High School Specialty Program Application

High School Specialty Program Application

Overview

Thank you for your interest in Sacramento City Unified School District’s high school specialty programs.

The application window is now closed to apply for a 2023-2024 High School Specialty Program. The deadline to apply was 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, November 30, 2022.

Log on to your SchoolMint Parent/Guardian Account to view status of your student’s application.

Step 1: Learn about the programs

Step 2: Apply online

Students who live within our district boundaries can apply to high school specialty programs through an open enrollment application. The deadline to apply is 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, November 30, 2022. Learn how to apply. 

Students who live outside our district boundaries can apply to specialty programs in April 2023. Fill out our high school specialty program interest form to receive updates and additional information about the spring application process.

Out-of-district applicants who meet the program requirements will be accepted or go on the waiting list after qualified in-district applicants per California Education Code.

Step 3: Additional requirements

Only the following programs have additional requirements: 

C.K. McClatchy HISP

Students that apply to the C.K. McClatchy HISP will need to fill out survey questions designed for prospective students to review a description of the HISP Program and attest their commitment to each of the ten statements reflecting the expectations of the program that includes a writing sample that will not be scored, but instead be a writing sample for HISP teachers to understand the cohort’s baseline writing skills.

C.K. McClatchy VAPA Program

A portfolio for one of the three specialties (visual art, theater or music) must be submitted to the C.K. McClatchy VAPA program by November 30, 2022. Instructions on how to submit a portfolio can be found at http://ckmvapa.org/apply-instruct-inform

West Campus Program

SCUSD students that apply to West Campus will not need to complete any additional exams. West Campus will be using the PSAT 8/9 scores taken at school in October for SCUSD 8th Graders in lieu of extra assessments. 

All other students who apply to West Campus will be able to register to take the PSAT at West Campus High School. Registration will be offered through the online application. 

Step 4: Receive a notification communication & register

Notifications will be sent to families in February 2023.  Families will receive the notification based on what preferences (email, text message or both) were selected when registering. Families can log into their SchoolMint account at anytime to see status of their application(s).

If offered a placement into a high school specialty program, applicants will need to complete the process by accepting and then registering. Acceptance into a specialty program is considered a change in enrollment and requires additional verification. 

Applicants will be automatically dropped from the specialty program offer list, if they do not accept and register by February 28, 2023 at 5:00 p.m.

Accept or Decline Placement

Parent/guardians that receive an offer of acceptance for their student need to log into SchoolMint to officially accept or decline the offer of placement. 

Registration

The HSSP Acceptance Registration is only for applicants who receive an offer for placement at one of the high school specialty programs they applied to and have accepted the placement through SchoolMint.

Specific instructions on how to register will be included in the acceptance notification that is send after an offer is accepted via SchoolMint. Learn how to register online.

Support

Please contact Becky Petrie at becky-petrie@scusd.edu with questions about your student’s application.