Families: Please read An Update on the Facilities Planning Process & Another Invitation to Share Your Feedback
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.
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.
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.
The Pennsylvania Department of Education requires each district to survey exiting seniors about their intentions after high school—specifically, whether students plan to obtain additional education, secure employment, or pursue other activities. This graduate follow-up survey asked Career and Technical Education (CTE) students from the class of 2021 about their experiences after graduation.
Research has found that many high school graduates who intend to enroll in post-secondary education do not follow through with their intentions, a pattern known as “summer melt.” This brief summarizes findings from a study of the summer melt rates of the 2021 cohort of college-intending School District of Philadelphia (SDP) high school seniors.
The 2020-21 Senior Exit Survey contained a subset of questions specifically related to Career and Technical Education (CTE). The survey asked self-identified CTE students about their post-graduation plans for further education and employment. This slide deck provides a summary of the survey results for CTE respondents.
The Pennsylvania Department of Education requires each district to survey exiting seniors about their intentions after high school—specifically, whether students plan to obtain additional education, secure employment, or pursue other activities. This graduate follow-up survey asked Career and Technical Education (CTE) students from the class of 2020 about their experiences after graduation.
This brief summarizes findings from a study of the “summer melt” rates of the cohort of college-intending 2020 School District of Philadelphia (SDP) seniors.