Postsecondary Readiness

All high school students in the state of Pennsylvania, including those planning to graduate from the School District of Philadelphia.

By the end of October, high schools will send letters to each sophomore, junior and senior (and their families) that explain the following:

• credits attained to date;
• the status of their service learning project;
• which pathway represents the best opportunity to graduate on time;
  and
• what else may be needed to successfully meet the expanded graduation requirements.

This could include tutoring, credit recovery programs, internships and work-based experiences within the school-year and during the summer.
Starting October 10, 2022, students and parents/guardians will be able to monitor their progress towards meeting the graduation pathways through their student and parental portals respectively, on an ongoing basis. Graduation readiness updates will be provided throughout the year via quarterly report cards and parent-teacher conferences.

Students and parents/guardians can monitor their progress towards meeting the graduation pathways through their student and parental portals respectively, on an ongoing basis. Graduation readiness updates will be provided throughout the year via quarterly report cards and parent-teacher conferences.

Families will have access to their student’s information beginning the week of October 10th, 2022.

Families and students are highly encouraged to attend parent/family-teacher conferences to discuss plans with your child’s teachers and counselors, and contact your child’s school directly with questions.

If tutoring, credit recovery programs or other supports within the school year and during the summer are suggested as part of your child’s graduation plan, please work with your child’s school to ensure your child is enrolled/registered for these programs and supports as needed.

Students and families should start thinking about and understanding graduation requirements as they are applying to high-schools (the School Selection process), and have an early plan for their pathway to graduation upon entering high school as freshmen. This way, students will also understand their pathway options after all three Keystones have been completed.

In addition, students and their families should also review the requirements and progress towards pathways at regular intervals throughout the student’s high school career.

Currently, the District offers a variety of centralized and school-level support for students, and we are constantly developing and implementing additional resources. Please make sure to check in with your child’s school, and return to this website often to stay up to date with available resources.

Current partnerships and opportunities for  work-based learning, service learning, colleges/trade schools, and more are listed on the District’s Post-Secondary Readiness Opportunity Hub. This list will be updated as new partnerships are secured.

CTE students must be a CTE Concentrator (completed 50% of the program hours, for the program in which they are enrolled) and exhibit likelihood to pass the NOCTI pretest for programs with a NOCTI option.

AP (3)
IB (4)
PSAT 970+
SAT (1010)
ACT (21)
ASVAB (31)
ACT WorkKey (Gold Level)

Students should review their scores after each Keystone Exam is taken.

After all three Keystone Exams (end of 10th grade) are taken a student should begin working towards the completion of a non-Keystone score pathway.

A student who scores Basic or Below Basic may request to retake the assessment over the course of their time in high school.

Students do not need to score proficient or advanced on all three Keystone Exams. If proficiency is not met for all Keystone Exams a student should explore Pathways 2-5.

• To graduate via Pathways 2 students must score a Proficient or Advanced score on at least one Keystone exam and a composite score of 4452.
• To graduate via Pathways 3,4, or 5 students must pass the Keystone tested subject and provide other pieces of evidence.

The student will be ineligible for Pathways 1 and 2. The student would strive to graduate via pathways 3, 4, or 5.

Students are not required to retake Keystones where they did not score Proficient or Advanced, however retakes are encouraged for students who would like to retest. Schools will provide students with additional opportunities to retake Keystone Exams should they have a previous attempt that resulted in a Basic or Below Basic score.

Students that earn proficient and/or advanced scores on the Keystones have satisfied Pathway 1. However, the students must also ensure they meet District-specific graduation requirements as well – completion of a service learning project and completion of 23.5 subject-specific credits.

In addition to meeting the requirements of one of the five PDE pathways, District students must:

Complete a Service Learning Project, and
Earn 23.5 subject-specific credits (plus applicable CTE credits if the student is enrolled in a CTE program):

When it comes to applying for and participating in service learning, internships and assessments, students are supported by counselors, teachers or other staff members in the school. Specific questions should be directed to those school-based staff members.

If a student with a disability is unable to satisfy pathway requirements but satisfactorily completes a special education program, they will be granted a diploma under Title 22 §4.24.

The Pennsylvania State Board of Education (PSBE) is identifying circumstances for which pathway-specific graduation requirements may be waived for certain students in the graduating classes of 2023, 2024 and 2025. The District is working with PSBE to clarify these circumstances. Please know that waivers will likely only be applicable for a very limited number of students.