Publications

Exploring the Diversity and Supports for School District of Philadelphia English Learners as they Prepare to Transition to High School

Exploring the Diversity and Supports for School District of Philadelphia English Learners as they Prepare to Transition to High School


By: David Bamat, Sean Vannata, Lindsey Liu, Molly Schlesinger, and Alyn Turner

September 2023

The increasingly larger and more diverse population of EL students in Philadelphia schools requires more resources to provide effective instruction and other student support services. This report explores recent population shifts, focusing on 7th and 8th-grade ELs who are about to make the important transition to high school.

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Changing the Finish Line: Implications of new graduation requirements in the School District of Philadelphia

Changing the Finish Line: Implications of new graduation requirements in the School District of Philadelphia


By: Sean Vannata, Anna Shaw-Amoah, Molly Pileggi, Molly Schlesinger, Theodore Wills, Roland Reyes, and Alyn Turner

October 2022

Beginning with the class of 2023, Pennsylvania high school students will need to demonstrate career or postsecondary preparedness to meet statewide graduation requirements and receive a diploma. The new graduation requirements, enacted in 2018 by Pennsylvania’s Act 158, are intended to codify high standards for all students and improve student achievement across Pennsylvania while also taking into account student strengths, interests, and career goals.

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Changing Requirements in Pennsylvania for High School Graduation: A Research Brief on Pennsylvania Act 158

Changing Requirements in Pennsylvania for High School Graduation: A Research Brief on Pennsylvania Act 158

Beginning with the class of 2023, graduating Pennsylvania high school students will need to demonstrate career or postsecondary preparedness in addition to meeting existing statewide graduation requirements. Read our policy brief to learn about the history of this “high stakes” policy, how research shaped its evolution, and what researchers suggest are its implications for equity in Pennsylvania.

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High School Graduation in Philadelphia: 12 Key Questions

High School Graduation in Philadelphia: 12 Key Questions

The purpose of this FAQ is to share what PERC has learned and how our research has been used to help high school students. As high school students return to school buildings post-pandemic, we also talk about how research might be used next year to support equitable pathways to graduation.

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Student Mobility and Dropout in Philadelphia High Schools, 2013-14 through 2016-2017

Student Mobility and Dropout in Philadelphia High Schools, 2013-14 through 2016-2017


By: Matthew P. Steinberg, Molly Pileggi, and Ruth Neild

September 2019

This study uses four years of student-level data for all students enrolled in Philadelphia public high schools from the 2013-14 through 2016-17 school years. We examine the characteristics of mobile students and the types of schools they most commonly exit and enter as well as the characteristics of schools with higher rates of student mobility.

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Present from the Start: Ninth Grade Attendance Patterns in the School District of Philadelphia, 2015-2017

Present from the Start: Ninth Grade Attendance Patterns in the School District of Philadelphia, 2015-2017


By: Ted Wills, Ruth Curran Neild, Molly Pileggi

April 2019

This report studies attendance patterns of first-time SDP ninth graders during the 2015-16 and 2016-17 school years. It examines the spread of overall attendance rates in these two student cohorts, patterns over the course of their ninth grade year, and how those patterns differ for students with different levels of academic achievement.

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Educating English Language Learners: Opportunities for Improved Infrastructure

Educating English Language Learners: Opportunities for Improved Infrastructure


By: Jeannette Rowland, Rebecca Reumann-Moore, Rosemary Hughes, Joshua Lin

June 2016

This brief examines the challenges schools face in these areas and the strategies they use to mediate them. The purpose of this brief is to share these strategies across schools and with the larger Philadelphia community, in order to help schools continue to improve ELL programming.

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