PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — School District of Philadelphia fourth and eighth graders’ reading and math testing scores this year were slightly down compared to 2019 pre-pandemic results, according to national educational assessment results cited by the district.
The results mostly mirrored national and other big-city districts' trends since before the COVID-19 pandemic began.
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Philadelphia’s overall performance scores, however, continued to lag behind nationwide scores and those for similar-sized cities, the district said.
The 2022 National Assessment of Educational Progress conducted the testing, and the district said the dropoffs in performance in fourth-grade reading, eighth-grade reading, and eighth-grade math were not statistically significant.
In those categories, their drop in performance was less than 2%, a smaller decline than the national average.
But in fourth-grade math, the district’s drop was nearly 4%, nearly double the decrease in national performance.
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“Holding steady in three of four areas, given the many challenges that all school districts have experienced these past three years, is encouraging news that we intend to build on going forward,” said Superintendent Tony Watlington.
The overall 2022 results for the district were more than 9% worse than the national average, almost exactly the same level as it was in 2019.
“We have a long way to go to ensure all students are succeeding academically,” said Watlington. “That’s why, outside of student safety, improving academic outcomes for all of our students will be our highest priority as we develop our new five-year strategic plan.”
A report released last week by Watlington’s transition team created a list of nearly 100 recommendations for district improvement. A portion of them include equitable access and increased resources for students.
“Our goal is to make the School District of Philadelphia one of the fastest improving, large, urban school districts in the country for achieving successful outcomes for all students.”
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