Understanding School Enrollment in Indianapolis: A Guide for Parents

In November 2017, Indianapolis joined a handful of cities across the U.S. to roll out a unified school enrollment system for students called Enroll Indy. Its goal was to streamline the school application process and increase equity and access to high-quality schools for all students across the city.

Two years later, the result is an often-discussed and highly controversial system among parents and educators. While its overall impact has yet to be determined, what has been determined is that, despite the differing opinions, this unified enrollment system is complicated and difficult for parents to understand. To make matters worse, the laws surrounding education in Indiana, as well as the policies adopted by the Indianapolis Public Schools, are ever-changing. All of these factors combine to create a confusing and overwhelming process for parents trying to navigate school enrollment in Indianapolis.

After reading dozens of posts on social media sites, and being asked by numerous friends and neighbors for help, I decided to use my knowledge and experience, as a mom and educator with firsthand experience with Enroll Indy, to develop this comprehensive, step by step guide for parents. I’ve done the research and compiled all the information that can be found in a variety of places around the internet into one single document.

My hope is to provide straight-forward, user-friendly information that doesn’t require a Master’s degree in education to understand. I’ve read a host of social media threads to try to answer the questions that most frequently get asked by parents in my social network and tapped into many of my own friends who are navigating this process.

Despite my extensive research, I am sure there are mistakes in this document, and those are mine alone. Hopefully, these do not detract from my overall goal for writing this guide…to help families navigate the process of finding, and applying to, the great school options we have in the city of Indianapolis.

Upcoming Projects

I’ve got quite a few projects in the works right now and thought I’d give you all a sneak peek of some of them!

Project #1

Indy folks…be on the lookout for a guide tailored to parents trying to navigate the complicated school enrollment process. I’ve done the research and condensed the overwhelming amount of information available into an easy-to-understand guide that walks parents through the steps to researching, applying to and enrolling in schools in Indianapolis.

Project #2

The next topic I’ll be tackling for professional development opportunities is trauma-informed practices in schools. Think this is only useful in inner-city, high-poverty schools? Think again! I will be introducing several trauma-informed practices that can be easily implemented into ANY classroom or school to help ANY student be more successful.

Project #3

The professional development on PLCs is still going strong! Know of a school looking to improve upon teacher collaboration and data analysis? This PD is the answer! Between the book, audio course and in-person professional development, there’s a little something to fit every school’s needs and budget!

I’d love to hear from you! What topics are you interested in?