The Philadelphia Education Research Consortium (PERC) is currently a partnership between Research for Action and the School District of Philadelphia’s Office of Research and Evaluation. Launched in August 2014, PERC conducts research that is community-informed, equity-focused, and based on a critical analysis of District needs. PERC’s focus for 2021-2024 is on providing evidence to support the District’s goal for all students to graduate prepared for college or careers.

The brief below is a PERC publication, originally posted here, and it focuses on how English Learners experience mobility (i.e., transferring or changing schools) within the District.

Student mobility is defined as students transferring, or changing, schools during the school year (within-year mobility) or summer (between-year mobility) and is pervasive in many large, urban school districts, including the School District of Philadelphia (SDP). Research suggests that English Learners (ELs) are more likely to experience mobility – an equity concern given the negative association of mobility with educational outcomes. This study focuses on recent patterns of high-school student mobility within SDP and seeks to deepen our understanding of how ELs experience mobility.

From the 2021-2022 to 2023-2024 school year, a larger share of ELs than non-ELs in SDP high schools experienced within-year and between-year mobility. Notably, there were differences in how ELs experienced mobility based on their length of time as an EL and their classification status. For example, long-term English Learners (LTELs) were less likely to experience within-year mobility than non-LTELs, and former English Learner students who had reclassified were the least likely to experience within-year mobility. This study also explored the reasons students transfer schools with a specific focus on ELs, finding that EL students may transfer to attend schools with programs that better meet their needs.