NEW AND IMPROVED CHARTER SCHOOL COMMON ONLINE APPLICATION LAUNCHES TO COINCIDE WITH NYC DOE KINDERGARTEN ENROLLMENT PERIOD
Over 25,000 NYC Public Charter School Seats Available for 2016/17 School Year
NEW YORK – In order to make the public school application process simpler for families, the Common Online Charter School Application has launched a month earlier to align with the NYC DOE’s kindergarten enrollment period. Families applying for district schools will have the opportunity to simultaneously consider the charter school option. The Common Online Application period runs from December 1, 2015 through March 30, 2016.
To date, over 150 New York City public charter schools and networks, representing more than 70 percent of the sector and 185 different campuses, are participating in the 2016-2017 Common Online Application, a project of the New York City Charter School Center. The Application, newly redesigned by SchoolMint, a national developer of online applications, is offered in 10 languages and features a more user-friendly process for families, including new mapping, profile and application tracking functions.
The Common Online Application helps NYC charter schools – which have over 25,000 seats available for the 2016-17 school year – extend their outreach. In particular, the charter sector is committed to expanding recruitment to English language learners. In addition to English, the application is available in Spanish, French, Arabic, Haitian Creole, Chinese, Urdu, Bengali, Korean and Russian. The New York City Charter School Center will also be conducting a multi-lingual ad campaign to alert non-English speaking families to charter schools and the application.
Over 110,000 applications were received through the Common Online Charter School Application for the 22,000 seats available for the 2015-2016 school year.
“We are pleased to launch our Common Online Charter School Application in sync with the NYC DOE’s enrollment process in order to make it easier for New York City families to consider all of their public school options in a streamlined fashion,” said James Merriman, CEO of the New York City Charter School Center. “Parents need to find the school that best fits their child’s needs and interests – we want to make sure families know that charter schools not only offer a high quality option, but also that the application process is very simple.”
The 2016-2017 Common Online Charter School Application is available at: https://nyccharterschools.schoolmint.net.
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The New York City Charter School Center is an independent non-profit committed to fostering an environment in which public charters can open and flourish, and, through their innovative approaches, provide models for improving all public schools. The Charter Center helps new charter schools get started, supports existing schools, and engages the charter school community around key issues. Learn more about the NYC Charter School Center at www.nyccharterschools.org.
To learn more about charter schools and apply, visit CharterNYC.org.
