Massachusetts Charter School Waitlist Updated Report for 2014-2015

February 2015

Each spring, every charter school reports to the Department the number of students admitted for the following school year and the number of students on the school's waitlist. As indicated in the May 2014 report and appendix , the information provided below is the update regarding students on charter school waitlists for admission for the 2014-2015 school year. In that May 2014 report, 76 out of 84 charter schools reported 58,906 entries, with 44,876 unique students. For more information on waitlist policy and procedures and the number of students found on previous cycles of charter school waitlists, see Pre-Enrollment and Waitlist Data webpage.

For this updated waitlist report, the Department requested the submission of 2014-2015 waitlist data as of October 1, 2014 by November 14, 2014. Charter school waitlist data are recorded and maintained through each school's own mechanisms, separate from their student information management systems (SIMs). Accordingly, the Department collected the data through the upload of spreadsheet files using its security portal. Seventy-four of the 81¹ charter schools submitted data. Of the seven charter schools that did not submit data, six charter schools did not have a sufficient number of applicants to require a waitlist. The remaining charter school has an extended planning period and is set to open FY16.

The Department's Education Data Services Office conducted the matching process, using students' names (first, middle, last), dates of birth, towns of residence, and grades. Partial matches were manually reviewed to identify obvious data entry errors, such as transposition of digits in dates of birth².

The 74 waitlists that were matched contained 51,025 entries, distributed by grade as shown in this table:

The matching process identified 41,747 students within the 51,025 entries. Of these 41,747 students, 5,574 students (13.4%) appeared on more than one waitlist:

It is important to note that not every student on a charter school waitlist would accept an offer of admission if it were proffered. Some students may have been admitted to other schools that meet their needs, while others may be reluctant to switch schools after the beginning of the school year. Therefore, the number of students found on each charter school's waitlist may not accurately represent the number of students actively waiting for enrollment to that school. This is particularly true for those charter schools that choose to carry their waitlists from one year to the next, so that students can remain on the waitlist for several years.⁴ It is impossible to quantify this factor without making speculative and arbitrary assumptions, which we have chosen not to do. As a result, the unduplicated waitlist counts should be taken as rough approximations of demand rather than exact numbers.

The Department continues to explore other methods for collecting waitlist information because the current collection process requires significant resources from both the charter schools and the Department.

The appendix to this report can be found in the attached Excel file, which contains:

1. the total and unduplicated numbers of students on waitlists;
2. the total number of students on waitlists by grade;
3. the total and unduplicated numbers of students on waitlists for charter schools by city\town;
4. the total number of students on waitlists for each charter school;
5. the total number of students on waitlists for each charter school by grade;
6. the total number of students on waitlists for each charter school by city/town;
7. the total number of students on waitlists for each city/town by charter school;
8. the total number of students on waitlists for each charter school by city/town by grade;
9. the total number of students on waitlists for each city/town by grade by charter school; and
10. the total number of students on waitlists for each charter school by grade by city/town.

For further information regarding this report, please contact Brenton Stewart or the Office of Charter Schools and School Redesign .

Attachment

• FY15 Updated Waitlist Appendix

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¹ Please note that these 81 charter schools are representative of the 84 charter schools reported in the May 2014 report. The decrease from 84 to 81 is due to the consolidation of Match Community Day Charter Public School with Match Charter Public School, and Excel Academy Charter School - Chelsea and Excel Academy Charter School — Boston II with Excel Academy Charter School.

² It is likely that at least some matches were not identified due to less obvious transcription or data entry errors.

³ Boston Day and Evening Academy Charter School submitted ungraded waitlist information.

⁴ Changes to the charter school regulations were adopted in March 2014 by the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (see 603 CMR 1.05(10)(a)), which has affected how charter schools collect waitlist data. Under the amended regulations, charter schools shall maintain waitlists only for the school year for which the students applied (i.e., carrying over student names from new enrollment lotteries from one year to another is no longer be permitted). Provided that a charter school may choose to maintain any waitlists that were established prior to March 31, 2014 until such waitlists are exhausted, provided that such maintenance is clearly articulated in the school's enrollment policy approved by the Department.

Last Updated: February 4, 2019