About The Regional
School Choice Office (RSCO)
Your Future, Your Choice!
The Greater Hartford Regional School Choice Office, also known as RSCO, has a motto – Your future, your choice! Families in the Greater Hartford Region have the power to make a CHOICE about where their student attends school by choosing a free, public school outside their home district that provides the academic challenge and specialized instruction to set students up for success for the FUTURE.
Who we are: RSCO (the Regional School Choice Office) is the office established by the Connecticut State Department of Education to help families access school choice opportunities in the Greater Hartford Region.
What we do: RSCO serves as a centralized resource for information about unique, high quality, public prekindergarten through grade 12 school choice options for students in the Greater Hartford Region, including magnet schools, the Open Choice Program, Hartford Region Technical High Schools (A.I. Prince, E.C. Goodwin, and Howell Cheney), and Hartford Region Agricultural Science and Technology Education (ASTE) schools.
How we help families: RSCO manages the application and placement process for magnet schools, the Open Choice Program, and Hartford Region Technical High Schools in the Greater Hartford Region. Through RSCO, families APPLY to magnet schools, Open Choice districts, and Hartford Region Technical High Schools and receive PLACEMENT information about their school choice selections.
How to contact or visit RSCO’s Parent Resource Center: The RSCO Parent Resource Center’s hours of operation are Monday through Friday, 8:00 am to 4:00 pm. Contact RSCO for help through whatever means is most convenient for you:
- Email: Send your questions to rsco.sde@ct.gov. A member of our RSCO Parent Resource Center staff will respond as quickly as possible.
- Phone: Call RSCO at 860-713-6990. If you call after hours, please leave us a message and our staff will return your call as soon as possible.
- Visit RSCO In-person: Schedule an appointment to meet with RSCO staff at 450 Columbus Blvd., Hartford, CT 06103, Monday through Thursday, 8:00 am – 4:00 pm.
- In-Application Messaging: Message the Parent Resource Center through the RSCO School Choice on-line application. Visit the RSCO Application website to log-in or create a new account to access the in-application message feature.
Other RSCO Resources: RSCO has a multitude of resources available to help families make an informed choice about their school choice opportunities.
- Important Information Webpage: This page on our website provides the most critical information families should know for applying to school choice and includes, strategies for applying, priority definitions, the placement rules, and other key information.
- Choice Program Webpages: (Coming Soon) This page on our website provides information about each program type with the RSCO school choice options, including Interdistrict Magnet Schools, the Open Choice Program, Hartford Region Technical High Schools, and Agricultural and Science Technology Education Schools.
- Publications: RSCO publishes a Family Reference Guide in English and Spanish to provide important information about school choice options and application strategies. RSCO also publishes a RSCO School Choice Directory in pdf format in English and Spanish - coming soon as a single resource for school and district level descriptions for magnet schools, Open Choice districts and schools, CTECS schools, and ASTE Centers.
- On-Line School Directory: Families can search schools and explore detailed information about individual schools and districts through the on-line school directory.
Did You Know?
- Colleges look for applicants who have experience learning in diverse schools.
- Choice schools give students the opportunity to drive their learning and pursue their passions!
- Research shows that diverse classrooms lead to increased creativity, problem-solving, and critical thinking.
- Choice schools offer small class sizes and project-based learning to keep students engaged and motivated to learn!
We invite families to explore this website and discover the broad variety of public school options that are available to their students through school choice and to find all the information they need to make an informed choice about where their child attends school!