These plans have been developed by school teams with assistance from central office programmatic support team members. We have also included a link to the school’s recent Monthly Data Snapshot, for reference purposes.

We encourage all stakeholders to review your school’s plan and to complete a feedback form, which are available in English, Spanish, Chinese, and Arabic.

The Pennsylvania Department of Education requires that Comprehensive Plans be developed every three years. However, it’s important to note that our district treats its Comprehensive Plan as a living document.

Resources

• Comprehensive Plan, 2022 – 2025
• Professional Development Plan (Act 48), 2022 – 2025
• Gifted Education Plan Assurances (Chapter 16), 2022 – 2025
• Induction Plan (Chapter 49), 2022-2025

The power in PVAAS comes from using key PVAAS reports to inform the work you do every day! To help you learn to use PVAAS effectively, the PVAAS Statewide Team has created professional learning resources for school leaders, district leaders, and teachers. Each set of resources focuses on learning to use the PVAAS data to support and inform a specific task or goal.

Questions about PVAAS? Requests for PVAAS training? Contact jctaylor@philasd.org

This site is designed to provide quick, easy, and secured access to student performance results on the Keystone Exams, the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA), the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment Modified (PSSA-M), and the Pennsylvania Alternate System of Assessment (PASA). On this site, you will find a wealth of information at your fingertips in a highly interactive and flexible format.

To set up your initial username and password contact Jeff Robinson at jrobinson2@philasd.org.

• Access eMetric here
• e-Metric User Manual
• Additional Frequently Asked Questions About e-Metrics

Click below to view a current Master file of all District, Charter, and Alternative Schools in operation in the School District. Examples of information within the file include: School code, Publication name, School level, Governance, Career and Technical Education (CTE) Status, etc. There is also a Longitudinal file of all District and Charter Schools from 2001-2002 to 2016-2017. Note: Although these school lists are similar, they do not encompass all of the same information. The Longitudinal file is not an appended version of the Master School List.

Last Refreshed: Nov 2024 | Next Update: Oct 2025

Click below to download a Zip file that contains Student, Parent/Guardian, Teacher, Principal, and Support Staff results and response rates from the Philly School Experience Survey. Note that data for each respondent group or level of aggregation (i.e. school, network, sector) is available only when a minimum response rate threshold is met.

Cross-Sectional data files: These files are for those interested in responses to particular questions in a given year. The files display the number and percentage of respondents selecting each response option for each question. For 2021-2022 and after, the results are aggregated by school, network, sector, and for all respondents. Prior to 2021-2022, the results are aggregated by school only. To download all years, select “All Available Years.”

For longitudinal data, please see our process for submitting a data request.

For more information:

• Visit our interactive Philly School Experience Survey dashboard to further explore survey data, including Board Goals and Guardrails highlights, topic and subtopic details, responses to individual questions, and survey response rates.
• Visit the Philly School Experience Survey home page for technical documentation, research reports, printable school summaries, and more.

Last Update: Nov 2024 | Next Refresh: Sep 2025

School Reopening Survey

Click below to download a Zip file that contains respondent level student, parent/guardian/community member, and school-based/central office SDP staff response data from the School Reopening survey.

Hybrid vs. Digital Curriculum Selection

Click below for the results of the Phase 1 enrollment in hybrid or digital curriculum. Phase 1 included grades PreK through 2 in District schools and Early Childhood programs only.

Last Update: Dec 2020

School Selection – Application Details: The Application Details files contain, for each sending and receiving school pair, the number of student applications, number of program offers, and number of student acceptances for all criteria-based and citywide admission schools in the School District of Philadelphia.

School Selection – Applicant Demographics: The Applicant Demographics files include district and school level applicant data by applicant demographics.

For more information, view our research reports related to school selection.

Last Update: Jan 2025 | Next Update: Dec 2025

Note: This data does not include Charter Schools.

This longitudinal open data file includes information about the graduation rates for schools broken out by: graduation rate type (four-year, five-year, or six-year), demographic category (EL status, IEP status, Economically Disadvantaged Status, Gender, or Ethnicity), and 9th grade cohort. Students are attributed to the last school at which they actively attended in the respective graduation window, which ends on September 30 each year. Students are classified as EL, as having an IEP, and/or economically disadvantaged if they were designated as such at any point during their high school career.

This file includes information for all 9th grade cohorts dating back to the 2010-2011 9th grade cohort. Previously published graduation Open Data files for earlier cohorts can be found in the Zip file archive.

Note: This data does not include Charter Schools.

For more information:

Visit our interactive College & Career dashboard to further explore our 9th grade on track, high school graduation, college matriculation and persistence data, including breakouts by subgroups, student grades, and type of college students enrolled in.

View our research reports related to high school graduation.

Last Refreshed: Apr 2024 | Next Update: Spring 2025

The Average Daily Attendance (ADA) calculation aggregates the absences for all students recorded in the Student Information System (SIS) and compares them to the total number of possible attended days based on the enrollment records of each student at the school. All classifications and reasons for student absences are included in calculating the absences used to calculate ADA.

The 95% Attendance (District- and School-Level) files display the number and percentage of enrolled students in each grade that attended at least 95% of instructional days. The 95% Attendance – District file updates quarterly and is calculated cumulatively by month at the District level; the rate listed for June (except SY2019-20; see footnote 4) is the official year-end number for reporting and accountability purposes. The 95% Attendance – School is calculated cumulatively at year-end at the school level. All classifications and reasons for student absences are included in calculating absences used to calculate 95% Attendance.

Notes:

1. These data sets do not include Charter Schools.
2. Data only includes students enrolled in the District/school for 10 or more days.
3. Summing numerators and denominators in the school-level file will not result in the numbers listed in the District-level file. This is because the figures in the school file are school-specific, meaning (a) a student who transfers schools mid-year will generally be attributed to both schools in the school file, but only counted once in the District file; and (b) a student may have a 95% attendance rate at one school but a less-than-95% attendance rate when considering their attendance across all schools
4. All Attendance file calculations for SY2019-2020 only consider data through March 13, 2020 due to state-wide COVID-19 school closures.
5. Previously published files are available as a ZIP file archive.
6. Due to retroactive cleaning of the data, subtle differences may occur between newly uploaded data files.

For more information:

• See our attendance explainer, How does the School District of Philadelphia calculate student attendance?
• View our research reports related to attendance.

90% Attendance within month – District: Last Refreshed: Feb 2025 | Next Update: May 2025

90% Attendance – School: Last Refreshed: Feb 2025 | Next Update: Spring 2026

ADA within month – District: Last Refreshed: Feb 2025 | Next Update: May 2025

ADA – School: Last Refreshed: Feb 2025 | Next Update: Spring 2026

95% Attendance cumulative by month – District: Last Refreshed: Feb 2025 | Next Update: May 2025

95% Attendance – School: Last Refreshed: Feb 2025 | Next Update: Spring 2026

The Out-of-School Suspensions (District– and School-Level) files display the number and percent of enrolled students in each grade that had out-of-school suspensions (OSS). The OSS – District file updates quarterly and is calculated cumulatively by month at the District level; the rate listed for June (except SY2019-20; see footnote 4) is the official year-end number for reporting and accountability purposes. The OSS – School file is calculated cumulatively at year-end at the school level.

Notes:

1. This data does not include Charter Schools.
2. Data only includes students enrolled in the District/school for 10 or more days.
3. Summing numerators and denominators in the school-level file will not result in the numbers listed in the District-level file. This is because the figures in the school file are school-specific, meaning (a) a student who transfers schools mid-year will generally be attributed to both schools in the school file, but only counted once in the District file; and (b) a student may have zero suspensions at one school but one or more suspensions at a different school, and thus be excluded from the count of students with zero OSS at the District level.
4. All OSS calculations for SY2019-2020 only consider data through March 13, 2020 due to state-wide COVID-19 school closures.
5. Previously published files are available as a ZIP file archive.
6. Due to retroactive cleaning of the data, subtle differences may occur with newly uploaded data files.

OSS – School: Last Refreshed: Feb 2025 | Next Update: Spring 2026

OSS – District: Last Refreshed: Feb 2025 | Next Update: May 2025

Serious Incidents are incidents reported to School District Police. The Counts by Incident Type files provide the number of reported incidents at a school, by incident type. The Incident Report Details updates quarterly and provides detailed information about the reported incidents. Some incident types are included in the Counts by Incident Type file but excluded from the Incident Report Details file due to their sensitive nature.

Notes:

1. This data does not include Charter Schools.
2. Due to retroactive cleaning of the data, subtle differences may occur for new data file uploads.
3. Previously published files are available as a ZIP file archive.

Incident Counts: Last Refreshed: Feb 2025 | Next Update: Spring 2026

Incident Details: Last Refreshed: Feb 2025 | Next Update: May 2025

Click on the Reporting Cycle below to download a Zip folder that contains National Student Clearinghouse Student Tracker Reports for individual schools and the District as a whole. These reports contain data on student post-secondary enrollment, persistence, and graduation.

Please use our School NSC Code Crosswalk to identify the NSC code for the school report and year you want to view. The NSC code is found in the third component of each report file name, after “HS”. For example a report for the school with NSC code 392779 will appear as follows: “4218990hs_10000345_HS392779…”

The District does not share student academic or demographic information with the NSC. Therefore, the NSC is unable to generate many of the subgroup analyses contained in the Academic and Demographic reports (i.e., these report types are mostly left blank).

Note: District reports include data for District, Charter, and Alternative schools.

Last Refreshed: Feb 2025 | Next Update: Jul 2025

This file includes information on the fall matriculation rates for students who graduated during the school year indicated (e.g., 2019-2020 matriculation rates represent enrollment of students who graduated during 2019-2020). Students are considered to have matriculated if they enrolled at a postsecondary institution that reports information to the National Student Clearinghouse (NSC).

Note: This data does not include Charter or Alternative Schools.

For more information:

• Visit our interactive College & Career dashboard to further explore our 9th grade on track, high school graduation, college matriculation and persistence data, including breakouts by subgroups, student grades, and type of college students enrolled in.
• View our research reports related to college & career.

Last Refreshed: Apr 2024 | Next Update: Spring 2025

Wide-School file that includes schools results from the 2019-2020 End-of-Year Report. Example Metrics include: Credit Accumulation, Out of School Suspensions, Graduation Rates, Attendance.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and associated school closures, multiple state and local assessments were cancelled during the 2019-2020 school year. As a result, the School District of Philadelphia is not able to release a scored School Progress Report for the 2019-2020 school year. Instead, the District will release an unscored end-of-year summary report for each school to share information on the metrics that are available for the 2019-20 school year. The full reports were released in January 2021 and are available at the bottom of this page. Please see below for a list of metrics that are included in the end-of year summary, by domain.

Achievement

• % of English Learners scoring at or above a 4.5 on the ACCESS for ELLs 2.0 assessment (District schools only)

Progress

• % of on-track students earning the credits required for promotion (grades 9-11 only)
• % of off-track students earning the credits required for promotion (grades 9-11 only)
• % of English Learners meeting the individual growth target on the ACCESS for ELLs 2.0 assessment (District schools only)

Climate

• % of students attending 95%+ of instructional days, 90-95% of instructional days, 85-90% of instructional days, 80-85% of instructional days, or less than 80% of instructional days (calculated through March 13, 2020 only)
• % of students with zero out-of-school suspensions (calculated through March 13, 2020 only)
• % of students with zero in-school suspensions (calculated through March 13, 2020 only)
• District-wide Survey: Student climate rating
• District-wide Survey: Student participation rate
• District-wide Survey: Parent/guardian participation rate
• District-wide Survey: Parent/guardian climate rating

College & Career

• Four-year cohort graduation rate
• District-wide Survey: Student college & career readiness rating

Educator Effectiveness

• % of teachers attending 95%+ of days (District schools only)
• District-wide Survey: Student perception of quality of teacher practice

Published: Jan 2021

Accountability

• Allows stakeholders to identify areas where records are not accurate and/or policies are not followed
• Increases accountability by monitoring frequency of data quality issues and policy violations over time
• Highlights corrections necessary for state and federal reporting

Security and Efficiency

• Removes need for all staff to have access to all data systems to track issues
• Replaces an array of ad hoc data-quality reports, emails, and individually-maintained files
• Tracks errors and policy violations across data systems instead of a siloed approach within a single platform, combining data from multiple sources if necessary

Convenience

• Sends direct email alerts about data quality issues to multiple levels of staff continuously and automatically throughout the school year
• Automatically partitions out the errors for each stakeholder level and notifies them only when errors exist

Timeliness

• Provides notifications of data quality issues as close to real time as possible

After receiving a scorecard, staff must log into the Data Quality Tool to retrieve details – no confidential information is sent in scorecard emails. Some of the Data Quality Rules are actionable, requiring action by staff to fix identified issues, while others are for informational purposes only.

The Data Quality Tool is run outside of the District and thus is not included in the single sign-on District portal employee tiles. This can lead to some confusion when trying to use the Data Quality Tool for the first time.

Please note the following:

• Your username is your District employee ID number. You can find your employee ID number (EIDN#) on your District ID badge. When logging in to the Data Quality Tool, do not include any leading zero digits from your EIDN#.
• Your password may be different than your normal District password.
• You do not start with a password – you must set up a new password (or reset an existing one) by pressing Forgot Your Password (linked here) and entering in your employee ID number. The system will then email you a temporary, one-use password.

Most of the Data Quality alerts which staff need to address can be corrected through InfiniteCampus (the SIS). For detailed information about how to fix each type of Data Quality alert involving SIS data, please refer to the steppers available on the SISHelp website, which are organized by Data Quality Rule category.

Data Quality Rules are conditions which, when met, prompt the Data Quality Tool to display information on a Data Quality scorecard. Some rules identify data errors which need to be fixed or provide helpful reminders about actions that staff need to take, while other rules are for informational purposes only.

Types of Data Quality Rules (DQR)

• Alerts users to illogical or missing data fields that require correction
  Example: Student date-of-birth cannot be for a current or future year.
• Alerts users to incorrect data configurations across data types
  Example: Behavior and School Calendar – A suspension cannot occur on the weekend.
• Highlights actionable situations that are time-sensitive
  Example: A behavioral resolution should be entered within 7 days of the incident.
• Sends alerts for high priority circumstances
  Example: List special education students who have more than 5 days of suspensions.

You can view information about each of the Data Quality Rules here.

If you would like to request the creation of a new Data Quality Rule, please fill out the following form:Request a Data Quality Rule

Sometimes there are legitimate exceptions to Data Quality Rules, when information is accurate but still meets the criteria to appear in the alert. In these cases, users can submit exceptions in order to remove these violations from their scorecards.

After logging in to the Data Quality Tool, users can find Exception Forms linked in the More Info… box on the Rule Report page. By filling out the exception form and explaining the situation, the violation will then be removed from the Data Quality scorecard.

An example of a valid exception is when a student is over age and getting caught by an age verification rule. Filling out the Exception Form will remove this student from the scorecard report.

Not all rules allow exceptions. If you have found an error where the Data Quality Tool does not appear to be working correctly or where you think there needs to be an exception but no Exception Form is available, please fill out the Data Quality Error Form.

The Data Quality Tool sends scorecard emails to staff alerting them about potential data quality issues and providing other useful information.

Types of Scorecards

• School-based scorecards are composed of targeted, actionable rules that help direct school staff to specific data maintenance tasks. Rules on school-based scorecards may identify errors that need correcting, can provide helpful reminders that staff should be taking an action in the near future, or can help to close gaps in providing appropriate services to students. Most target audiences for school-based scorecards only receive alerts when they have the permissions to make the appropriate changes in Infinite Campus. Principals and Assistant Principals also receive a list of all of the alerts for their school so that they can appropriately monitor progress.

• Report Scorecards – In contrast to the other scorecards, a report scorecard is generally not intended to be actionable. Report scorecards provide an up-to-date list of students that meet a set of high-priority criteria or notify recipients of situations that may warrant their attention. They are not actionable, and there is no information that needs to be corrected. Examples of report scorecard rules include lists of students receiving Special Education services who were suspended in the previous week, or a notification of students who transferred schools with a behavior plan. To help users differentiate between report scorecards and scorecards with actionable rules, the email notification for report scorecards has a light blue color.

• Central Office scorecards are tailored to the needs of a program office and may contain a mix of actionable rules and other types of alerts. At times, rules that appear on school-based scorecards may also appear on the scorecard for the relevant program office so that their staff can monitor progress or address any issues that school-based staff may have. In other circumstances, actionable rules are designed so that the program office staff are notified in a timely manner when they need to take action. Finally, some Central Office rules may not require immediate action, and instead serve to alert the program office staff of specific situations.

What happened to Certify? Is the Data Quality Tool different from Certify?
The “Certify” tool is now known as the District’s “Data Quality Tool.” Please see the DQT Certify Rebranding one-pager for more information.

I am having trouble logging in to the Data Quality Tool. What should I do?
Please see the Accessing the Data Quality Tool stepper. Note that as of August 2022 usernames were changed, and are now staff’s School District employee ID numbers.

One of my team members or I need access to the Data Quality Tool. Who should I contact?
Please contact the Office of Data Governance at datagovernance@philasd.org.

I have an idea for an additional rule that I would like to have added to the Data Quality Tool. What should I do?
First, please check the list of Data Quality Rules to ensure that the rule does not already exist. If you would like to request the creation of a new rule, please fill out the Rule Request Form. If you would like to receive alerts about an existing rule that you are not currently receiving, please contact datagovernance@philasd.org.

I need assistance with fixing the issues showing up in my Data Quality scorecard. Where can I find support resources?
You can find steppers explaining how to address most Data Quality alerts related to student information at the SISHelp website. Note: not all Data Quality rules identify data that is inaccurate and needs to be fixed. For example, QDS, QEL, and QEN rules provide information about situations that may warrant attention (e.g. students with large numbers of suspensions) but do not require any information to be corrected.

My Data Quality scorecard is showing a legitimate record that is not actually a data error. What should I do?
If the Data Quality rule is working correctly but there is a valid exception to the rule, please see the Data Quality Exceptions page on the Office of Data Governance website for information about submitting exceptions. On the other hand, if the Data Quality rule does not seem to be working correctly, please use the error submission form.

The Data Quality Tool does not seem to be working correctly. What should I do?
Please submit this issue using the Data Quality error submission form.

Each year, the Office of Research and Evaluation (ORE) administers the School District of Philadelphia (SDP) Philly School Experience Survey (PSES) to Philadelphia public schools in both the District and Charter sectors.

This survey, which is administered to students, parents/guardians, teachers, school support staff, and principals/assistant principals, measures six key topics related to school improvement:

• School Climate – Areas affecting the school environment: school mission and vision, respectful relationships, student safety and support, and challenges to student learning.
• Instructional Environment – Student engagement and how students, parents/guardians, and teachers feel about the quality of teaching and learning at their school.
• School Leadership – How school leaders communicate and implement their school vision, how they manage their responsibilities, and how they perceive their level of autonomy.
• Professional Capacity – How school staff work together, what types of professional development teachers receive, and if teachers feel supported in growing and innovating in their classrooms.
• Family Engagement – How schools reach out to and communicate with parents/guardians, what parents/guardians think about these efforts, and how parents/guardians are getting involved with their child’s education.
• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion – How often issues of race, ethnicity, and culture are addressed in schools, the extent to which all students and staff feel they are valued members of the school community, how integrated and fair school is for students from different backgrounds, and the extent to which schools promote an anti-racist professional culture.

The Philly School Experience Survey is one of the best tools we have for assessing different perspectives across topics. Your responses each year are also essential measures of progress related to our new Board Goals & Guardrails.

The technical report describes the framework that guided survey development, the administration of the surveys, the processes of survey reliability testing and validation, and the construction of school-level scores for reports.

• 2022-23 Technical Report

• 2021-22 Technical Report

  Note: A new “Representativeness of Respondents” section (pp. 14-24) was added to this report in September 2023; all other information remains unchanged.

• 2020-21 Technical Report

• 2019-20 Technical Report

• 2018-19 Technical Report

• 2017-18 Technical Report

• 2016-17 Technical Report

Our archive includes all surveys developed, beginning in 2014-15. Survey hard copies are provided in PDF form; surveys were originally disseminated via SurveyMonkey.

Please note that the PDFs are for reference only. If you would like information about obtaining paper copies for parents and guardians, please contact schoolsurveys@philasd.org.

2023-24

• Parent/Guardian Survey: English | Shqip | عربي | বাংলা | 汉语 | Français | ខ្មែរ | Português | Pусский | Español | O’zbek | Việt

• Student Survey:* English | Shqip | عربي | 汉语 | Français | ខ្មែរ | Português | Pусский | Español | Việt

• Principal/Assistant Principal Survey

• Teacher Survey

• Support Staff Survey

*Questions 5-6, 9, 13-18, 23, and 29-36 on the Student Survey are for students in grades 6-12 only. Questions 24-28 are for students in grades 9-12 only.

2022-23

• Parent/Guardian Survey: English | Shqip | عربي | বাংলা | 汉语 | Français | ខ្មែរ | Português | Pусский | Español | O’zbek | Việt

• Student Survey:* English | SHQIP | عربي | 汉语 | Français | ខ្មែរ | Português | Pусский | Español | Việt

• Principal/Assistant Principal Survey

• Teacher Survey

• Support Staff Survey

*Questions 8-10 and 24-33 on the Student Survey are for grades 6-12 only.

2021-22

• Parent/Guardian Survey | Encuesta para padres/encargardos

• Student Survey*

• Principal/Assistant Principal Survey

• Teacher Survey

• Support Staff Survey

*Questions 25-32 and 37-41 on the Student Survey are for grades 6-12 only.

2020-21

• Parent/Guardian Survey

• Student Survey (3-5)

• Student Survey (6-12)

• Principal Survey

• Teacher Survey 

• Support Staff Survey

2019-20

• Parent/Guardian Survey

• Student Survey (3-5)

• Student Survey (6-12)

• Principal Survey

• Teacher Survey

• School Staff Support Survey (Pilot)

2018-19

• Parent/Guardian Survey

• Student Survey (3-5)

• Student Survey (6-12)

• Principal Survey

• Teacher Survey 

2017-18

• Parent/Guardian Survey

• Student Survey

• Principal Survey 

• Teacher Survey 

2016-17

• Parent/Guardian Survey

• Student Survey

• Principal Survey

• Teacher Survey

2015-16

• Parent/Guardian Survey

• Student Survey

• Principal Survey

• Teacher Survey

2014-15

• Parent/Guardian Survey

• Student Survey

• Principal Survey

• Teacher Survey

• PSES Dashboard – Explore each topic and question in detail using the Philly School Experience Survey dashboard.
• School Profiles – Review Philly School Experience Survey highlights along with other school information, such as enrollment and assessment data.
• Open Data Files – Download entire data sets using the Philly School Experience Survey open data files.
• Survey Questions
• FAQs

• Why are some reports missing?
  If your school does not have a report, it is because not enough students, parents/guardians, or teachers completed the survey. At least 25% of students and teachers and 10% of parents/guardians must have completed the survey in order for their data to appear in a report. If none of these minimum rates were reached, a school will not have a report.
• Why are some years missing data in the line graphs?
  The response rate thresholds are applied to each year’s data. A missing dot on a line graph means that the minimum number of respondents did not respond to that topic in that year.
• What does i.s. Mean?
  When response rate thresholds are not met or a specific subtopic or question is not relevant for a particular school, you may see “i.s.” (insufficient sample) or “insufficient data” in the report. Common reasons why some subtopics and questions are not relevant for some schools include that:
  • The student survey is for grades 3-12 only.
  • Some student survey questions (e.g. those related to Bullying or Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) are only for grades 6-12 students.
  • Charter schools do not participate in the support staff survey.
  • Some Charter and alternative schools do not participate in the teacher and/or parent/guardian surveys.
  • Some questions (e.g. Professional Capacity questions related to District-led professional development) are not shown to Charter and alternative schools.

• How many respondents are needed in order for the data to be displayed?
  The minimum response rate for students and teachers is 25% and for parents/guardians, it is 10%. For topics that include more than one respondent group, at least two of those groups must meet their threshold in order for schools to get an overall score for that topic. For example, the Family Engagement topic score includes both parent/guardian and teacher responses, so both groups must meet the minimum response rate in order for a school to get that topic score.

• How can the response rate be over 100%?
  For teachers, we calculate response rates based on the number of active teachers at each school as of May 1. Sometimes teachers who are on extended leave complete the survey if they still have access to their employee portal, and some teachers respond earlier in the survey window and then leave the school. Both these situations could result in a response rate over 100%.For students, we calculate response rates based on the number of enrolled students in grades 3-12 at each school as of May 1. If a student completes the survey while enrolled at your school and then moves to a different school, their response will still count for your school. In some situations, it is possible for a school to have more responses than students enrolled on May 1.For parents/guardians, survey response rates are estimated by taking the total number of valid surveys received for the school (or Network, sector, etc.) and dividing by the total number of households with K-12 students in the school (or Network, sector, etc.). While families were encouraged to submit just one survey per household, some do submit more than one; for this reason, it is possible for some schools to have a response rate greater than 100%.

• How are the topic and subtopic scores calculated?
  Each response option for each question is given a numeric value, with the most positive response option getting the highest and the least positive response option the lowest. Next, the numeric responses for all the questions in a subtopic or topic are averaged. Then, the averages are converted to a 1-10 scale. A subtopic or topic score of 10 means that all respondents selected the most positive response options for all the questions in the subtopic or topic.

• What does “N/A” or “-” mean? (reports prior to 2022-23 only)
  Not all respondent groups are asked questions that align to each of the five topics. If this is the case, “N/A” (not applicable) or “-” appears in place of a topic score or subtopic score.

• Why are there fewer than five dots on my radar plot? (reports prior to 2020-21 only)
  The response rate thresholds are applied to each topic. A missing dot on the radar plot means that the minimum number of respondents did not respond to that topic in that year.

PBIS – targeting supports, progress monitoring, evaluation

The Office of Climate and Safety uses the PSES results to support schools implementing Positive Behavioral Intervention and Supports (PBIS). PBIS coaches are particularly interested in responses to questions about behavior, school discipline, and trusting relationships. Questions on the Teacher Survey like, “I have been adequately trained to manage student behavior effectively” and “My school does a good job of addressing disciplinary challenges proactively,” help PBIS coaches identify which schools need more training/support, and within schools, whether certain grade-level teachers feel more confident than others. PBIS coaches can use this information to support networks/schools/grade-level teams that need additional support and also to build off of successes that already exist in a school community. Similarly, questions on the Student Survey like, “I am treated with respect by other students,” and “I feel safe in the hallways and bathrooms,” help PBIS coaches and schools understand the success of their efforts in implementing PBIS from the student perspective, and can identify a clear place to focus next steps when the survey results do not reflect school or district expectations or goals. The Office of Research and Evaluation (ORE) uses responses as a source of information about the success of the implementation of PBIS in different types of schools and school settings. Survey results are incorporated into any analyses of changes in school-wide climate measures.

Teacher Professional Development – identifying needs, monitoring progress

The Office of Teaching and Learning (OTL) uses responses to the professional capacity construct on the teacher survey to monitor and adapt their approach to district-offered professional development. The professional capacity construct includes questions about innovation (“I am encouraged to try new teaching approaches in my classroom”), peer collaboration (“How often do you observe other teachers’ classrooms?”), quality of professional development (“Teacher input is taking into consideration when planning district-level/school-level professional development), consistency (“My PD activities are integrated/linked with my daily lessons), content (“What topic areas have you/ would you like to receive?), and delivery (“My PD activities and periodic follow-up throughout the year). District-level, network-level, school-level, and grade-level teacher responses are used to track the success of PD approaches and to inform planning, policies, and supports each year.

Supporting English Learners – identifying needs, providing supports

The Office of Multilingual Curriculum and Programs (OMCP) works with more than 15,000 English Learners (ELs) who represent more than 130 countries and speak more than 100 home languages. OMCP staff review the responses of English Learners in the areas of school climate and instruction to better understand the networks/schools where they work and to have conversations with principals and other staff about supporting English learners. Questions on the Student Survey like “I believe I can learn whatever is taught in my classes,” and “I can do even the hardest homework if I try” provide information to teachers, principals, and central office staff about EL student experiences and perceptions. OMCP staff also review the teacher responses related to English learners in the areas of instruction, professional capacity, and parent-community ties to identify areas of need and customize supports for schools.

Health and Wellness – examining trends, targeting supports, evaluation

One goal of the Eat Right Philly program is to encourage students and schools to make healthy choices. The Eat Right Philly team uses questions on the student survey like, “During the past 7 days, how many days were you physically active for at least 60 minutes?” and “Yesterday, how many times did you drink any soda, punch, fruit-flavored drinks…,” to examine trends in healthy behaviors over time as well as to identify which schools and areas could use additional support.

The Office of Research and Evaluation partners with Eat Right Philly to produce “School Health Snapshots” for each school that summarizes the available information about health and wellness, including responses to relevant PSES questions. School staff and external partners use the information in these snapshots to prioritize health and wellness strategies and to monitor progress.

The parent/guardian survey also includes a set of questions on food insecurity, which are used to determine an overall rate of food insecurity for each school with sufficient responses. The Office of Research and Evaluation publishes regular reports analyzing trends in food insecurity at District schools. Food insecurity datasets are also available separately on the Open Data website.

Food Services – customer satisfaction

The Division of Food Services is responsible for providing daily meals to all students in SDP. Each year, staff review results from the student survey to track trends in customer satisfaction and identify areas for additional support and improvement. Questions on the student survey that help inform these decisions include “When I eat school lunch, the food tastes good,” “When I eat school lunches, the menu provides healthy choices,” and “When I eat school lunches, the food is cooked to the right temperature.” Food services also use data from three questions on the student survey as a set of Key Performance Indicators that are reported on their Annual Report.

School Improvement Planning Process – identifying needs, monitoring progress, incorporating parent feedback

Staff from the Planning and Evidence-based Supports Office review survey data as part of the continuous improvement planning process conducted in partnership with school leaders. Results from student, teacher, and parent surveys are used to identify needs for new programming or areas of focus for improvement or celebration. Parent/guardian survey responses are also used in accordance with Pennsylvania’s Title I funding requirements. In order to use Title I funds for school improvement, schools must report on parent feedback relative to school mission/vision, quality of instruction, and community engagement. Responses to questions like “Teachers at my child’s school give helpful comments on homework, classwork, and tests,” “My child’s school provides me with regular feedback about my child’s progress,” and “My child’s school provides help applying for social or medical services” are incorporated into the needs assessment portion of the school planning process.

Research and Evaluation – incorporating multiple stakeholder perspectives into research studies

Internal and external researchers rely on school-level PSES results from parent/guardians, teachers, and students to inform progress on measures of School Climate, Instructional Environment, Professional Capacity, Family Engagement, School Leadership, healthy food access, technology access and use, attendance challenges, community services, and more. Reports and briefs produced by SDP’s Office of Research and Evaluation regularly incorporate PSES results. External researchers are encouraged to use survey responses available on our Open Data website (under the “School Information” category) rather than creating/administering new surveys of parent/guardians, students, and teachers that can detract from instructional time and goals. Occasionally, additional questions have been added to the PSES as a way to measure large-scale initiatives (e.g. questions added for Safe Routes Philly in 2021-22).

Family Engagement – identifying and addressing challenges

Schools have used PSES data to identify opportunities to improve their family engagement programs. For example, leaders at one high school noticed that many parents/guardians reported on the PSES that parent activities were not scheduled at convenient times. The school sent out a follow-up survey with parents to identify more convenient times, and organized new events based on the results, such as dinners with parents of students on the cusp of not passing their courses and parents with students on the Honor Roll.

Rigorous Instruction and Grading – using survey data alongside other data to improve instruction

Survey responses are often used alongside other sources of information. At one school, the leadership team reviews school-level teacher responses to questions in the instruction construct about teacher practices alongside the letter grades assigned to students in different courses. They use responses to questions like “My students critique, evaluate, and synthesize,” “My students work on extended learning projects,” and “My students apply their knowledge to new situations, concepts, or problems” to reflect on ways to improve instruction.

School Leadership – continuously improving and identifying areas of focus

Responses to the School Leadership questions on the teacher survey provide information for new and returning principals and their supervisors (assistant superintendents) for improving school climate. Questions like “The principal at this school sets high standards for student learning” and “The principal at this school works to create a sense of community in this school” provide information about the key areas that leaders need to focus on to improve school climate.

Communicating Clearly – monitoring progress

Principals who are focusing on improving their communication with the entire school community have monitored the results of their efforts by reviewing teacher responses to questions like “The Principal at this school communicates a clear mission for our school” and parent responses to questions like “My child’s school communicates with me in a manner that is clear and timely” and “The principal or school leader is accessible to me” to identify areas of success and places for continued improvement.

Improving School Community – using survey data alongside discipline data to gain more information

District and school leaders use the District’s “QlikBAM” performance management dashboards to track student and school progress and identify areas for improvement. School leaders often use survey responses to learn more information about trends they see in the dashboards, such as unequal (or disproportionate) suspensions based on student race/ethnicity, gender, grade-level, English learner status, or special education status. Looking at groups of student responses to survey questions like “I have been treated badly based on my race/ethnicity or background” and “my teachers treat me with respect” based on student characteristics helps school leaders focus on groups or grades of students in their school where there are areas of student-identified concerns.

Attendance – identifying possible reasons for absence and lateness

School leaders use responses to questions about traveling to school, safety in the hallways/bathrooms, bullying, and feeling welcome in school to identify possible reasons why students are late/absent from school. The parent survey asks parents how much of a challenge these different situations are in supporting their child attending school: family responsibilities, feeling safe at school, chronic or ongoing medical issues, public transportation, District-provided transportation, and safety of the child’s walking route. The student survey gives students an opportunity to identify challenges that may limit their on-time attendance, including attendance challenges like “I am bullied at school,” “I feel welcome in school,” “I feel safe in my classes,” and “I feel safe in the hallways and bathrooms.” The teacher survey also provides information about bullying, whether the school communicates the importance of attendance, and student behavior and discipline. School teams track responses from all stakeholder surveys in these areas and identify targeted responses to address student, teacher, and parent concerns about attendance challenges.

Promise Neighborhood – Assessing service delivery and evaluating outcomes

The West Philadelphia Promise Neighborhood is a US Department of Education-funded program to support “cradle to career opportunities for children living in or attending one of the 7 schools in the West Philadelphia Promise Zone. The program seeks to improve education, health, and economic success for children, their families, and communities. Questions from the parent survey are an important way to identify potential gaps in programming. For example, parents are asked: “Do you have internet at home,” “Is healthy food available in your neighborhood” and “How often do you buy or choose healthy food for you and your family.” These responses are also used to fulfill grant reporting requirements. Because these questions are asked of all parents, not just those residing in the Promise Neighborhood zone, The Promise Neighborhood is able to compare the responses of parents/guardians within their region to responses of parents/guardians in other neighborhoods not serviced by the Promise Neighborhood.

Community Schools – Determining gaps in communication and awareness of available programs

Community Schools are public schools where a full-time coordinator works with the entire school community – students, parents, teachers, administrators, service providers, and neighbors – to identify the community’s most pressing needs, such as expanded medical services, after-school programming, and job training. The coordinator then works with service providers and City agencies to bring these targeted resources directly into the school. The Community Schools team use responses from the parent survey to track changes in availability and awareness of community services over time. For example, parents are asked to indicate yes, no, or don’t know to questions such as “My child’s school offers help finding and/or applying for jobs.”; “…help learning English,” and “…help applying for social services.” Parent/guardian responses to these questions help the Community Schools team determine whether they need to dedicate more efforts to outreach and promoting awareness of available services. Analysis of responses at community schools compared to other schools in the same zip code or region also help identify where gaps in service exist.

Informed Parents – accessing information that informs and empowers

Parents groups, including a community of new mothers in South Philadelphia, use the district-wide survey to better understand how other parents view the schools where they might choose to send their children. Answers to questions such as “I am pleased with the quality of education my child’s school is providing for my child” and “Adults at my child’s school treat my child with respect” are an informative supplement to other pieces of information such as test score averages, behavioral incident counts and enrollment trends.

The YRBS monitors six health behaviors that contribute to the leading causes of death, disability, and social problems among youth and adults:

1. behaviors that contribute to unintentional injuries and violence;
2. tobacco use;
3. alcohol and other drug use
4. sexual behaviors that contribute to unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease
5. unhealthy dietary behaviors; and
6. inadequate physical activity.

The RRC reviews and tracks all research efforts in the District to ensure that: (1) the research is aligned with District goals; (2) research is not duplicative or unnecessarily burdensome to students or school personnel; (3) all required procedures are followed when conducting research with human subjects in school settings; and (4) research projects do not overlap in ways that make it difficult to interpret the findings.

The RRC defines research very broadly. You must submit a proposal to the RRC if you propose to: (1) conduct analyses of administrative data that is not already publicly available; (2) collect any information from students, parents, teachers, or administrators; (3) conduct or record observations in a classroom, school, or after-school setting; and/or (4) recruit students, parents, or school personnel to participate in research-related activities. This includes (but is not limited to) all observations, interviews, focus groups, and surveys.

The District permits five types of externally-conducted research: (1) academic studies; (2) Ph.D. dissertations; (3) national surveys; (4) progress monitoring or grant-mandated reporting; and (5) program evaluations. We prioritize proposed academic studies, Ph.D. dissertations, and national surveys that directly align to the Board of Education’s Goals and Guardrails.

Please Note: The District values rigorous, impartial evaluations of implementation and impact. Therefore, program providers may not evaluate their own programs in District schools. Providers wishing to conduct an evaluation must partner with an independent, third-party evaluator. Additionally, the District will provide non-aggregate data only to third-party evaluators.

However, with RRC approval (after completing the proposal process), program providers may collect information related to program implementation for progress monitoring or grant-reporting requirements (but not for evaluation or analyses related to the impact of the program). The RRC will assess the burden on participants, the quality and appropriateness of all data collection instruments, and whether proposed activities will interfere or overlap with other District research initiatives.

If the proposed study is related to a grant that provides/will provide services to students or teachers in District schools, or you need a letter of support for a proposed project from the District, please also complete an Intent-to-Apply form for the SDP Office of Grants Development. If your grant proposal involves research, you must contact us at researchreview@philasd.org.

Protection of Human Subjects

This is a brief overview of principles, regulations, and policies that affect research involving human subjects in research activities supported by the Department of Education.

Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act is a federal law that protects the privacy of student education records. The law applies to all schools that receive funds under an applicable program of the U.S. Department of Education.

• FERPA Educational Rights and Privacy Act
• Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (PPRA): This web page offers a succinct summary of the types of survey questions requiring written parental consent.

Clearances

Valid clearances are required to be on file with the Office of Research and Evaluation (ORE) for all those persons conducting work within the District. This rule applies to all who apply through the Research Review Committee (RRC) whose work requires their presence within a school or schools, including working with students online.

For those submitting new proposals, clearances must be valid within one year of the approval date. For those working on approved and active research projects, updated clearances are due to ORE every three years. Valid, updated clearances are required for each submission, even if a researcher is working on other projects. Please note: If you are an SDP employee, you do not need to provide clearances if your clearances on file with the District are current.

Please follow the links below to access the required clearance applications. Once clearances are received, please scan and email the final clearance letters and certificates to researchreview@philasd.org. We cannot verify clearance results with login codes.

• PA Child Abuse Clearance
• FBI Fingerprint Clearance (Enter code: 1KG6XN)
• PA Criminal History Clearance

All research activities must adhere to the District’s policies and procedures (see above).

Step 1: Review Submission Guidelines

Step 2: Be sure that you can answer “YES” to each of the following questions.

• Does your proposal fall into one of the permitted research categories? (See below.)
• If your proposal is an academic study, a Ph.D. or Ed.D. dissertation, or a national survey, does it align with the Board Goals outlined in the District’s Goals and Guardrails?
• Will findings from your proposed research provide actionable information that can help improve the educational experiences and outcomes of children in Philadelphia?
• If requesting data or survey administration: Have you thoroughly explored all publicly available data, including the Philly School Experience Survey (PSES) results, before determining the need to make a specific data request and/or administer your own survey instruments?

Step 3:

Research Categories

• Progress Monitoring (Grant-Mandated Reporting)
  Progress Monitoring is considered by the RRC to be minimally-invasive data collection and/or requests of administrative data required by programs for delivery to funders. Activities will NOT include: any work attempting to measure outcomes. This proposal type is included to allow SDP partners who require such information to submit a proposal without undue burden.

• Program Evaluation
  Program Evaluation is any project that involves activities attempting to measure the outcomes of a particular program or intervention. Because of the nature of program evaluation, the RRC requires all Program Evaluation applications to be submitted by Third Party Evaluators. Programs are not permitted to evaluate themselves.

• National Survey
  National Surveys are broad-scale, nationally-sampled studies that typically contribute to federally supported or mandated work.

• Academic Study (Non-Dissertation)
  Academic studies are any study, whether grant-funded or not, proposed for the sole purpose of answering a specific question and/or expanding upon the current literature in any given field. Academic studies are not being completed in fulfillment of a degree (see Ph.D. or Ed.D. dissertation, below).

• Ph.D. or Ed.D. Dissertation
  Ph.D. or Ed.D. dissertations are accepted for review by the RRC but are subject to additional requirements. The RRC does not accept applications for research from master’s-level students or undergraduates. Please see our student researcher requirements document for more information.

The Office of Research and Evaluation (ORE) hosts monthly Research Forums as a requirement for Research Review Committee (RRC) proposal submission.

• Research Forum Dates – forums are typically held on the first Tuesday of each month, with some exceptions.
• All research forums are currently held via Zoom.
• RSVP to researchreview@philasd.org

Before requesting any data, please reference our open data sources and review our Standard Terms for Researchers. If you intend to use District administrative data (i.e., grades, average daily attendance, suspensions) within your research, please note that all requests for such data must be made through the Research Review Committee. Individual schools or offices are not authorized to release the data directly to you (please see Policies and Procedures above).

All requested data must be reviewed and approved by the Research Review Committee (RRC) via your online research proposal. When asked about your research content in the online proposal process, select “I want to do secondary analysis of individual level data” or “I want to do secondary analysis of aggregate data.” Please request only the data that you feel are necessary for your planned analyses and be as detailed as possible; the RRC will respond with the data that will be provided by the District. When making this decision, the RRC considers current data availability and necessity. If you are unsure if your data needs will require RRC review and approval, please view our reference matrix.

Once the RRC has approved your data request, you will receive a Data Agreement. You must sign this agreement, which includes our Standard Terms for Researchers. This agreement will describe the data that the District will provide for you, and it will include an estimate for the cost of data pulling, cleaning, and delivery. Once you have signed the Data Agreement and returned it by mail, you can enter your final data request here. All data agreements, once fully executed, are binding.

Due to the volume of requests we receive, it will take at least 60 business days for your data request to be filled (beyond the research review and data agreement process, if applicable).

If you have a previously approved study that, due to unforeseen circumstances, needs to be changed, you may submit an amendment to the Research Review Committee (RRC) for review. Amendments have no cost associated with them.

Amendment Considerations

Amendments will be considered for minor changes to original proposals, such as the addition or deletion of a sample school or site, the altering of a tool or instrument, or the modification of some data collection procedures. Amendments will be denied for large procedural or structural changes to your original proposal; you will be asked to submit a new proposal.

The RRC accepts amendments on proposals that are up to three years old. This is to assure that proposals align with the changing academic and procedural environment surrounding educational research. If your proposal requires changes and is more than three years old, you will need to submit a new proposal.

Procedure for Submitting an Amendment

1. Assure that your proposal is no more than three years old and that any proposed changes to your project are minor (see above).
2. Use the Proposal Amendment Form and fill out to the best of your ability.
3. Submit the form (please include your study’s proposal number) and any other relevant materials to researchreview@philasd.org.

RRC Applications and Approval Rates
During the 2022-23 fiscal year (July 2022 to June 2023), 133 submissions were received by the RRC, including 81 proposals and 52 amendments.

Proposals and Approvals
Between July 2022 and June 2023, the RRC received 81 proposals from various organizations and universities. Entities that submitted the most proposals during this time were Temple University, University of Pennsylvania, and Drexel University. Of the total 133 submissions, 112 (84%) were either fully, conditionally, or partially approved.

RRC Monthly Research Forum
In November 2016, ORE began offering a monthly Research Review Forum, open to all who are interested, and required for those submitting proposals to the RRC. The goal of this forum is to provide external researchers, as well as other stakeholders, with information about District standards and procedures for conducting research and applying for access to District data. In the 2022-23 fiscal year, 100 people attended the RRC Forum.