School choice: the difference between common application and unified enrollment

 Joe Siedlecki of the Dell Foundation writes about school choice, with an emphasis on unified enrollment. (All of the unified enrollment systems mentioned below were designed with the help of the Institute for Innovation in Public School Choice, IIPSC.)

All enrollment reforms are not created equal
Apr 04, 2017 ·

Common application ≠ unified enrollment

More specifically, a common application used across schools is not a unified enrollment system.  While both reforms may be an improvement on the existing “wild west” of school choice, they have different characteristics and they attempt to solve different problems.  The table below lays out some key characteristics of these different enrollment reforms, both of which are being pursued inn different places across the country.

Source: Michael & Susan Dell Foundation

Source: Michael & Susan Dell Foundation