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Application Process 2024-2025 (for the upcoming 2025-2026 school year)

Application Timeline

• November 1 - January 31 - Application Window Apply here!

• November 9 - Discover �鶹��(Fair Park) 

• February 28 - Offer or wait list status notifications will be emailed to parent/guardian

• March 17 - Decision deadline, last day to confirm or decline seats for all choice programs

• March 24 - Application window will reopen for choice schools with unfilled seats during the first application window. 

Magnet Eligibility

 Students must meet GPA and test score eligibility in order to be qualified to apply to a magnet program. Students applying for a magnet program must meet the following eligibility:

• Minimum Cumulative Grade Point Average (GPA) on the most recent report card
• Minimum Percentile on Spring STAAR, MAP, i-READY or �鶹��approved test

GPA Eligibility

75% Cumulative grade point average 

Exception: 80% cumulative grade point average for all Talented & Gifted schools (W. B.Travis, Trininty Heights, Mark Twain, Sudie Williams, School for TAG at Pleasant Grove, TAG High School, and Townview Science and Engineering).  See the Magnet Programs page for a list of schools.

Standardized Test Eligibility (STAAR, MAP, i-Ready or �鶹��approved test) 

Minimum STAAR, Measurement of Academic Progress (MAP), i-Ready or other or �鶹��approved test, see qualifying score requirements by grade level here. 

Any of the following sets of Reading and Math tests are acceptable:

• Spring 2024 STAAR Reading and Math
• 2024 End of the Year (EOY) MAP Reading and Math 
• 2024 Beginning of the Year (BOY) i-Ready Reading and Math
• 2025 Middle of the Year (MOY) i-Ready Reading and Math

Note: Students who do not have �鶹��test scores can provide scores from the approved test list here. The acceptable testing window is March 2024–January 2025. If your test is not listed, please contact the Magnet Department.  

Once test scores have been submitted and applications have been deemed "Eligible," additional test score submissions will not be considered.

Required Documents (submitted online)

Students applying for a magnet program must submit the following documents: 

• Copy of student’s most recent report card (for all students applying for grades 2nd - 12th)
• �鶹��MAP Scores or any Norm referenced test scores (for all students applying for grades 2nd - 12th)
• Any existing IEP and/or 504 plan accommodation, if applicable
• Proof of residency (only current electric, gas, water bill or lease/mortgage will be accepted) If you are living with another family or cannot provide either of the above listed items, the following may be provided:
  • Signed letter stating family is living with another family and
  • A utility bill (gas, electric, water) belonging to the person you are living with dated within the past 60 days (Proof of address will also be required at the time of acceptance, enrollment, and throughout the school year)

*If the situation is temporary, once you have moved, you must provide proof of residency for the new home.

Magnet Assessment

Applicants who meet the minimum GPA and test score requirements are eligible to move forward to the on-campus assessment process. The assessment will be scheduled once eligibility has been met and all other required documents have been submitted online.

Magnet campuses will conduct in-person assessments during the choice application season that begins in November and runs through January. 

For students applying to a magnet school with NNAT3 as part of the on-campus assessment process:

The Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test® (NNAT®3) is used as an assessment tool for Gifted/Talented identification and assessment. If your child is tested for the NNAT3 during the identification process for Talented and Gifted, the score will be used for any magnet school applications submitted during the 2024–2025 school year. Students will not be allowed additional NNAT3 testing opportunities as part of the magnet assessment.

Selection Process

The number of seats available for each magnet program will be identified before the application process begins. Seats will be awarded to *qualified applicants based on the following formula:

• 30% of the seats are awarded districtwide by rank-ordering of applicants based on overall criteria score without consideration of feeder pattern or sibling status
• 70% of the seats are awarded within the comprehensive high school feeder patterns (adjusted proportionally for student population) by rank-ordering of applicants based on overall criteria score; subject to sibling rule or preference

Sibling Rule & Sibling Preference shall only be applied to an applicant who meets the criteria with a sibling who attends the same Vanguard, magnet Montessori, or Academy program and who will continue to attend that school the next school year. Siblings are defined as brother, sister, half-brother, half-sister, step-brother, or step-sister living, in the same household.

• Sibling rule shall be applied to the prekindergarten-grade 8 Montessori programs (for more information on sibling rule click )
• Sibling preference shall be applied to the Vanguard programs for grades 4-5, and grades 6-8 for Academies (for more information on sibling preference click )

*Qualified applicants who are not selected due to limited space will be placed on a rank-ordered waiting list. The wait list will remain active until the end of Dallas ISD's first grading period and student vacancies will be filled until that time.

*Qualified applicant: - Applicants with a total score of 70 and above on the campus assessment score.

�鶹��Policy EHBJ (LOCAL): For each magnet program, all qualified in-district students shall be served before any out-of-district student may gain admission into that magnet program. Proof of residence must be submitted each year.

Parent(s) or Legal Guardian(s) must actually reside with the student within the Dallas Independent School District boundaries. "Residence" is the permanent primary physical location where a person lives and sleeps. The residence of a minor child is presumed to be the residence of the parent or guardian who has legal physical custody of the child.

i. If the student's parents are divorced and share physical custody, the student's residence is the location where the student lives the majority of the time—with the primary or majority custodial parent (court documents will be required).

ii. If the student is not living with a parent, the Dallas Independent School District requires that a responsible adult obtain legal guardianship through the court system (notarized letters from parents giving "guardianship" to others are unacceptable).

iii. A temporary residence within the Dallas Independent School District boundaries solely for the purpose of attending a Dallas Independent School District school shall not be considered residency. 

Falsifying information on the Magnet application will invalidate the application, and the student's application will be excluded from the selection process. The Dallas Independent School District reserves the right to change a student's enrollment status, placement and/or programming upon receipt of additional information.