Personnel
Shane Hazenstab Begins at Penns Valley With Trust and District Value in Focus
Penns Valley's new superintendent says relationships come first as he enters a district with a long enrollment decline.
Pennsylvania
Education News & Data
Local education reporting from every corner of Pennsylvania, grounded in Pennsylvania Department of Education data.
Lucas Clouse Once Supervised the Teachers Who Taught Him. Now He Leads West Perry.
West Perry's new superintendent is a graduate of its schools and has been a district administrator since 2007. He takes over as enrollment sits at its lowest point since at least 2007-08.
Deer Lakes Math Scores Climbed Four Years Running. Beth Hutson Is Starting With Reading.
Deer Lakes math proficiency rose four straight years while reading fell to a published low. Its new superintendent calls literacy a K-12 job.
Hispanic Graduation Rates in Reading Jumped 19 Points While Allentown Stalled
Reading SD's Hispanic graduation rate jumped 19 points to 77%, a series high, while Allentown's fell to 67% from a 2022 peak of 80%.
Did Act 158's Five Graduation Pathways Change the Game in Pennsylvania?
Pennsylvania's graduation rate ticked up after Act 158 created five pathways to a diploma, but without pathway-level data it is impossible to measure the effect.
More Coverage
Equity
Female Students Cross 90% for the First Time as Pennsylvania's Gender Gap Holds Steady
Female students in PA crossed the 90% graduation threshold for the first time in 2024 while the gender gap has remained stable at roughly 4 points for 13 years.
Charter Schools
19 Pennsylvania Districts Graduate Below 70%, and 15 of Them Are Charter Schools
Of 19 PA districts with sub-70% graduation rates in 2024, 15 are charter or cyber charter schools, raising questions about accountability frameworks.
Graduation Rate
Erie Wasn't Pennsylvania's Only Large District in Decline. It Was Second-Worst.
Fourteen large traditional Pennsylvania districts declined from 2011 to 2024. Wilkes-Barre Area fell the most; Erie fell the second-most.
Equity
Pennsylvania's Special Education Graduation Gap Narrowed Less Than One Point Since 2017
Pennsylvania's special education graduation rate reached 76% in 2024, while its gap with all students narrowed from 12.9 to 12.0 points over seven years.
Graduation Rate
79 Pennsylvania Districts Hit All-Time High Graduation Rates in 2024
79 Pennsylvania districts reached record-high graduation rates in 2024 while 26 hit personal lows, with most districts graduating above 90 percent and the top-to-bottom gap slowly narrowing.
Career Technical
Pennsylvania's CTE Centers Are Graduating Nearly Everyone: 97.9% Weighted Rate
Ten Pennsylvania career and technical education centers with cohorts of at least 50 students posted a 97.9% weighted graduation rate in 2024, with two centers at or above 99%.
District Spotlight
Pittsburgh's Quiet Turnaround: Four Straight Years of Graduation Gains Reach 87%
Pittsburgh's graduation rate hit 86.9% in 2024 after four consecutive years of improvement; district leaders point to lower student-to-counselor ratios and closer monitoring.
Equity
The Poverty Graduation Gap That's Actually Closing: Pennsylvania's Low-Income Rate Hits 83%
Pennsylvania's economically disadvantaged students graduate at 83%, and the poverty gap with all students narrowed 55% since 2011.
Graduation Rate
Philadelphia's Graduation Rate Jumped 21 Points, the Biggest Urban Turnaround in Pennsylvania
Philadelphia's graduation rate rose from 55% to 76% since 2011, the largest urban improvement in PA, driven by the 9th Grade Success Network.
Equity
Pennsylvania's Racial Graduation Gap Cut in Half: Black Students Gained 15 Points in 13 Years
Pennsylvania's white-Black graduation gap dropped from 23 to 11 percentage points since 2011 as Black students' rate soared from 65% to 81%.
