Maps & Boundaries

The planning unit model was developed by Arlington Public Schools (APS) in 2001 as a way to geographically assign students to schools. At the time of the planning unit’s development, the school system contained approximately 7,000 fewer students than the 2016-17 school year student enrollment for APS. In 2016, 216 planning units existed with an average of 59 elementary school students, 25 middle school students and 31 high school students in each planning unit. The increased student enrollment since that time has allowed planning units to grow in excess of 100 students, which creates challenges for reassigning units.

As a result of the increased student enrollment, Arlington Public Schools (APS) recruited a third-party consultant to review the planning units during the summer of 2017. The consultant conducted a series of adjustments focused on the existing attendance boundaries, student population totals, civic association boundaries, and alignment of both sides of the roads for cul-de-sac streets. Any new planning units created were subdivided from the “parent” planning unit to ensure alignment with the existing elementary, middle, and high school boundaries. The planning units were subdivided 130 times, bringing the total number of revised planning units to 346.

Find Your Planning Unit

You can use the boundary locator (provided by Arlington County) to find your specific planning unit and school boundaries.  After entering your address, you will be able to see your planning unit number.