Philly’s special-admissions changes are causing unintended consequences at many district schools

Franklin Learning Center has space for 48 freshmen in its medical assistant program, where students graduate certified and qualified for good-paying jobs and an upward career trajectory.

But only 35 incoming ninth graders qualified for the program this school year, school staff say.

“Every seat that isn’t full is a child who lost a pathway through low-cost nursing school and a good job, and that breaks my heart,” said Jessica Way, a longtime teacher in the FLC medical program. “It really makes me sad.”

In the past, if not enough students met FLC’s criteria — students had to have at least all As and Bs with one C, 95% attendance, and have reached the 50th percentile in state assessments — the school had latitude to pull in applicants whose qualifications were close enough: students whose attendance was 90%, for instance, but who had experienced illness or family trauma, or through interviews, showed real enthusiasm and promise in the medical field.

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But last year’s changes to the Philadelphia School District’s special-admissions process shut off that possibility. Now, as a way to ensure the city’s diverse demographics are reflected in its 39 criteria-based and citywide admissions schools, a central-office computer determines who’s eligible through lottery. Period.

“In this system, students have no voice; parents have no voice,” said Elana Evans, a special education teacher at Paul Robeson High School. “The way that this is set up, it’s turning all these criteria-based schools into comprehensive high schools, but without the resources.”

A group of Masterman parents recently flagged challenges they say the special-admissions process has brought to their children’s school — slowing down the curriculum at the state’s No. 1-ranked school, they say, and requiring additional supports to accommodate the varied needs of the new student population that the district has not provided. But schools across the district say it’s not just the city’s most elite magnets that have seen unwelcome change from the new lottery.

District officials didn’t answer questions about schools’ criticism of the changes.

FLC, in the city’s Spring Garden section, doesn’t have a lack of diversity; this year, 50% of its students are Black, 29% are Hispanic, 11% are Asian, and 6% are white, similar to prior years. Three-quarters come from economically disadvantaged families.

But now Way is worried what the new, unwavering standards and the subsequent lower enrollment means for the school. Not only are potential students missing out on her program, but teachers and staff are allocated based on enrollment, and “when you look at numbers like ours, you have to be concerned that you’re going to lose teachers.”

At many schools, particularly in career and technical programs like FLC’s, a student interview served to increase equity, not keep kids out, Way said. And it also helped with student retention: An interview could inform the school who was genuinely interested in the program, and wasn’t just applying because their parents pressured them. It also allowed students to see firsthand whether the school or program actually matched their interests.

“They need to allow CTE programs to be more intentional,” Way said. “It’s making things haphazard that should really be purposeful.”

While ninth-grade classes are full at Masterman, Central, and Science Leadership Academy, they are down at a number of other city magnets, including Philadelphia High School for Creative and Performing Arts, Saul, Motivation, Girls’ High, Constitution, Hill-Freedman World Academy, and others, said a source with firsthand knowledge of the situation but not authorized to speak on the record about district data.

Without course correction, Saul, the city’s agricultural magnet school in Roxborough, will have just under 80 incoming freshmen this coming fall, Home and School Association officials said. Yet it has seats for 150 — meaning nearly half of open seats will be vacant.

More than 400 students were rejected, mostly because their Pennsylvania System of School Assessment, or PSSA, scores fell short of the 50% mark. (Standardized test scores are down nationally and in Pennsylvania, with more pronounced gaps between poor students and those from wealthier homes.)

A sharp drop in students could force Saul to cut one of its majors. That’s unthinkable to parents Gili Ronen and Teeyona Crumpton, who have beseeched the school board to address problems the special-admissions changes have wrought at many schools including Saul, which educates mostly children of color.

“A kid who knows that Saul is a good fit for him/her/them, but who scored too low on the PSSAs, should still be given the opportunity to show why it’s a good fit,” Ronen, a white parent of a Saul sophomore, told the board Feb. 23. “In the past, I understand that Saul has allowed means for students to explain why a unique CTE program like Saul’s would help them succeed academically and career-wise, such as an interview or essay or teacher recommendation.”

That’s likely the way Crumpton’s daughter, Talia, now a Saul senior, was admitted, her mother said: She was able to write an essay expressing her interest in animal science.

“She was right on the border” score-wise, said Crumpton, who is Black. Now, Talia is thriving. She’s choosing among competitive offers from three colleges, has an AP class under her belt, and has plenty of leadership experience.

“I’m for equitable education for children regardless of their zip code, but the district needs to talk to people who know about these things when they make these policies,” Crumpton said. “So many good things are happening at Saul. So many students are going to miss out if the district doesn’t change this.”

At citywide admissions schools, students from anywhere in Philadelphia have to apply, though unlike at magnets, these schools don’t use academic or attendance criteria. When more applicants apply than available spots, as is always the case at Robeson High School in West Philadelphia, schools often used interviews. Now, through the special-admissions changes, open seats are determined by lottery alone.

Traditionally, Robeson — which has received national attention for its success with academics and growth and was recently highlighted by departing Gov. Tom Wolf as “a model for what can happen in Pennsylvania” at a December visit to the school — has taken plenty of chances on students who may have had behavior problems or academic issues in the past if the young people seemed as if they would fit in at the tight-knit school.

In fact, about 85% of Robeson students typically come to the school not performing at grade level. But the school is small, just 300 students, and it offers students robust partnerships and extracurriculars and a strong school culture, leading to a stellar 95% graduation rate.

Yet Robeson’s freshman class, the first students admitted by the lottery and not through an interview process, has needs the school can’t accommodate with its current resources, a group of Robeson staff said in an interview. The school now has students who need emotional supports but no emotional support program, staff said, and children with academic needs only supported by itinerant staff. Some students have behavioral needs that staff can and do address, but at a cost.

“The ninth graders are coming around, they’re figuring it out,” said Andrew Saltz, a longtime Robeson social studies teacher. “But that process has cost a lot academically, and we have kids who are not receiving the services they deserve. It’s not good for them.”

Carlie Lauterbach teaches every Robeson freshman. Because of the concentrated level of student need, this has been her toughest year yet, she said.

“We are trying so very hard to reach the parents and the families that need to be reached, but it’s still falling short, and the kids that probably would be really thriving right now are being held back because of some of those issues,” said Lauterbach. “We love our students, but it’s just become so challenging — emotional support, behavioral issues, academic issues that are so beyond what we’re prepared for at our tiny school. In the past, we’ve had our kids who came and tried to drop out, and by junior year, they were thriving. But that can’t happen when it’s the whole grade.”

To say that Jacob Brogan, a Robeson counselor, is frustrated by what the admissions-policy changes have meant is an understatement. He’s a veteran district counselor, but this is his first year at Robeson. When he worked at a K-8, he was typically able to get kids admitted at some criteria-based schools, even if they didn’t hit the test mark, because of interviews or teacher recommendations.

“You’re not making it more diverse by removing interviews,” Brogan said. “Randomness does not equal equity. We’re not drawing a lottery with ping-pong balls. This is student placement.”