PhiladelphiaLearning Networks & geographyeasy
The 32-percentage-point gap between Philly's best and worst council districts on PSSA ELA
Thesis
City Council District 10 (Northeast Philly) posts a median 48.8% PSSA ELA proficiency across its 24 schools. CD 7 (parts of North and West Philly) posts 16.8% across 52 schools. That's a 32-point gap by elected-official jurisdiction. Notably, every council district has median econ-disadv of 100% (CEP universal eligibility), so the variation isn't 'rich district vs poor district' on the family-income axis.
Supporting findings
- CD 10: median PSSA ELA 48.8% (n=24), CD 1: 44.3% (n=32) — the two strongest.
- CD 7: 16.8% (n=52), CD 5: 19.3% (n=44) — the two weakest.
- All 10 council districts have median econ_disadv = 100% (CEP).
- Schools-per-district varies substantially: CD 7 has 52, CD 10 has 24. Bigger denominators tend toward higher need within Philly.
Reporting directions
- Map the school-by-school spread within each district. CD 7's 52 schools at median 16.8 likely include both at-the-floor and a few outliers.
- Cross-reference with the SDP Learning Network — CDs are city-political, Networks are SDP-organizational. Where do they overlap?
- Talk to the CD 10 councilperson about what's working; talk to CD 7 about what's needed.
Methodology & replication recipe — the queries + sources behind the findings above.