Admission Guidelines

  • Union County Public Schools holds a lottery each year to determine enrollment for kindergarten Dual Language Immersion classes. Students wishing to enroll after kindergarten should follow the late entry procedures listed below. There is no lottery for students other than rising kindergarten students. 

    The following preferences apply for rising kindergarteners entering the lottery each spring:

    According to policy 4-13, a rising kindergarten student will be allowed to transfer into the dual language program at the school where his/her older sibling is currently enrolled in a dual language class. The rising kindergarten student must enroll and remain in the dual language program to be eligible under this option. 

    **In order for siblings to be given a spot in the DLI program, they must submit an application for the lottery via the Scribbles online system.

    • First preference is given to rising kindergarteners in the host school’s attendance zone. Transportation is only available to students in the attendance zone.
    • Second preference will be given to other interested rising kindergartners within the host school’s cluster. If the class does not reach capacity after the initial registration period for the host school’s attendance zone, any remaining spots will be determined with a random lottery. 
    • Third preference will be given to other interested students residing anywhere in UCPS who have an approved transfer from the UCPS Central Office. A random lottery will be conducted to assign all seats remaining after the second preference seats have been filled.
    • Waitlist - If the number of student applicants exceeds the space availability in the program, students will be placed on a waitlist. The order on the waitlist is random and based on the preferences listed above. Students on the waitlist can only enter the program in kindergarten if space becomes available. Waitlists are not kept once school has started.

    Late Entry

    Request a late entry assessment

    Note that late entry assessments are scheduled during June and August for students starting in the fall. For students who are starting mid-year, assessments will be scheduled on an as-needed basis. 

    For all late entry placements, there must be space in the DLI program where the family wishes to enroll. Families interested in a DLI school outside their home attendance zone should contact the College Readiness Department to ensure that the school is not over capacity. 

    Please see policy information from the UCPS Board of Education, listed below. 

    • 4-13 AG(A) - Student Assignment 
    • Last updated by the UCPS Board of Education in December 2021.

    Special Program Schools with a Specific Entry Grade 

    The lottery for certain Special Program Schools (i.e. CATA, UCEC, HSA, and DLI) is only conducted at specific grade levels. For example: 

    • DLI lottery is only run for rising kindergartners; and 
    • CATA, UCEC, and HSA are run for rising 9th graders. In the event that there are available spaces for 10th graders, an additional selection process will occur. 

    Parents who wish to enroll their children in one of these Special Program Schools after the specified admission grade are subject to the following qualifications, in addition to those criteria already established for the Special Program School: 

    • The family is moving into UCPS and is coming from a school with a similar program. 
    • The family is moving into UCPS from a country where the language of the DLI program is the native language (DLI only). 
    • There is space in the program where the family wishes to enroll (DLI and HSA only). 

    For DLI only, once a family has met the above qualifications, the District will administer an assessment of the child’s ability to read, write, speak, and listen in the program language. If the student’s proficiency is at a level determined to be equivalent to his/her grade level peers, the student will be granted admission into the DLI program. This assessment will only be conducted during the initial enrollment period of the family moving into UCPS. 

    Students who are currently enrolled in UCPS are not eligible to enter a Special Program School with a specific entry grade after the entry lottery has taken place, unless approved by the Superintendent or designee. 

    Programs Within Schools 

    Certain programs are at multiple locations throughout the district (i.e. IBPP, DLI and certain academies). No student will be permitted to transfer from one program within a school to another within UCPS unless the school to which they are requesting the transfer is their home school and there is room in the program at their home school. For students granted a transfer under this paragraph, the transfer will last through the terminal grade after which the student may only continue in the program at his/her home school, unless the home school does not have the specific program. 

    For IB and IBPP only, students residing in the Marvin Ridge cluster will only be eligible to attend the IB and IBPP programmes at Marvin Ridge HS. Students in all other clusters will only be eligible to attend the IB and IBPP programmes at CATA. 

    View full administrative guidelines.  

Timeline for DLI Lottery - Spring 2024

    • February 1: Register for kindergarten at the zoned school.
    • March 11-April 12: Submit an application for each DLI school you wish to apply for.
    • No later than April 29: Parents will be notified via Scribbles Family Dashboard of status of all applications.
    • May 6: Deadline for parents to take action on all seats (other than waitlisted seats) in Scribbles online system.

    Please note - the lottery is only for rising kindergarten students. Those entering DLI after kindergarten must follow the late entry process outlined below.

    UCPS held a district webinar to help interested parents learn more about the DLI program.

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