As one of the primary measures of students’ college and career readiness, the School District of Philadelphia (SDP) closely monitors graduation rates each year. This brief explores graduation rates across public schools in the city of Philadelphia in 2020-21, comparing trends for District, Alternative, and Charter schools.

Graduation rates in 2020-21 are compared to those in 2019-20 as well as 2018-19, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. For students enrolled in District schools, the brief highlights differences in graduation rates by student demographics, school admission type, and presence of different Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs.

Key findings include:

• The 2020-21 on-time graduation rate for Philadelphia schools citywide (District, Alternative, and Charter combined) was 75%.
• The 2020-21 on-time graduation rate for District schools was 80%.
• The 2020-21 on-time graduation rate for District and Alternative schools combined was 70%.
• The 2020-21 on-time graduation rate for Charter schools was 86%.
• Alternative school graduation rates declined by 10 percentage points from 2019-20 to 2020-21.
• Graduation rates increased for Asian students and White students and decreased for Black/African-American students and Hispanic/Latinx students, although rates for students of all of these racial/ethnic backgrounds remained higher than five years ago.

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