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.
The Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) is conducted in cities and states across the United States, and it is one of the most important national data sources on youth risk behaviors that lead to death and disability. In spring 2025, the YRBS was administered to a random sample of high school students at 32 randomly selected School District of Philadelphia (SDP) schools. Use the buttons below to download summary graphs and detail tables of the 2025 YRBS results as compiled by the CDC.
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.
As part of an ambitious vision for mathematics equity and achievement, in 2023-24 the School District of Philadelphia adopted Illustrative Math (IM) as the district-wide K-12 math curriculum. The Office of Research and Evaluation (ORE) is conducting a three-year evaluation of the curriculum implementation. This slide deck presents Year 2 findings and recommendations.
As part of a strategic plan to accelerate academic achievement, in 2024-25 the School District of Philadelphia adopted a new High School ELA curriculum for grades 9-12 that included selected SDP resources alongside StudySync lessons, units, and reading guides. In Year 1 of the High School ELA curriculum implementation, the Office of Research and Evaluation conducted focus groups and surveys 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)?
Strategic Action 5.7 of Accelerate Philly calls for “an annual school leaders survey to provide feedback about Central Office operations.” The Central Office Feedback Survey was administered in February 2024 and May 2025, and school leaders at District and alternative schools were invited to participate. This slide deck summarizes overall feedback on Central Office and feedback on individual departments.
Food insecurity directly impacts physical health and is associated with adverse developmental, behavioral, and social-emotional outcomes. It can also contribute to achievement gaps between children from families with low and high incomes. Results from the School District of Philadelphia (SDP) 2023-24 Philly School Experience Survey (PSES) provide a local data source for understanding the extent to which Philadelphia families experience food insecurity.
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 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.