As part of a strategic plan to accelerate academic achievement, in 2024-25 the School District of Philadelphia adopted EL Education for grades K-8, a standards-aligned core instructional resources for English Language Arts with a focus on the Science of Reading. In Year 1 of EL Education implementation, the Office of Research and Evaluation conducted focus groups to answer the question: Do teachers, school leaders, and central office support staff believe they have enough materials, training, and support to implement the new ELA curricula with integrity/fidelity (as intended)?
This report summarizes the evaluation of the first year of the School District of Philadelphia’s implementation of the Illustrative Math curriculum, using data from surveys and focus groups to identify facilitators and barriers to implementation within SDP’s context.
The Quality Teaching for English Learners™ initiative is a research-based professional development program for teachers, coaches, and school leadership devoted to improving educator capacity to support the linguistic and academic development of English Learners (ELs) and other students needing to develop academic uses of English. This report summarizes the results of a year-long implementation evaluation of the QTEL initiative.
Each year, the School District of Philadelphia (SDP) and its partner organizations offer a variety of summer programs to ensure that students have the opportunity to continue learning during the summer months. This report provides a summary of the 2024 summer programs, including information about enrollment and attendance, and findings from surveys.
As part of an ambitious vision for mathematics equity and achievement, the School District of Philadelphia (SDP) adopted Illustrative Math (IM) for the district-wide K-12 math curriculum in 2023-24. In Year 1, the Office of Research and Evaluation conducted focus groups to answer the question: What were the barriers and facilitators to implementing Illustrative Math with integrity? This slide deck summarizes the findings from these focus groups and provides recommendations for continuing to improve the implementation of Illustrative Math.
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 to learn about their experiences after graduation. This graduate follow-up survey asked whether Class of 2022 CTE graduates had enrolled in college, continued to work or train in their CTE field of study, or pursued other activities.
Together is Better (TIB) is a program that supports the implementation of a co-teaching English Learner (EL) model in a small subset of District schools. This report focuses on the final year of grant-funded TIB program implementation (2022-23) in order to understand program implementation and participants’ experiences with the program, and to inform future supports for teaching EL students and co-teaching.
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.
Each year, SDP and its partner organizations offer a variety of summer programs to ensure that students, especially those most vulnerable to experiencing summer learning loss, have the opportunity to continue learning during the summer months. This report provides a summary of the 2023 summer programs, including information about enrollment and attendance, and findings from surveys and observations.
The 2022-23 Quality Teaching for English Learners (QTEL) initiative in SDP consisted of a series of professional development opportunities for K-12 educators across 29 schools. This report summarizes the results of a year-long implementation evaluation of the QTEL initiative.