Uncertainty swirls around Philly's special-admission school process
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The School District of Philadelphia's headquarters on North Broad Street. Photo: Mike D'Onofrio/Axios
Philadelphia district students enter the school year with confusion over applying to the city's top-tier special-admission schools.
Why it matters: The uncertainty around the application process to the city's roughly three dozen selective magnet schools is making an already stressful process even worse.
Driving the news: Students seeking to apply to special-admission schools for the 2027-28 year, which opens Sept. 8, "will have an opportunity" to take an alternative assessment this fall, district leaders said last week in a statement.
- That's because the district is not using results from last spring's statewide Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (for grades 3–8) and Keystone (high schoolers).
Context: PSSA and Keystone testing results from the previous year are used not only to evaluate year-over-year student achievement but are required criteria for Philly's school selection process.
Yes, but: Little else is known about this new test, including when it will be offered and whether it will be mandatory for students to take in order to apply to the district's criteria-based schools.
- District spokesperson Monique Braxton tells Axios there were no further details about the new test as of Monday.
The intrigue: Philly district officials are blaming the state Department of Education for the last-minute change.
- District leaders said in statements that they cannot use last year's test results as the required criteria for school selection, and state test data is "embargoed and not available" until it is verified by the Department of Education.
- The verification process was expected to be wrapped up before the start of school by Aug. 18, but has yet to be completed, district officials say.
The other side: A Pennsylvania Department of Education spokesperson tells Axios that Philly and school districts across the state have access to preliminary district-level PSSA and Keystone testing data — as they always do at this time.
- However, unlike in previous years, the department will likely delay the release of state-level PSSA and Keystone test data, per the state spokesperson.
- The state Department of Education spokesperson declined to reveal what was causing the delay or when the data will be released.
Meanwhile, other districts in the region are using their district-level PSSA and Keystone testing data from last year.
- That includes the Lower Merion School District, district spokesperson Amy Buckman tells Axios.
Between the lines: The PSSA test went fully online last spring, shifting from paper tests for the first time.
- The rollout of the new system included some glitches and technical difficulties in some districts.
Between the lines: Philly superintendent Tony Watlington has a lot riding on the new test scores.
- Watlington, who took over in 2022, has pledged to improve academic achievement and make Philly the "fastest-improving large urban school district in the nation."
- A big decline in test scores could dent his reputation, and he's received significant pushback on his $2.8 billion plan to close schools and update others.
What's next: The state typically gets access to PSSA and Keystone testing data in November.