Welcome!

Detroit Public Schools Community District invites you to apply for admission to its exam and random selection schools for the 2026-27 school year.  This application is for scholars entering grades 2-8 only. There are separate applications for students entering Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten through Grade 1. 

Schools available in this application are: 

• Bates Academy (grades 2-8)
• Chrysler Elementary (grades 2-5) 
• Edmonson Elementary (grades 2-8)
• Foreign Language Immersion and Cultural Studies (FLICS) (grades 2-8)
• Palmer Park Preparatory Academy (grades 2-8)
• The School at Marygrove (grades 2-6)   

If applicable, please register for the admissions exam at your earliest convenience. Instructions will be provided in the application. 

Guidelines For All Applicants

• You will be asked to rank your schools by preference. Preferences will be used to determine placements. 
• Please choose your schools/rankings carefully. Requests to update your school choices or the order of your school ranking preference must be received no later than Friday April 17.
• All deadlines are final. Applicants who miss Round 1 may apply during Round 2, which opens April 20, 2026. Seat availability will be significantly limited at that time. You may be added to a waitlist if one is in place for your desired school/grade.
• If applying for multiple children, please submit all applications by the application deadline. We make every effort to keep siblings together in the admission process, however, applications must be submitted in the same round. 
• Do not submit more than one application for the same scholar. You may email application.schools@detroitk12.org or use Submittable to send a message to the Admissions Team to request the opportunity to edit or update your application. 
• You may save the application in progress and return to make as many changes as necessary prior to submitting it. Please review the application carefully before submitting. 

Notification and Enrollment

You will receive an admission decision on Friday, May 1, 2026. If admitted, you will be required to enroll your scholar by Friday, May 22, 2026, for fall admission. 

Bates, Chrysler and FLICS Applicants

An exam is required for admission consideration for Bates, FLICS and Chrysler. All scholars must take the exam no later than April 18. Exams will be offered on the following dates: March 12, 14, 17, 19 and 24; April 9, 14 and 18. Spots are limited and will be available on a first-come, first-served basis. Please register for the earliest date you can.

Upon applying, you will receive an email that will contain the link you will use to schedule your exam appointment. The link will be unique to you and should not be shared with anyone else. 

Exam Guidelines

• Scholars who take the exam during their current application round, but do not earn a passing score will be allowed to submit an appeal during the Appeal Window May 1 -11.
• If your availability changes, you may reschedule your scholar for another exam date during the same application round (before April 18). Use the custom registration link to select a new date within the same application round.
• Students who miss the exam for this round will be declined admission, but may take the exam during the Appeal Window, which takes place after all Round 1 placements have been completed. Appeal exams will be offered on May 19 and 21, provided they are registered using the appeal form that will be provided to you. The appeal test results will be final. No re-tests or additional appeals are allowed for students who take the test for the first time during the Appeal Window.
• Round 1 applicants who do not take the exam in Round 1 will be declined admission to any exam schools selected in the application. They will, however, be eligible for Marygrove and for Montessori, subject to Montessori admission requirements, if those schools were selected on the application. Admission to those schools will be based on random selection and is not guaranteed.  
• Students who take the exam during the Appeal Window and are eligible for admission based on their exam score will be waitlisted if all seats at their grade level have already been filled in the prior round.  
• Students who take the exam during the Appeal Window and are ineligible for admission based on their exam score will not be allowed to retest for Fall 2026 admission. 

Montessori Requirements

All applicants to Grades 2–8 are required to demonstrate at least one year of prior Montessori experience. You will be asked to provide documentation of this experience.

Before You Begin

Please carefully review the requirements and guidelines available at detroitk12.org/applicationschools.

Be sure to visit individual web pages for more details about the following:   

• Book an appointment for help with your application
• Detroit Public Montessori

Other School Options   

For information about all DPSCD application schools and how to apply to other schools not included on this application, please visit detroitk12.org/applicationschools.