The Philadelphia School System.

Summer's almost over and its back to school season, i thought that this would be a great time to review Philadelphia's school system.

School District of Philadelphia Emblem.

The school district of Philadelphia is governed by the The Philadelphia School District. Currently the Philadelphia school district is the eighth largest school district in the nation by enrollment. The school district is based in the Philadelphia Education center, that includes all public schools in Philadelphia established in 1818. In 1850 the board was created to oversee the schools of Pennsylvania. Years later in 1867 the Act of Assembly designated that Controllers of Public Schools were to be appointed by the Judges of the Court of common pleas. There would be one controller appointed from each ward, this was done to eliminate politics from the management of schools. Eventually the mayor appointed a school board to manage the school district, this continued until 2001. Following that the district was taken over by the state and the governor was given the power to appoint a majority of the five members of new School Reform Commission. This system has remained in place to this day.

The Philadelphia school districts mission statement's as follows: 

"The mission of the School District of Philadelphia is to provide a high-quality education that prepares ensures and empowers to all students to achieve their full intellectual and social potential in order to become lifelong members and productive members of society."

There are 291 public schools in the Philadelphia school district.

174 Elementary schools, including Lamberton (K-12)
39 Middle schools
45 High Schools
5 Vocational/Technical Schools
9 Special Schools
19 Programs

There are 55 charter schools in the Philadelphia school district.

29 Elementary Schools
6 Middle schools
16 High Schools
4 Special Schools

Philadelphia School district map.

The school districts facility map is an interactive map search detailing the property locations of all the schools within the Philadelphia School district. The map includes the address, facility type, year built, current status, grades, 2010 school enrollment, % increase in enrollment, 2005-2010, % of school capacity in use, AYP status in 2010 based on state data and the Keystone Achievement Award Winner. This is a great resource that one may use to become more familiar with Philadelphia and the school system and do research.

Center City Region Map

One of the most sought after schools in the Philadelphia School district is the Independence Charter School of  of Philadelphia. The school held  lottery for incoming students earlier this year. This lottery was to assess which students they would be able to enroll for the upcoming year. The lottery, which was held on March 10th, consisted of thousands of applications for a very limited number of spots. Many of the spots were already taken by siblings of other already enrolled students, so the chances of winning a place were extremely low. This is what the school system of Philadelphia has become. Very few excellent schools mixed in with an abundance of mediocrity and inferiority so the possibility of getting a into one of the top schools is drastically low.

The most popular schools in the school system include:
Masterman Julia R Secondary School
The Ad Prima Charter School
Central High School
Laboratory Charter School
Carver High School

The school district of Philadelphia is currently governed by the five-member School Reform Commission, created in December 2001 the Governor appoints three members and the Mayor appoints two members of the commission. The breakdown of leadership includes a superintendent, a deputy superintendent, three associate superintendents, chief of talent & development, chief finance officer and an associate superintendent.

Currently the school district is in the mist of a five year plan refereed to as 'Imagine 2014'. The goal of the plan is to achieve:

"a great city system of schools in which teachers, principals, parents, staff, policymakers, and the entire community collectively focus all energy, efforts, planning and development, resources, and initiatives on building a 21st–century culture of achievement … where children come first, excellence is the norm, talent is nurtured, opportunities are made equal, and success is measured by the steady improvement of teaching and learning in classrooms system-wide … resulting in accelerated student progress … a school system in which all students succeed, families have many quality choices, the staff is great, adults are accountable, and world-class operations support the entire enterprise."

The school system in Philadelphia is very much  work in progress. Due diligence must be taken when researching the right situation for your family. There are many resources out the there to help you achieve this. Contact your local realtor for information on zip codes that a specific school may fall into, they are a great resource to ensure you put yourself in the right situation.