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Recovering Credits in the School District of Philadelphia: High School Student Credit Recovery Utilization in 2018-19

PERC research is produced through collaboration between researchers from Research for Action and the School District of Philadelphia’s Office of Research and Evaluation. For more information, please visit phledresearch.org.


The goal of school-year credit recovery is for students to regain lost credits and get back on track to graduation. The School District of Philadelphia offers both in person and online options for recovering failed or missed credits needed to graduate. RFA and PERC provide a snapshot of school-year credit recovery utilization – including eligibility, enrollment, and completion – across the district. This report shows that credit recovery needs are very high across SDP’s 52 traditional high schools: One-quarter of SDP high school students were eligible to recover a credit in a core course at the end of the 2017-18 school year. Read the report to learn more about these students’ attempts to recover credits, by grade level, subject area, and credit recovery formats in 2018-19.