Principles of Good Practice
A. Confidentiality
Member schools will maintain confidentiality throughout the admissions process, and schools will protect prospective student and family information.
B. Connected Applicants
Connected applicants are:
- siblings of current or former students
- legacy: a parent or guardian matriculated at the school
- children of current faculty or staff
- active congregants of an affiliated religious institution
- children of current students, faculty, or staff of an affiliated academic institution
Member schools may choose to extend Early Notification to connected applicants applying for nursery/pre-K and/or kindergarten. In doing so, they (1) may choose to narrow the aforementioned qualifiers, but may not expand on it, and (2) will adhere to the Early Notification opt-in, file completion, notification, and reply dates as stated each year.
Member schools must equally consider applications from connected applicants, regardless of whether an applicant has designated the connected school as a priority.
C. Data
Without explicit consent from the Executive Committee (comprised of the Board Chair, Vice President, Treasurer, and Executive Director), members may not solicit data from fellow members.
D. Dates
Application materials will be available to prospective families no earlier than August 1st, and will not be viewed or considered before that time.
Admissions offices may begin to conduct events or appointments with applicant families after Labor Day.
Barring unforeseen circumstances, member schools may only process applications for (1) the current academic year (i.e., to fill vacancies), and (2) the academic year immediately following the current admissions season (i.e., during the 2024-2025 academic year, schools may only process applications for the 2025-2026 academic year).
Member schools will adhere to the ISAAGNY notification and reply dates as stated each year.
After notifications have been sent out, member schools may:
- answer specific questions from admitted families.
- host revisit events that (1) are optional, and (2) are open to all families admitted to a given grade, division, or residential status. While revisit events may be hosted at any point between notification and reply dates, member schools are encouraged to refrain from hosting on the day immediately preceding the reply date.
- connect admitted families with a member of the school community (i.e., enrolled student and/or parent, faculty member, athletics coach) to facilitate decision-making, upon request.
- extend offers to waitlisted families.
After notifications have been sent out, member schools may not:
- reach out to individual admitted families as a way to garner favor or gauge interest.
- ask individual admitted families to divulge school preference
- pressure individual admitted families to make a decision at a time that diverges from that year’s reply date.
Note: The aforementioned behaviors are prohibited both directly (via communication with families) and indirectly (via communication with representatives of families’ sending schools).
After a family declines an offered seat, member schools may ask them where they did decide to enroll.
E. Equity
In accordance with applicable law, ISAAGNY’s mission, and the missions of our member schools, a school will not discriminate on the basis of: race, ethnicity, family structure, physical ability, gender identity and expression, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, and neurodiversity, or any other protected categories under applicable law in the administration of its admission policies. Nothing herein, however, shall be construed to prevent the operation of a single-sex or religious school.
F. Interview
Interviews must take place no earlier than Labor Day and no later than that year’s notification date.
G. Postseason (mid-March through mid-August)
Member schools may accept students who submit applications after the parent reply deadline.
Prior to accepting postseason applicants, member schools are encouraged to confirm that these applicants have not yet committed to another ISAAGNY school. If an applicant has already committed to another school, the prospective school should (1) encourage them to communicate with the school to which they’ve committed, and (2) remind them of their financial responsibility at the school to which they’ve committed.
Students accepted in postseason must be given at least one week to consider the extended offer.
H. Recruiting
Member schools may not use undue influence in recruiting students, either directly (via communication with families) or indirectly (via communication with representatives of families’ sending schools).
Member schools will refrain from requesting and/or requiring “first choice letters” from applicant families. Should member schools receive such letters, they are not obligated to accept them. Note that the letters are neither binding for parents nor reflective of a sending school’s guidance.
Sending schools will refrain from requesting and/or requiring families to submit “first choice letters” to receiving schools.
I. School Correspondence
i. Sending/Current School
Enrolled students at member schools may consider other educational options.
Member schools may not require the re-enrollment of enrolled students prior to the reply date of the member school(s) to which they have applied.
Should an ISAAGNY student apply out and be waitlisted at another member school, they must not be required to accept or decline a seat at their current school before the reply date for those initially accepted.
School reports and teacher recommendations must be kept confidential, and may not be shared with families.
ii. Receiving/Prospective School
Member schools may not offer admission to a current ISAAGNY student without completing the admissions process, including receiving the Confidential School Report and/or an official transcript directly from the sending/current school. If neither a report nor a transcript can be obtained, the receiving/prospective school must take the following steps prior to sending notification: (1) use best efforts to secure whatever records may be available, and (2) provide written notification to the sending/current school.
School reports and teacher recommendations must be kept confidential, and may not be shared with families.