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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.
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.
In summer 2021, the School District of Philadelphia (SDP) offered a series of virtual and in person summer programs for students who had completed grades PreK-12. In response to students experiencing digital and hybrid learning from March 2020 – June 2021, summer 2021 programming offerings were expanded from previous summers. Nearly 16,000 students enrolled in summer programming, over 12,000 students attended a program for at least one day, and nearly 6,000 students attended at least one program for 75% or more of days.
District-level report on findings from a 2020 survey of exiting seniors about whether they plan to obtain additional education, secure employment, or pursue other activities 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.
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.
SDP’s Ninth Grade On-Track metric is an established and validated tool for early identification of students who are not likely to graduate on time. This slide deck summarizes findings found in From Ninth Grade On-Track to College Matriculation: The Path of the 2015-16 SDP Ninth-Grade Cohort, which compared matriculation outcomes across demographic and educational characteristics (gender, race/ethnicity, IEP status, EL status, economic disadvantage, and GPA).
District-level report on findings from a 2019 survey of exiting seniors about whether they plan to obtain additional education, secure employment, or pursue other activities after graduation.
This report builds on previous findings by examining first-fall matriculation outcomes of the 2015-16 first-time ninth-grade cohort who graduated on time (Class of 2019) by their Ninth Grade On-Track status (Firmly On-Track, On-Track But At Risk, and Off-Track). This report also compares matriculation outcomes across demographic characteristics.
This introduction to the two SDP graduation rates explains how the metrics are calculated and how contributing factors have changed over time. It also outlines six-year trends in SDP’s graduation metrics (2013-14 through 2018-19).