Round one of NOLA-PS centralized enrollment process closes Friday

Each year, families looking to enroll their child at a new school, or in the district for the first time, must participate in the district’s centralized enrollment process, rebranded this year as the NOLA Public Schools Common Application Process, or NCAP.

The deadline for New Orleans families to submit their school choices for the 2022-23 school year is fast approaching, with the first round of applications set to close Friday.

This year marks the first time all 76 district-affiliated schools are participating, though the process still isn’t uniform for several high-rated schools with selective admissions criteria or language requirements.

The NCAP launched on Nov. 1, 2021 and closes on Jan. 21, 2022 at midnight. All applications submitted by the deadline are processed at the same time, according to the district.

Families should have results no later than March 31, 2022, Litouri Smith, the district’s interim chief school accountability officer, said at Tuesday’s school board meeting.

If a family misses the deadline, they can participate in the second round which is scheduled to open one week after main round results are released, though seats may no longer be available at all schools by then.

Smith said moving forward the district would like to expand the NCAP to include summer enrollment options and plans to redesign the application to make it more mobile friendly.

Additionally, multi-factor authentication will be implemented for all district and school users to increase data security, he said.

Students attending closing schools will have priority access to new seats during the NCAP process, the district said. The four schools closing this year are Live Oak Academy, Oscar Dunn, James M. Singleton Charter School and ARISE Academy.

Click here to read WWNO’s full NCAP guide.