This brief provides information about enrollment patterns for K-12 students in Philadelphia’s public schools. The analyses examine enrollment trends with respect to governing sector, admission type, and student demographics from 2014-15 through the present school year, with a particular focus on 2022-23 to 2023-24.
In January 2024, the School District of Philadelphia (SDP) Office of Finance, in partnership with the Office of Evaluation, Research, and Accountability, conducted the Fiscal Year 2025 Budget Priorities Survey. A total of 3,641 stakeholders responded to the survey, representing 229 District schools/programs. This slide deck presents a summary of survey results.
In January 2024, the Education Recovery Scorecard issued a report on the first year of Covid-related academic recovery for school districts in 30 states. According to the research team, SDP is outpacing other large urban districts nationwide and many districts in Pennsylvania in recovering from the pandemic. In math, Philadelphia students recovered nearly half a grade level of learning during the 2022-2023 school year. In reading, Philadelphia students also made gains over the same period.
Through Listening and Learning sessions held from February to May 2023, we sought to better understand the factors that most impact teacher attendance and retention. This slide deck presents the findings from sessions with School-Based Teacher Leaders (STBLs), school leaders, and Central Office staff.
Students throughout Philadelphia have the opportunity to apply to attend SDP schools of their choice through an annual School Selection Process. Students across all grades may apply to all available SDP K-12 schools, but 8th graders applying for 9th grade constitute the largest group of participants. This report includes analyses of several phases of the 2022-23 School Selection Process, with a focus on 8th graders enrolled in District (non-charter) schools, and their engagement with the School Selection Process to enroll in 9th grade criteria-based schools and programs in the 2023-24 school year.
On November 8, 2023 PDE published the results of the state standardized tests administered in the 2022-23 school year. Although proficiency rates for SDP students are lower than statewide rates, SDP students’ year-over-year results align with the statewide results, and we see overall signs of post-pandemic improvement, especially in grades 3-8 math and science.
Through Listening and Learning sessions held from February to May 2023, we sought to better understand the challenges and barriers that prevent students from attending school on time every day. This slide deck presents the findings from sessions with school leaders and students.
Attendance is important for positive educational outcomes. Research has found that high attendance is associated with reading at or above a student’s grade level, scoring at or above grade level in math, and being prepared for college and career. This brief uses attendance data across all students enrolled in District schools, including alternative programs, to identify trends in student attendance from 2017-18 to 2021-22.
This report continues a series of publications examining the School District of Philadelphia’s (SDP) 2021-22 school selection process (SSP), and summarizes the last phase of the school selection process with a specific focus on high school enrollment results for 9th grade students in Fall 2022.
In the fall of the 2021-22 school year, five substantive changes were made to the School Selection Process, particularly with respect to rising ninth graders applying to criteria-based high schools for the 2022-23 school year. This series of reports provides a summary of eighth grade student qualifications and applications (report 1), initial lottery-based offers of admission (report 2), offers of admission after the waitlist process and student acceptances (report 3), applications and outcomes for external and internal K-12 applicants (report 4), and Fall 2022 student enrollment in criteria-based schools (report 5).