrollment High School

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SEES

Selective Enrollment Elementary School

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HSAT

High School Admissions Test

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RGC

Regional Gifted Exam

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EL-RGC

Regional Gifted Exam for English Learners

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EWID

EnrollWise ID

Waitlists - What the EnrollWise system calls programs being added to the application

Pending Offer - Student received an offer and needs to accept or decline before expiry date

Pending Waitlist - Student is currently on the waitlist for this program

Admin Declined - The system has declined the seat due to a better offer being available or eligibility rules

Declined- Family has declined the seat or accepted another offer

Commonly Used Acronyms

Remaining Time for…

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Contact the OFFICE OF ACCESS AND ENROLLMENT

773-553-2060

gocps@cps.edu