Academies of Loudoun Admissions by the Numbers

AOS and AET: Fall 2020

These are the most recent AOS and AET applicant counts LCPS has published. They come from a presentation to the School Board on August 11, 2020, and describe the students admitted for fall 2020, the last class chosen before the 2020 changes to the process.

Applied and admitted are the totals of the two groups LCPS reported by economic status, below. Share admitted is admitted divided by applied.

By economic status

Three students from economically disadvantaged families were admitted to each academy that year. That gap is one of the reasons LCPS gave for changing the process in 2020.

By Middle School, Fall 2020

LCPS compared the number of students each middle school sent to AOS and AET with the number it would expect from that school’s share of 8th grade enrollment. The last column marks the schools where enrollment was under 75% of that expected number, as LCPS flagged them.

Enrollment is as of May 2020. Mercer Middle School is not included because it had no 8th grade class that year. The AET tables have no rows for Belmont Ridge or J. Michael Lunsford, so the AET column adds up to less than the 145 admitted. LCPS reported 8 middle schools under 75% for AOS, with 9 students between them, and 5 for AET, with 22.

MATA: 2019 to 2024

LCPS reported MATA applications, offers, and acceptances for six years in its 2024-25 MATA report to the School Board. Applications nearly doubled over that time while offers grew much less, so the share of applicants offered a seat fell.

Years are as LCPS labels them. Share offered is offered divided by applied. MATA students choose up to three pathways, and LCPS does not break these totals down by pathway.

How AOS and AET Selection Worked Under the 2020 Policy

In August 2020, LCPS staff told the School Board how AOS and AET students would be chosen starting that fall. In plain terms:

1. Eligibility. 8th graders in or past Algebra I, with a C average or better in grades 6 and 7. Today’s requirement is narrower: a C or higher in specific math and science courses.
2. Two assessments on one day. Every eligible applicant takes a STEM Thinking Skills Assessment and a Writing Assessment.
3. A profile for each applicant. The Research Office builds a profile from the two scores.
4. A panel review, school by school. A panel of educators gets the profiles ranked by STEM test score within each middle school, and separately for students from economically disadvantaged families, with the writing score alongside.
5. A floor, not a quota. The panel’s list must include at least 75% of each middle school’s expected share, and of the expected share of economically disadvantaged students. LCPS’s example: a school expected to send 8 students gets at least 6 recommended, with a wait list behind them.

LCPS has not said publicly whether this process still applies. Its admissions page today says only that applicants are evaluated on all of the published criteria, with no benchmarks or minimum scores.

Is It a Lottery?

Not for AOS or AET. Families sometimes hear that AOS and AET admission is a random lottery. Nothing LCPS has published says so. Applicants take the Writing Assessment and the admission test, and LCPS says they are evaluated on all of the published criteria.

MATA is different. LCPS checks each applicant’s requirements, then holds a lottery only when more qualified students apply than there are seats.

What LCPS Has Not Published

AOS and AET counts after 2020

No applicant, offer, or admission counts for AOS or AET have appeared in School Board documents or on LCPS pages since the 2020 presentation.

Admission test scores

LCPS mails each applicant their own scores but publishes no score scale, averages, or cutoffs, and says there is no minimum score.

Advanced AET

No applicant or admission counts are published.

Any AOS or AET acceptance rate you see for a recent year is an estimate, not an LCPS figure.