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Category: Research and Evaluation

Budget Priorities for the 2021-22 School Year: Survey Results

Budget Priorities for the 2021-22 School Year: Survey Results

In Spring 2021 the Office of Research and Evaluation (ORE) surveyed School District of Philadelphia (SDP) stakeholders about what supports should be prioritized in the budget for the 2021-22 school year. This slide deck provides an overview of feedback and responses. 

School Selection in SDP: Applications and Admissions to 9th Grade for School Year 2020-21

School Selection in SDP: Applications and Admissions to 9th Grade for School Year 2020-21

In 2020, we published a three-part series of reports that took an in-depth look at four years of 9th-grade school selection process admissions (2015-16 through 2018-19). This report extends that analysis by summarizing applications and admissions to 9th grade during the 2020-21 selection process (for the 2021-22 school year).

Unpacking AimswebPlus

Unpacking AimswebPlus

We use aimswebPlus, a universal screening, benchmarking, and progress-monitoring tool from Pearson, to assess literacy and math proficiency in grades K-5. These assessments help identify students who are meeting grade- and term-level benchmarks as well as those who may need additional support. This post explains aimswebPlus administration and scoring, as well as how we use the data.

Summary of 2019-20 High School Graduation Rates in Philadelphia

Summary of 2019-20 High School Graduation Rates in Philadelphia

This brief explores patterns in the SDP 2019-20 four-year high school graduation rate by sector (District, Charter, and Alternative), Network, Admission type, and student demographics. This brief also includes an analysis of changes in graduation rates for student cohorts with target four-year graduation years of 2018-19 and 2019-20, as well as an examination of potential contributing factors to increased graduation rates from 2018-19 to 2019-20.

You can now take the District-Wide Survey--and track response rates!

You can now take the District-Wide Survey–and track response rates!

The District-Wide Surveys are now open! If you are a teacher, principal, school support staff, parent/guardian, or student in grades 3-12, please take the survey today! Go to philasd.org/dws to get started.

School Profiles Community Training April 21

School Profiles Community Training April 21

The Office of Evaluation, Research, and Accountability will offer a 60-minute interactive School Profile training session tailored toward school communities and the general public on April 21. The training session will provide an overview how to access the site, search for a school, review both academic and non-academic data, use filters, and compare schools.

SDP Chromebook Distribution by Zip Code

SDP Chromebook Distribution by Zip Code

In order to help facilitate remote learning during the Covid-19 pandemic, as part of its Continuity of Education plan, the School District of Philadelphia (SDP) distributed Chromebooks to students in grades K-12 in spring 2020. The table below shows the number and percentage of enrolled SDP students in each zip code who have received an SDP Chromebook as of February 9, 2021.

Analysis of AimswebPlus Subtest Performance for K-3 Students, Fall 2020

Analysis of AimswebPlus Subtest Performance for K-3 Students, Fall 2020

In order to track student progress more frequently than the once-per-year PSSA, SDP has identified within-year “leading indicators” of student performance. We find that, in order to reach the goal of 62% proficiency on the PSSA, there must be an increase in the percentage of students in grades K-3 (both overall and by student subgroup) who score at or above grade-level on aimswebPlus, the Districts’s within-year reading assessment.

Assessing Student Performance Before and During Virtual Learning: A Cohort Comparison of Student Performance

Assessing Student Performance Before and During Virtual Learning: A Cohort Comparison of Student Performance

This 24-page report compares performance in reading and math assessments for the same set of students over time. The main metric used in this report is the National Percentile Rank (NPR). NPR is a norm-referenced measure that compares student performance to a national sample of students.

The 2019-20 End-of-Year Report: A System-Level Summary of School Performance During a Year when Full School Progress Reports could not be Published

The 2019-20 End-of-Year Report: A System-Level Summary of School Performance During a Year when Full School Progress Reports could not be Published

The End-of-Year Report presents metrics typically used to calculate the annual School Progress Report (SPR). Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many data points that are required to calculate the SPR were not administered during 2019-20; therefore, the traditional school-specific SPR scores could not be calculated for the 2019-20 school year. The data included in this…