Option Schools and Programs

Click to watch the information session. or view the PowerPoint 

Learn more about Schoolmint.

New APS families interested in applying to an option school are also encouraged to register for their neighborhood school.

• If a space in an option school is offered to a family, the registration documentation provided will be transferred to the option school.
• If a student is placed on a waitlist for an option school, registering at their neighborhood school guarantees the student will have a space for the upcoming school year.
• Early neighborhood school registrations support APS with staffing projections and resource allocation.

Use the School Boundary (Attendance Zone) Locator to find your neighborhood school.

Registration can be completed online, at the neighborhood school or at the APS Welcome Center.

New Families (students who live in Arlington but do not attend an APS school)  interested in applying for H-B Woodlawn must apply to the Non-APS seat allocation.

View a short video on the lottery process. 

If more applications are received than there are seats available, APS will conduct a random, double-blind lottery to determine admission.

• Families will be notified of a seat offer or waitlist number by email and/or text on the date lotteries are run.
• Families must confirm or decline attendance to the school or program within two weeks of notice for the first round of offers, then one week for successive round.
• If families do not accept or decline their seat by the deadline, their seat will be given to the next student on the waitlist.
• If families apply to more than one school/program, their application will go into all lotteries simultaneously. 

Waitlists

Students who applied, but were not selected through the lottery process, will be placed in numerical order on a waitlist.

Applications received after the deadline are placed at the bottom of the existing waitlist for the upcoming school year.

• When students on the waitlist are offered a seat, they have a one-week window to accept. If the seat is not accepted within the one-week window, the offer will be rescinded and offered to the next student on the waitlist.
• Option seats are continuously filled throughout the school year as seats become available.

Elementary:

Siblings who will be concurrently enrolled at the same elementary school will receive priority in admission.

Middle and High School:

Sibling preference is not currently offered at the middle and high school levels.

Transportation is available for students attending option schools/programs who live outside their school’s walk zone (View school bus eligibility maps).

• All transportation for option schools and programs is provided via hub stops. Hub stops are central locations—such as a community center or school—where students from several neighborhoods meet to catch the bus to their school and may be a longer distance from a student’s residence. Learn more.

K-12 neighborhood schools and option schools are free for all students to attend.

Early Childhood option schools/programs may have fees based on a sliding scale.

Learn more on sliding scales here.

All APS schools offer information sessions for families.  View the schedule for:

• Elementary Schools
• Middle Schools
• High Schools

The Options and Transfers Policy (J-5.3.31) and Policy Implementation Procedure (J-5.3.31 PIP-1) outline the process determined by the School Board that APS follows to ensure equitable access for all students to the available option school/programs and neighborhood transfers.

View application data for option schools and programs.

Where can we find the lottery application?

The application for School Mint is found at:https://apsva.schoolmint.net/

If we previously made a SchoolMint account last year, do we need to make another one this year? We didn’t enter the school system but applied to pre-K programs and were not accepted. You should not create a new SchoolMint account if you have a SchoolMint account from a previous year. Please use the same account to apply for option schools and programs this year. You can reset your password by clicking “forgot password” and following the prompts if you have forgotten it.

Do I need to apply online? Is there a paper application available for option schools?

There is no paper application. All families interested in applying to an Option school or program must submit their application online through SchoolMint. If you need help with the application process, the APS Welcome Center is here to help.

What does the double-blind lottery mean?

A “double-blind” lottery is the system APS uses to select students and offer them a seat in an option school, program, or neighborhood/targeted transfer. In this system, neither the people running the lottery (APS) nor the participants (applicants) know who will be chosen. This helps ensure that the selection process is entirely unbiased and random. It’s like drawing names out of a hat, but with extra steps to ensure everything is fair and no one can influence the outcome.

If we don’t live in Arlington and apply from outside the district, will this impact our chances of being accepted into an option school? For example, would we have a lower rank, or do Arlington residents receive higher priority or preference?

Regarding applying to option schools/programs, no priority is given to Arlington residents over applicants currently outside the county.  However, if offered a seat and the seat is accepted, students must register and submit the required documents, including Arlington home address documents, by June 25, 2025. If the student does not register, they could lose their seat.

Are the preferences reviewed for the waitlist applicants or before the lottery?

Priorities are reviewed and verified before running the lottery.

Can you clarify how we indicate DOS (non-military) status? In the past, military connection was specifically identified on the application, but nothing for DOS.

DOS, Civilian DOD, and Active-duty Military are all considered equal for the purpose of this application priority.  There are questions in the Option Schools applications that ask DOS, DOD, and Active-duty Military families to declare that they are relocating on orders, have evidence of orders, and that their children are applying for a program or school that is “like” the one they are enrolled in during the current year.  “Like” programs are Montessori, IB, and DLI.  Campbell, HB-Woodlawn, Arlington Tech, and Arlington Traditional School are not considered to have any “like” programs outside APS.

If you are geographically closest to one of the option schools (versus your assigned elementary school), does this give you any preference for the option school?

For countywide options schools and programs, geographical proximity is not a priority or preference.

Can we apply to any option school within APS, or are we limited to where we live?

K-12 Countywide programs are open to anyone to apply.

For the dual language immersion programs at the elementary level, families can only apply to their designated school based on the boundary locator.

For PreK, Primary Montessori applicants can apply to the Montessori Public School of Arlington and the satellite location assigned to their neighborhood school. PreK families applying for the Virginia Preschool Initiative (VPI) program can apply to up to four sites: their neighborhood school, one dual language program, ATS, and Campbell. CPP Programs are located within neighborhood schools.

When applying to a school or program, can we select more than one location and register our kids into two different locations of the same program?

Families applying for grades K-12 can submit only one application per option school or program.

For PreK, Primary Montessori applicants can apply to the Montessori Public School of Arlington and the satellite location assigned to their neighborhood school. PreK families applying for the Virginia Preschool Initiative (VPI) program can apply to up to four sites: their neighborhood school, one dual language program, ATS, and Campbell.

How do we register for a school tour?  Will those instructions also be posted?

Each school has an information session, not necessarily a tour. During the information sessions, the focus is on academic programming. Please see when the information sessions are for each program or school at https://www.apsva.us/schools-programs/family-information-sessions/

How does the lottery work with priority buckets? For instance, is 1 priority bucket satisfied before another bucket is looked at, or is it a weighted lottery where a higher priority bucket is given a higher “chance” at a seat?

Yes, once all students from the top-tier (#1) priority category are offered seats, the system offers students in the lower-tier priority categories.

If submitting applications for more than 1 option school program, will each school be notified of the offer/waitlist position on the same date?

Via SchoolMint, the Welcome Center will both send out offers and, for students who have yet to receive an offer, notify them of their waitlist position.  This will happen on the same day, February 7, 2025.

What if I get offered seats at multiple schools?

If you are offered seats to multiple option schools or programs, you will need to accept one by the given deadline. Once you accept an offer, all other offers will be automatically withdrawn.

If you decline a seat offer,  can you re-apply for another school year?

If you decline an offer, the next person on the waitlist will be given the seat. If eligible, you are welcome to apply for the option school or program the following year.

Please explain the options if you apply to two schools. If you get an offer from one, can you see where you are on the waitlist for the other?  How does that work for accepting a seat?

You can view your waitlist number in SchoolMint. If you accept a seat offered, your student will be removed from all other waitlists.

When you get waitlisted, do you get a number for where you are on the waitlist? Are there statistics on how likely you would be to get off the waitlist?

Chances vary widely, depending on the number of seats and applications.  We post data and statistics on our website, and that can offer you valuable information.  https://www.apsva.us/school-transfer-data/

If you do not receive an offer in the lottery, you will be informed of your waitlist number. You can monitor your waitlist position on your SchoolMint account.

Do APS teachers have an option to send their child to the school they teach at? Or is it only if the school at which they teach is a targeted transfer school?

Currently, APS does not offer a preference for teachers or staff to send their children to the schools where they teach/work. A student can attend the same school where their parent teaches/works only if they live within that school’s neighborhood boundary or if they apply and are accepted through the lottery for an option school/transfer or program.

For targeted transfers, only eligible planning units from Arlington Science Focus School (ASFS) could apply to attend Innovation Elementary.  Eligible Planning Units (Pus) 23211, 24080, 24100, 24111, 24120. These PUs are walkable to Innovation. You can find your planning unit here.

If we apply to multiple option schools, will we see our waitlist positions for all of the option schools as we decide whether to accept a seat if one is offered at one of the schools?

Yes, but since the waitlist number can change at any moment, we encourage you to monitor by logging into your school mint account to see what waitlist number you are for each program.

If my student isn’t accepted to the same school her sibling attends, does she get assigned to a neighborhood school, or will she not be able to attend a school?

Every student is guaranteed a space in the neighborhood school designated by their home address. Registration is required beginning February 2025 for the following school year.

If the language spoken at home by the children is Spanish, should that be noted on the application?

APS asks the following questions to determine applicants’ primary language:

• Is Spanish the primary language your child speaks at your home?
• Please consider: does your child think in Spanish?
• Does your child communicate with you and any siblings in Spanish?
• Is Spanish the language that your child uses most frequently to communicate?

This question must be answered only on the Escuela Key and Claremont applications because they are Dual Language Spanish immersion programs.

If we are interested in applying for a transfer, can we only apply for a transfer to an immediately neighboring district?

The only transfers available for the 2025-2026 school year are below: Targeted Transfers for 2025-26Arlington Science Focus ES to Innovation ESRising K-5th grade students currently residing in specific planning units are eligible to apply.

• Only specific planning units (PUs) are eligible (23211, 24080, 24100, 24111, 24120). These PUs are walkable to Innovation.
• No transportation provided.

• Find your planning unit here.

Neighborhood Transfers for 2025-26Williamsburg MS

• Open to all students, with priority to students whose elementary school attendance zones are Nottingham and Tuckahoe.
• No transportation provided.

What platform will we use to register our students?

APS uses different platforms for option school lottery applications and to register/enroll in APS.

1. Application Process and Platform: Families who want to register for an option school or program need to first apply through SchoolMint. Once accepted into an option school or program, new K-12 families to APS can proceed with registration at their accepted school.
2. Enrollment/Registration Platform: Arlington Public Schools uses Synergy® Student Information System (SIS) for school enrollment/registration. Learn more. 

What share of those who apply to an option school get in each year?

The acceptance rate for option schools varies each year based on several factors, including the total number of applicants, the priority given to certain groups, and the specific program’s capacity and demand. Therefore, it is difficult to provide a precise percentage as it can fluctuate annually. If you would like to see last year’s data, review it here: https://www.apsva.us/school-transfer-data/

Will there be information sessions about aftercare programs available at the option schools? Since the lottery is happening sooner this year, will aftercare programs also open sooner?
There is no change to the Extended Day registration timeline. Extended Day provides the same program across all APS schools. The Extended Day registration process is conducted in four phases. For instance, Phase 1 of the 2024-2025 School Year began on May 1, 2024. Families should submit their registration during their assigned phase. Deadlines will be posted on the Extended Day registration page.

Would Pre-K application students with Kindergarten current students fall under “concurrent” parameters for priority?
This depends on the school/program where your child is currently enrolled.MPSA: A current kindergarten student at MPSA and a PreK applicant would receive the concurrently enrolled priority.Primary Montessori Satellite location: A current kindergarten student enrolled in a Primary Montessori class at a neighborhood school (not MPSA) and a PreK applicant to Primary Montessori at that school would not receive the concurrently enrolled priority.

Can you apply to multiple pre-K programs using the same application and rank preferences  (i.e., if the first choice is neighborhood pre-K and the second choice is Montessori)?
Yes, you can apply to multiple PreK programs. While you can apply to multiple programs, you cannot rank preferences within the SchoolMint application system.

•  A 2.5-year-old student can apply to the toddler CPP program.
• A 3-year-old student can apply to Primary Montessori.
• A 3.5-4-year-old student can apply to CPP and Primary Montessori.  A 4-year-old student can apply to CPP, Primary Montessori and VPI*

*VPI- Family needs to meet the income eligibility criteria.

For CPP, you can apply to your neighborhood location OR the non-neighborhood option.

For Primary Montessori, you can apply to MPSA and the satellite location that your neighborhood school feeds into.

If your child is offered a seat within a program and you elect to accept the seat, your child’s name is removed from all other waitlists.

Do you need to say that your child attends a Spanish-speaking pre-k 4?
Questions in the DLI (Claremont or Key) applications ask families to provide information about their child’s Spanish-speaking experience. Currently, there is no priority for students who attend DLI preschools.

For how long do you keep the waitlisted students (pre-k level)
Waitlists remain active for one school year

My daughter is 3 years old; what program can she apply for? Her sister studies at Hoffman Boston. Next year, he will be 4.
A child who is 4 years old by September 30, 2025, can apply for CPP, Primary Montessori and VPI (if your family meets the income eligibility criteria).   A child at least 3.5 years old by September 30 can apply to CPP. For Primary Montessori, children need to be 3.0 years of age to apply.  If you would like to have both children together at Hoffman-Boston, you can apply to CPP if 3.5-4 years old by September 30 or to VPI if 4 years old by September 30. Hoffman-Boston does not have a Primary Montessori program.

For pre-k, are we submitting financial information with the application? And will we know upon acceptance if one would receive free Pre-K?
The VPI program is free for all eligible families.   The CPP and Primary Montessori programs have tuition based on a sliding fee scale. All three-year-old students pay tuition. Four-year-old students whose family income is less than 80% of the median income for a family of 4 in Arlington do not pay tuition. The updated tuition rates and median income information will be available on the APS website as they are updated by local agencies.

If my child does not qualify for VPI and will be 3 years old by November 2025, are there lottery options available for her age for the 2025 school year?
A child who is 3 by September 30, 2025, can apply for Primary Montessori.   A child who is 3.5 by September 30, 2025, can apply for Community Peer Program (CPP) and Primary Montessori.

Does APS provide transportation to 3-year-old students accepted to Montessori satellite locations?
No, transportation is not provided to 3-year-old students attending Montessori satellite locations.

Is there transportation for the Community Peer Program?
Yes, if the child is 4 years old and lives in the neighborhood school zone but is outside of the walk zone area.

Can a child in pre-k at their neighborhood school be waitlisted for K at same school?

Every student is guaranteed a space in the neighborhood school designated by their home address. Registration is required beginning February 2025 for the following school year.

Can we enter a child in the lottery for kindergarten at an option school when they are 6? Or do they have to be 5 to enter the lottery for kindergarten?

If your child is currently enrolled in kindergarten and will be six (6) by September 30, you should apply for first grade.

If your child will be six (6) years old by September 30 and has yet to complete Kindergarten, you cannot apply for an Option School or program for Kindergarten through SchoolMint. However, we can help you with this process.

Contact the Welcome Center to make the necessary adjustments in SchoolMint at 703-228-8000 or submit a question online.

Is there a lottery option for rising 5th graders (dual language) returning to State in September?

Active-duty military, Civilian DOD, and State Department families are encouraged to contact the Welcome Center Coordinator.  When seats are available for 5th graders, priority will be given to students currently enrolled in a Spanish Dual Language Immersion or Bilingual program to ensure they can continue in a “like” program here in APS.

If we’re applying for our son to enter Escuela Key (our neighborhood APS school) as a kindergartener, does priority #4 for DLI (attending another DLI program) include attending a private DLI preschool (Early Steps Bilingual Preschool)?

Since it is a countywide DLI program, Escuela Key (like Claremont) is not linked to a specific neighborhood but rather a section of the county.  Key would not be your “neighborhood” school, but the DLI school your address corresponds to.  Currently, there is no priority for students who attend DLI preschools.

Will there still be two lottery pools for DLI schools? Native English and Native Spanish?

There are 2 lottery pools for Kindergarten and First Grade, Non-Spanish Speakers and Spanish Speakers.

Is there a possibility to request a transfer for an Asperger child if he is in 2nd grade?

If your student has a current IEP, please schedule an IEP meeting to discuss the needs of your student including specific school placement. At this time, families cannot request an option school or program for specific placement.  If your student does not have an IEP and you are interested in a transfer process, please learn more at: https://www.apsva.us/transferring-to-another-school/

My child will turn 6 in September 2025. Even though he is not currently in kindergarten, he would still have to apply for 1st grade instead of kindergarten. Is this the same for non-option public schools in Arlington?

If your child will be six years old by September 30 and has not completed Kindergarten, you cannot apply for an Option School or program for Kindergarten through SchoolMint. However, we can assist you with this process. Please contact the Welcome Center to make the necessary adjustments in SchoolMint.

Will there still be a middle school redistricting this year? That may affect whether we’ll apply for a lottery or transfer.

On May 9, 2024, at the School Board Meeting, Dr. Durán shared the timeline for school-level boundary reviews in his announcements and updates (slide 8). The elementary and middle school boundary review will occur during the Summer and Fall of 2025. This review will include the proposed middle school immersion relocation paused in September 2023.

My son is in 4th grade. Is it too soon to apply now for the middle school lottery program?

Yes, applying for the 2026-2027 school year is too early. Applications are currently available for the 2025-2026 school year.

Is there a middle school lottery for rising 6th graders? 

For rising 6th graders with high proficiency or Dual Language Immersion / Bilingual experience in Spanish, they may apply to Gunston Middle School’s Dual Language Immersion (DLI) program.

The other Option School possibility for a rising 6th grader is H-B Woodlawn.

If a student is currently at their neighborhood middle school and applying for H-B Woodlawn for 8th grade, which neighborhood school should we put on the application, elementary or middle school?

You will enter the current neighborhood middle school.  Keep in mind that HB only has open seats at 7th, 8th, 10th, 11th, and 12th grades if/when students leave the program.

How does the school lottery work for transferring middle schools? A specific example is entering the lottery for H-B Woodlawn, which accepts a few students per grade.

Transferring to another neighborhood middle school and applying to a countywide program are very different.  For 2025-26, there is only one MS accepting transfers (Williamsburg MS), and students living in the Nottingham and Tuckahoe neighborhoods will be prioritized for those transfers.

If you are interested in H-B Woodlawn, you must apply to the Nov 4 – Jan 24 lottery window. Keep in mind that HB only has open seats at 7th, 8th, 10th, 11th, and 12th grades if/when students leave the program.

How many seats are allocated to H-B Woodlawn for Middle School? Are the spots allocated per elementary school?

Please see seat allocation for the HB Woodlawn program for the 2025-2026 school year here:  https://www.apsva.us/school-transfer-data/#H-B-grade6to8

Is there a place where we can find out how many slots exist in particular transfer middle schools (Williamsburg) for the 2025-2026 school year and whether any crowded nearby boundary schools (Swanson), which is our home middle school, may be given priority?

Seat allocation numbers for Williamsburg MS Neighborhood Transfer will be shared in January. Some grade levels may not have seats open. If you apply for a grade level at which no seats are offered, we will cancel your application before the lottery runs.  For example, If we have 10 seats for 8th grade, we will run a lottery to fill them.  If we have 0 seats in 7th grade, we will need to cancel applications, and we won’t run a lottery.

We live in Arlington, and our child is in a private school for 6th grade this year. Would they count toward the number of spots available for their neighborhood school or would they fall into the “outside APS” grouping?

For HB-B Woodlawn, you would need to apply through the “Out-of-APS” allocation, for which one seat is open at both the 6th-grade and 9th-grade levels.

Out-of-APS families (living out of Arlington) can apply to both language immersion schools?

Families applying to a DLI program from outside APS need to apply to Escuela Key, unless they can show that they will be living at an address that corresponds to Claremont.

If a child with a late birthday is held back before kindergarten, does that affect their ability to apply to an option program for middle or high school?

No, it will not.

Will tours be offered at the high schools for a visit or open house?

Each school has an information session. During the information sessions, the focus is on academic programming. Please see when the information sessions are for each program or school at https://www.apsva.us/schools-programs/family-information-sessions/  

We are currently in a private school for 8th grade. What is our first step since we have yet to be enrolled in the APS system? Is the regular application open now for 25-26?

Yes, the current applications are for the upcoming school year 2025-26. You may apply via SchoolMint to any High School Option School or Program between the open application window of Nov.4-Jan. 24:

• Washington-Liberty’s IB Program
• Arlington Tech at Career Center
• Wakefield’s AP Network
• HB-Woodlawn is a rising 9th

If offered a seat, you must register at that school by June 27, 2025.   Another option, and highly encouraged if you would like your student to attend APS, is to register for your neighborhood high school.   As a reminder, students must live in Arlington to attend APS.

Do the lottery priorities differ for high school programs?

At Secondary, Military priorities only apply to the IB Programme at Washinton-Liberty and Dual Language Immersion at Gunston and Wakefield.

What high schools currently have lower enrollment and more capacity for 24-25?

Please review current enrollment information at https://www.apsva.us/statistics/enrollment/

If a child is accepted into WL’s IB program during 9th grade but then later in their high school career find that the IB program is not a good fit – what happens to that child?  Are they allowed to finish at WL as a traditional student? Or do they have to change schools and return to their neighborhood school?

Yes, students interested in WL’s IB program must take IB courses during their academic years. If students are not interested in continuing with the IB program, they may be asked to attend their Neighborhood School.

If a rising 9th-grade Spanish immersion student plans to go to Wakefield, do they need to apply to the AP Network at Wakefield if they want to take advantage of that program, too?

Immersion students are automatically allowed to enroll at Wakefield High School and can take AP classes.

Is bus transportation provided for option schools, in particular high schools?

APS is using hub stops for option schools to shorten trips to and from school and improve efficiency and reliability. Read more about hub stops.

Learn about CPP. Learn about Primary Montessori.

Submit the following documents when applying online:

• Copy of original birth certificate
• Copy of Identification card of either parents/ guardian

Tuition Sliding Scale 2024-25

Learn about VPI.

The funds that support VPI have various criteria that must be taken into consideration before offering acceptance to any child. To be considered for VPI, families must complete a phone screening to determine eligibility and submit the required documents.

Please take a look at the checklist.

English| Español

• Proof of the child’s age and legal name
• Proof of Arlington County residency
• Proof of parent identity and relationship to student
• Proof of income