Last year which was the 2021-22 school year, the grade requirements stayed the same and attendance should be 95% and above, but a lottery system was added by 440 so it was not up to the schools. There was a zip code preference and principals individually selected whether students were eligible for the lottery. Instead of a personal narrative, students wrote an essay online using MiWrite where the prompts were unknown and the scores came out immediately since it was scored by a computer. Not all schools required an essay, but five schools did, including Carver. This was a very sudden change for the eighth graders. Currently, the grade and attendance requirements still remain the same and there is still a lottery system. However, the online essay was removed, but schools are now looking at PSSA scores for eligibility. Carver specifically requires scores to be above the 65 percentile.

Ms. Curless, the English teacher at Carver has been helping her students apply for high school for eight years and she feels that she cannot give all the information to students very early because she doesn’t even know. She describes the experience from last year as “traumatizing.”

“I think everything always changes. It’s really hard to stay on top of things and so you’re trying to tell families and the students what the deal is and what they need to do, but when you don’t really know either because you’re just waiting on the information,” Ms. Curless said. “Then you’re all just kind of sitting blind.”

Freshman Lael Dwyer says that she would have preferred going back to how it was before. The lottery was randomized and she would have preferred going to Palumbo, but due to the lottery system, she had to stay at Carver. Students cannot go to the school that is the best fit for them because they did not get accepted mainly because of the lottery system. Besides, the essay students were required to write in 2021 was unfair. Some students, like Lael, got an advanced prompt while others had a more simple question.

“I think the best way is to do what they did before the lottery system because it was better results,” says Lael. “The lottery was pretty much randomized, based on where you live and like the criteria from grades that don’t reflect yours, like in the moment. So I think we should just go back to what we’ve always done.”

Jo-El Roberts, a freshman at Carver High School shares how his friend did not get back into Carver although he got a very high score on the essay. His close friend, Nafis was planning on coming back to Carver until the lottery system was put in place. Jo-El prepared himself in advance since there was a chance that he would not go to the same school as his friends.

“I had to prepare for the fact that my friends wouldn’t come back or there was a low possibility that they would come back so I’m mentally prepared for it,” he says. “So once that happened, I wasn’t really scared because we made up plans for us to keep in touch with each other.”

“It's affected or I guess my family now is more frantic about everything. And they're always like, ‘Oh do this. Oh do that,’ like the selection process and then my grandma's like, on like the research is like a whole bunch of school was my mom's just like, ‘Oh, just put the school down. Like put these schools down,’ says Joslyn. “It's honestly just been like the only thing that we've been talking about for like the past month.”

Brandon Fisher, who is an eighth grader at Carver, was planning on coming back to the high school. He and his childhood best friends have been attending the same school together since first grade, but now because of the lottery system they might be separated. Brandon believes Carver is a wonderful school so he worries that if he does not get into Carver, nor the other high schools he applies for, he’ll have to go to his neighborhood school.

“It affected me because I thought that I was getting into high school. You know, that's why basically I came here, because, besides that, it's a great school,” says Brandon. “And if I don't get it, I mean, I have other options, but if I don't go into any of them, I have to go to my neighborhood.”

In addition, another eighth grader, Allyson Whyee came to the Carver Middle School because she was also interested in the high school. Students who have put in a lot of effort in school may not be able to come back because of the lottery system. Not only is this a randomized lottery, but Allyson has siblings that attend Carver so it would be more convenient for her family if she stays at Carver for high school, too. Changing schools also means changing the lifestyle for Allyson and her family.

“Well, sometimes I think it's unfair because even though you have like a straight A student and you have a higher chance to get inside the school, now it's just a lottery system,” said Allyson. “So your chances are lowered even though you're like a very good student.”

Students can put in the most effort to attempt into their dream high school, but because of this lottery system, they have the same probability as someone who did the opposite of them, someone who did not do their best, instead just enough to get in.

“I don't really feel great about that,” Brandon says. “Because if somebody gets all perfect scores on the PSSA, attendance, grades, and all that stuff, they have the same chance as somebody who did bare minimum requirements."