MCPS shifts to ranked‑choice lottery and expands admissions measures including PSAT and MAP

MCPS staff said the new admissions process combines multiple measures for some programs with a ranked‑choice lottery for placement. Jeannie Franklin, who introduced herself as "the director of consortia and application program services," explained that criteria‑based programs undergo a review of essays, report‑card grades and external assessments; eligible students then enter the ranked lottery, while interest‑based programs enter the lottery without the review.

Franklin said the district will add the PSAT and MCAP to external measures and, for this year, will "take the higher of the two scores" when comparing PSAT and MAP‑M performance for students. She also described an automatic central review that will pre‑qualify students who demonstrate a "distinguished academic need" for the International Baccalaureate and Science/Math/Computer Science programs and may receive an invitation to those programs independent of family application steps.