Middle School Guided Search

Some middle schools, including many charter schools, start in 5th grade, and fill most of their seats with applications from 4th graders. If you click this, we will show you schools that start in 5th grade, and charter schools that have admitted students by lottery in 5th grade.

Most middle schools begin in 6th grade and accept applications from 5th graders. Applications are due the first week of December for the following school year (except for charter schools, which have a lottery in April). A few middle schools start in 7th grade.

Students with disabilities are entitled to apply to any school, and all schools are required to provide special education services. However, some are more welcoming than others, and some are more successful working with students with disabilities. If you click here, we will only show schools recommended by special education advocates and InsideSchools staffers. This list is not exhaustive and we welcome additional suggestions.

All schools offer English as a Second Language. However, some schools give preference to children who speak another language. If you click here, we will only show you programs that give preference to children who speak Spanish, Chinese, French or another language. These include dual language programs, with instruction in English and another language, as well as programs geared to new immigrants.

The city’s “impact” score, taken from the School Quality Guide, is a measure of student progress. It compares each school to others with similar students, taking into account incoming student test scores. Some schools accept students with low test scores and prepare them well for high school, while others are unable to help similar students make progress.

The city’s “performance” score, taken from the School Quality Guide, shows how well students perform on state tests–compared to all other schools in the city–without adjusting for student characteristics.