The encyclopedia · Strategy & Leadership · Strategic decision · 2017–2018
Chicago's GoCPS put charter and district high schools in one application
GoCPS let Chicago eighth-graders rank 20 programs across charter and district schools in one match — 91% applied and most got a top-three offer.
Chicago Public Schools
the move
Chicago Public Schools launched GoCPS in fall 2017 for admissions to the 2018–19 school year, becoming the nation's largest district to integrate charter schools with district-run schools in one universal application. Previously, students applied to each program separately.
Students ranked up to 20 choices among roughly 250 programs in 132 high schools, and an algorithm returned a single best offer, with waitlists handled centrally. The district reported that 93 percent of eighth-graders participated and would learn their offers in March 2018.
A UChicago Consortium and Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago study found 91 percent of district eighth-graders applied through GoCPS and about four in five received an offer from a top-three choice. Fears that charters would drain neighborhood schools did not materialize: neighborhood-school enrollment rose from 22 to 23 percent.
why it works
- One application made all 250 programs visible to every family.
- A single offer ended the multi-school application arms race.
- Charters and district schools competed on equal terms.
- Centralized waitlists turned rejections into transparent queues.
what transfers
An admissions maze hides seats from the families who need them most. A universal application with one ranked list makes the market visible — and participation jumps.
what came after
GoCPS became the template for large-district unified enrollment, and its first-year data informed the academic literature on unified versus divided enrollment in school choice. The system was extended and refined in successive admission cycles.
references
- CPS eighth-graders who applied for high school under new system to get offers next week
- Some feared GoCPS would drive high schoolers to charters, but enrollment is up at neighborhood schools
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