March 2025
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.