Which Palm Beach County choice program schools are most competitive? A look at the numbers (2024)

As thousands of Palm Beach County families submitapplications for their children to attend one of the school district’s choice programs next year, many will be vying for a select number of seats in highly competitive programs that are housed injust 15 schools.

There are 330 choice programs across the district's 180 campuses. They focus oneverything from Spanish language immersion to civil air patrol to environmental studies.

Eightnew choice programshave been added to the mixat the Dwight D. Eisenhower K-8 school,Palm Springs Middle, Pahokee High and the district's two newest schools: two programs at West Boynton Middle and three at Dr. Joaquín García High School.

Though not all choice programs are cutthroat competitive, data from the district show the five schools were so selective that they admitted fewer than 31% of all the students who appliedlast year.

And six schools got more than 1,000 applicants. About 35,000 students typically apply for choice program placement each year.

How to apply: Palm Beach County's school choice applications opened Nov. 1

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Palm Beach County's most competitive school choice programs

Five schools are the most competitivebecause the choice programs accept the fewest number of students by percentage.

They span the county, including schools in Jupiter, Riviera Beach, Delray Beach and West Palm Beach.

Here are the most competitive choice programs by campus based on the percentage of applicants accepted, according to district data from this school year:

1. Palm Beach Central High: 19.9% of students who applied got a spot
2. Morikami Park Elementary: 20.7%
3. Dreyfoos School of the Arts: 29.1%
4. Jupiter Middle: 30.2%
5. Forest Hill High: 30.6%
6. Spanish River High: 32.3%
7. Wellington High: 34.6%
8. Bak Middle School of the Arts: 35.2%
9. Palm Beach Gardens High: 37.4%
10. Don Estridge High Tech Middle: 39%
11. Suncoast High: 39.1%
12. West Boca Raton High: 41.3%
13. Jupiter High: 44.3%
14. Plumosa School of the Arts: 46.2%
15. William T. Dwyer High: 50.4%

Palm Beach Central is known for its culinary arts, engineering and information technology programs. Morikami features an international baccalaureateprogram for elementary students.

Dreyfoos is known for its dance, music, theatre and visual arts programs, which require students to audition.

Jupiter Middle has programs on multimedia, music and communications as well as pre-culinary arts, pre-engineering and pre-medical sciences.

And Forest Hill High offers several choice programs from criminal justice to environmentalscience. Its most popular programs are engineering, information technology, theInternational Baccalaureate coursework, and tourism, hospitality and resort management,according to pre-pandemicdata from the district.

Palm Beach County choice programs with the most applicants

Also in play are the most sought after schools with choice programs that net the most applicants.

Last year, six schools had more than 1,000 applicants each.

They were:

1. Bak Middle School of the Arts: 1,442 applicants
2. Suncoast High: 1,423 applicants
3. Don Estridge High Tech Middle: 1,400
4. DreyfoosSchool of the Arts: 1,378
5. Morikami Park Elementary: 1,063
6. West Boca Raton High: 1,004

How to apply to Palm Beach County choice school programs

The application window for school choice programs opened Nov. 1.Applications must be submitted by Jan. 27.

Students must apply using the school district's online tool, andprograms are filled by a randomized computer lottery system that chooses from eligible applicants. Some programs require auditions or language fluency exams, and several have GPA requirements for entry.

To start the application, which is availableat www.mypbchoiceapp.com, students must have their student ID number and their most up-to-date address. Their address will be used to determine whether they're in a school's attendance zone.

There are two types of specialized instruction programs in Palm Beach County: in-house choice programs, open only to students who are zoned to attend thatschool, and choice programs, which are open to all students regardless of where they live.

Auditions are required for consideration in the following programs:

• Bak Middle School of the Arts: all programs
• The Conservatory School at North Palm Beach (grades 6-8): band andorchestral strings programs
• Dreyfoos School of the Arts: all programs
• Boynton Beach High: dance, digital media, band, vocal, theaterand visual arts programs
• West Boca Raton High: dance, band, vocal and theaterprograms

The application deadline for schools that require an auditionis Dec. 9.

Although each student can submit only one application, they can apply to two programs and rank them in order of interest to increase their chances of being placed in a choice program.

The lottery for 2023-24 placements happens in March. Parents will then have to "accept" the seat their student is assigned on the district's online dashboard.

Katherine Kokal is a journalist covering education at The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at kkokal@pbpost.com. Help support our work, subscribe today!