Philly schools tops in big-city U.S. districts in academic recovery:
Philadelphia schools had the strongest academic recovery among large urban districts, according to a new research study, and generally, third through eighth graders’ math performance is improving across the district.
Those were the top takeaways from the school board’s “Goals and Guardrails” meeting Thursday night, a session not for voting but for monitoring academic progress in the district of 113,000 students.
According to the Education Recovery Scorecard, a research project out of Harvard and Stanford Universities, Philadelphia is recovering from the pandemic faster than other large city school systems — as well as other districts in Pennsylvania.
Measured against other large, poor urban districts, Philadelphia approached its pre-pandemic math achievement faster than any other city’s schools, with students recovering almost half a grade of learning during the 2022-23 school year. Los Angeles schools were just behind Philadelphia.
“This is really significant for our students,” said Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr.
“The School District of Philadelphia is almost back to post-pandemic levels,” said Tonya Wolford, the district’s chief of evaluation, research and accountability.
Still, Philadelphia had and has a long way to go. District students’ achievement ranks near the bottom of all big-city school districts as measured by the only exam given to schools nationally.
[link:https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/philly-schools-tops-in-big-city-us-districts-in-academic-recovery-takeaways-from-the-school-board-meeting/ar-BB1i1sqP#comments|
