In this brief we present Philadelphia public high school graduation rates from 2014-15 to 2024-25 and examine the trends in this metric by sector, high school admission type, CTE programming, and student demographic groups.
This report provides a summary of the School District of Philadelphia’s 2025 summer programs, including information about enrollment and attendance, student performance on Star assessments, and findings from surveys.
In November 2025, the Office of Research and Evaluation contacted Senior Exit Survey respondents from the graduating classes of 2022-23 and 2023-24 to conduct the Graduate Follow-up Survey. Results from the Graduate Follow-up Survey help SDP understand the education and career pursuits of recent high school graduates, learn about obstacles graduates faced in pursuing post-high school plans, and gain insights about how graduates transition into postsecondary education or the workforce.
Summer melt refers to the phenomenon in which a high school senior’s intention to attend college in the fall “melts away” during the summer. This slide deck presents summer melt findings for the class of 2024-25.
Similar to the well-established Ninth Grade On-Track (9GOT) metric, SDP also uses a Tenth Grade On-Track (10GOT) metric to track student progress towards graduation. This research brief examines 1) the relationship between students’ 9GOT and 10GOT statuses, and 2) the relationship between students’ 10GOT status, their four-year graduation status, and credits earned.
The Senior Exit Survey is administered annually each spring by the Office of Research and Evaluation (ORE). In 2024-25, ORE received responses from 7,369 seniors at 79 District high schools, representing 73.9% of enrolled 12th grade students.
The Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) requires school districts to conduct a follow-up survey with graduates of their Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs. The 2025 graduate follow-up survey asked whether CTE graduates from the class of 2024 had enrolled in college, continued to work or train in their CTE field of study, or pursued other activities.
In this brief we present Philadelphia public high school graduation rates from 2013-14 to 2023-24 and examine the trends in this metric by different student groupings.
In the School District of Philadelphia (SDP), the summer melt rate is calculated as the percentage of graduating 12th grade students who intend to go to college but do not matriculate within the first fall after graduation. This brief examines patterns in summer melt rates from 2015-16 to 2023-24 and then looks more closely at characteristics of summer melt for the graduating classes of school years 2021-22, 2022-23, and 2023-24.
The Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) requires school districts to conduct a follow-up survey with graduates of their Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs. The 2024 graduate follow-up survey asked whether CTE graduates from the class of 2023 had enrolled in college, continued to work or train in their CTE field of study, or pursued other activities.